BACK AFTER AWHILE

So, it's been quite some time since I've written.  Edgar and I had some problems with our Internet and we were out of touch with the world for that time.  But we once again have Internet in the house and we are back on track, with most things.

Anyway, since the last time I wrote, Edgar and I have been planning on going to the States for Christmas for a long-deserved visit home.  Thanks to parents who are willing and able to pay the bill because paying for plane tickets in dollars when you're earning soles is not so easy.  But the trip has been an adventure in and of itself.  And we haven't even gone yet.

Edgar was reluctant to get the visa process started, mainly because he didn't want to go to Lima for the interview.  And I don't blame him.  Lima is big, noisy, and crowded.  Plus, it's known for being dangerous.  The trip is long and Edgar doesn't know anyone in Lima.  So, it was not the easiest thing for him.  I finally got him to get his passport renewed and then we got the visa process started.

The process for a visitor's visa is not all that long.  You have to fill out an application on-line, call to schedule an interview, and pay the processing fee in the bank.  In any order that you wish.  However, the actual obtaining of the visa is not so easy.  The law is basically that the consular officers automatically assume that any applicant for a non-immigrant visa is an actual immigrant.  So, your job is to prove that you really don't want to immigrate.  And for someone married to a US citizen, that is one tall order.

So, we got Edgar in for his first interview.  He traveled by bus, which, round-trip, is basically a three-day trip. :-(  And, guess what?  He was denied.  After all the research we have done and that my mother has done, I guess it really shouldn't have been a surprise.  But after the three-day trip and having to walk a half-hour at the end to get through the strike that had closed the road, Edgar was definitely frustrated and tired of it all.  But we got him to go back.

This time, I went with him and we went by plane.  We had to travel in bus to Arequipa (six hours away) but at least the flight was only 1 hour 20 minutes.  So the trip was only about a day-and-a-half long.  But they denied him again.

However, 3 days later, we get a call from the Embassy saying that they needed his passport because they didn't have anywhere to put the visa without it.  We're not sure what miracle happened, but we're glad that it did.  Now, we just have to get the passport to Lima.  We are supposed to send it DHL, but the DHL in Puno is not authorized to handle passports.  So we somehow have to get the passport to Arequipa to send it from there.  We are now in that plan.

Hope we can get everything worked out on time to get Edgar to the States for Christmas.