So my visa here has expired. I am now 6 days overdue. I went to immigration yesterday where the man behind the counter informed me that I could no longer just get my passport stamped in Guatemala City (I then called my boss who told me that I could only do that once a year). I now have 2 choices, I either need to leave the country or I need to find somebody who knows somebody who will get the thing stamped for a small fee.
Anyways, I need to get this taken care of ASAP. Unfortunately, once you are overdue, the Guatemalan government slaps on a multa (fine) that you must pay for every day that you go over. The fine isn´t outrageous, but when you´re on a Guatemalan income and don´t take care of things for a while, $1.30 probably adds up pretty quickly.
So I am looking at this as an excellent excuse to travel to another country. I need to leave the Guatemalan boarder for 72 hours and then get stamped on my re-entry back into the country. Traveling to Honduras, Niguragua, or El Salvador will not get your passport stamped… this leaves me with a choice between either Belize, Mexico, or Costa Rica. I´ve heard that Belize is expensive, and Costa Rica is too far, so it seems like Mexico might be the spot.
After the vacay, I´d like to look into either a student visa or a work visa. Either of these will give me up to a year without having to deal with this type of thing. As it stands now, I need to get a stamp on my passport every 3 months… or just stay mojado…
pool parties start this weekend…. tickets to and from ny to gt are only 250….
now you know how the mexican bus boy in your neighbor diner feels…
be the illegal foreign worker….chased after by Guatemalan INS…crossed the mexican border illegally for better life…hahaha….
why this keep reminding me the movie “heartbreak kid”….when the ben stiller cross the boader illegally to come to the us….hahaha…..
Now you know how the gringo bartender at your local Antigua bar feels….
And lets not even talk about pool party, that`s way too tempting.
hahaha, thats really funny… (the heartbreak kid comment)
hey… you should take care of this…
it does not sounds too funny to me, bri
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ny6Bn4yyI
haha…i found the clip….puhaha~~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ny6Bn4yyI
eureka!!
(hold on….i thought i post this link before….did someone erased it? oh well….)
dos cosas: 1) go see the American Legion guy who’s at Cafe Condesa every Thursday at 9am (Estela or Jaime can give you his name — I forget, and I’m traveling now so don’t have it); he can tell you who to see at an Antigua bank to get your visa stamped w/ no problem; 2) I’m on a midwest road trip seeing family & friends, and we had a mini-high-school-reunion tonight which was organized in part because one of our graduates (me) was famously moving to Guatemala in November. Actually tres cosas: I’ve been an editor professionally, so I’m compelled to tell you it’s the Mexican border; one who lives with another — like Jaime — is a boarder. I know you’d want to correct me if I were, say, building a house with, like, 17-inch center joists. BTW, I went up in the St. Louis arch yesterday: talk about architecture!
It’s Bill Shetz — sounds like Sheets; Estela thinks she’s saying a vulgar English word when she says it.
I guess a work visa means I won’t see you in US soil for a good long time. I will try and secure cheap airfare (as Otto did) for a trip to see my first born.
I agree with Sabrina – I don’t find it funny at all that you haven’t renewed your Visa.
Love You, Mom