Mexico, on the other hand, has embraced the idea of foreign
registered boats, along with their equally foreign owners, staying for a
lengthy amount of time hanging out, enjoying the country, and of course
bringing in a boatload (pun intended) amount of cash to distribute at stores,
restaurants, marinas, fuel docks, hotels, car rental companies….you get my
drift. Now that we are south of Mexican
waters, we are needing to pay a bit more attention to visas.
As I’ve previously described, Ron and I are not the quickest
of travellers. We figure we are going to
do a country to death before we move on.
While there is so much to see and so many countries to get around to, we
try not to leave a country until we’ve seen it all (or as much as we want to)
as we have no intention of going back for a second go-around. What this has pointed out to us, however, is
that no matter how cool WE think we are, some countries are frankly not
interested in us hanging around indefinitely.
When we arrived here in Ecuador last year, sometime
mid-Julyish, we were quite cautious about our visa timing. We had left it pretty late leaving Panama for
the lightning season, but what that did do was start our visa also later than
we had originally intended. Here in
Ecuador, your first visa is for 90 days (NOT 3 MONTHS) but this visa’s clock
will stop when you leave the country.
When we left to head back to Panama last December, we had about a week
left on this original 3 months, as we had spent almost 4 months out of the
country. However, we were now back, and
unclear as to how the whole visa thing was going to work. As North Americans would understand it, that
first 90 days was to be within a year, but as Ecuadorians figured it, we had
arrived in 2013 the first time, and although it was now only 5 months later, we
had actually arrived in a NEW year, 2014.
BONUS!!!! We had been stressing
about how it would be accomplished, as after we leave here we want to go to the
Galapagos, which of course is also in Ecuador, which meant that there was going
to be even more time spent on a visa. We
now know that we’ll receive another 90 day in/out visa, and can then apply for
an extension, which is either an additional 90 days or with a letter describing
how you are “pursuing business opportunities in country”, a full 180 days more. Our days of worry are over. Apparently, we are looking at investing in
real estate or starting a company here (wink, wink).
I’ve never been great at legalese-type paperwork. As anyone who knows me well can tell you, I
loathe with all my being, insurance companies.
Remembering to pay my credit card bill, my medical premiums, taxes, etc.
etc., are as close to torture as my lifestyle will allow. We will need to apply for this additional
extension for our visa here. Prior to
heading to the Galapagos we’ll need to apply for an Autografo, which will
enable us to stay for 2 months, and visit 3 islands, versus just the one. 2-3 months prior to heading to the south
Pacific, and French Polynesia, as north Americans are only allowed 3 months
there, we also need to apply for a long-stay visa, at the French Embassy,
somewhere along the way.
It will be a test to see how I do with all this
paperwork. The burning question will be,
“will my visits to the hairdressers need to be more frequent?” as I envision a
greater number of grey hairs in my near future.
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