the definition of saga is as follows...

sa·ga

ˈsägə/

·         a long story of heroic achievement

·         a long, involved story, account, or series of incidents

Getting our visa was turning into a saga.  We think we have it sorted out, and everyone, including the agent that is Puerto Amistad has learned something new.  

Apparently, the initial thumbs up was overly optimistic, in addition to being misguided.  We were NOT able to get a new 3 month “in and out” visa, as it hadn’t been a year since we first checked into the country in 2013.  When Juan Andres told us in sorrowful tones that we had a problem, we envisioned the worst.  Needing to leave the country until mid-July was an option that ran through our brains.  Really not the end of the world as traveling is what we do here, but it was going to get pricey if we needed to stay away for almost 2 months.  

But also in true Latin American fashion, we “had options.”

Another boat had mistakenly been granted a “mariner’s visa”.  Now no one, including our agent, knew what this was, but they got it, without asking, and it was for a year.  Sounded good, and it looked like we also were going to be able to request one of these visas.  Our friends got theirs for free, but it seemed that we were going to be charged $300 each for the privilege of spending more time here, but it sounded great to us.  If we had been given the option of an extension, it was going to cost $250 each, involve several roundtrips by bus to a town 2 hours away, and a bunch of paperwork.  For the added $50/person, we figured we were actually going to come out ahead, and it would also enable us to head out to the Galapagos without fear of overextending our allotted time.  

WINNING!!!!