We got our resident visas today!  We are now legal Ecuadorians!  We were also told to pick up our cedulas a week from Friday, which will be the final document to complete our legal integration into Ecuador.

The process took four hours today, and seems that it shouldn’t have taken more than an half hour.  I guess bureaucracies around the world are not very good at obvious streamlining though.  And whenever I think of the inefficiencies here, I remember what several friends went through to get legal resident status in the USA, and suddenly I am amazed how quick and efficient they are down here… ☺

While we were waiting, one gringo went up to the counter to get something related to his visa.  When asked for his passport, the man said “I didn’t bring my passport with me because I didn’t want it stolen.” hmmm… Going into an immigration office without a passport and expecting to get anywhere…?  Needless to say, he was told to make an appintment to come back another day — with his passport.