How to Obtain a Visa in Ecuador

Hire a lawyer. When he doesn’t help you, call the phone operator a ladron, curse the country, cry and scream on the sidewalk. Never assume that any process will be quick or easy. Always allow an extra day. Make four copies of everything, but realize that three of those copies will end in a rotting stack of paperwork never to be touched. Go to Colombia. Find the narrow cobbled street by the ocean and knock softly on the unmarked glass door. If no one answers go the small window and ask the lady with bad teeth for the woman with dark hair. Bring $110 US dollars, but pay $210 in pesos. Do not swallow their nonsense without a fight- even if you can’t get around it, at least you tried. Upon returning to Ecuador, take the trole to the prescribed office on the fourth floor, but discover it is a different immigration office on a different fourth floor of a different building. Upon arriving, discover you are in the wrong visa office. Go to the right office and wait. When Rodrigo comes, discover you are missing a copy of the letter you turned into this same office over a month ago. Acquire said paper from another office across town. Discover that although everything is in order, you must wait another day. Learn that the fee must be directly deposited into an account at a bank down the way (no, he cannot take your money). Go to the trole, discover there is manifestation, and public transportation is on pause. Feel the first raindrops, pull out your umbrella, and wait.