Colombian Visas

Yesterday we traveled to Chicago to get our Colombian Visas. As part of the process we need a special TS visa to enter the country since we will be going to court to finalize our adoption. We decided to take the train from Milwaukee to Chicago so we did not have to deal with traffic, parking etc. We stayed in Mke overnight at Sis and Andy's house, had breakfast got up in the morning and took the train. For those of you who have taken the train from MKe, to Chicago you know that it is a great ride. Quiet, no headaches, no tolls and you can sleep on your way there so the time goes by very fast. When we got to the train station we asked a lady how to get to the 500 Michigan Avenue, she said 'just walk' its a beautiful walk. The thing was that we had had warm temperatures that week and yesterday was windy with a temp of about 30. We decided to walk. The walk was only about 12 blocks but it seemed like an eternity with the wind and cold. When we got there, it was not at all what we expected! The consulate was a very small office, it was crowded so you could barely walk around. Alex stood in line for about 5 minutes and then his name was called. A crazy old lady was there, that kept asking me about my purse and where I had bought it, she said "You got that in Colombia, right? I answered "No, la compre en una tienda de segundas manos --I got it in a second hand store'' The lady replied: 'What is the store called? I'll go there to buy one, where is it?" It's called Plato's Closet I answered, it's in Madison Wisconsin, She said "Yes, I've been to Madison, that's were they have the cabins, my son said he was taking me there... " There is always a lady like that wherever you go, but why do they always have to talk to me?

We were glad both of our transactions could be done at the same time, because we thought that we had to have separate appointments. Days before going to the consulate we had carefully prepared papers and had them very organized. When the lady revised my paperwork she said there was a problem. La Casita de Nicolas had written an acceptance letter for us and had written my maiden name. My passport had my married name (Only a problem in the U.S.) so they wanted a copy of our marriage certificate, something we had not brought with us. I thought of calling Ginny but she did not have a key to our condo. So I called my parents to see what they were doing. They said they were going to pick up Otin's kids at 2:30, so I could not ask them to go to our house to get anything. Then I told them our problem. Mami says" Papi says he has a copy of your marriage certificate" Imagine my surprise. Mami said that he had gotten a copy for himself when we asked them to go to court to get one for us. Wow! Papi faxed the copy and it got there quickly, our visas were expedited immediately. We were out of the office in about 45 minutes. Papi was the hero that day. Gracias Papi. Here we are on Michigan Avenue across the street from the building were the consulate was with our new visas.

We then went to have lunch, we were so hungry we went to a place across the street for Sandwiches (The Reagle Beagle). We also walked through Millenium Park and saw 'The Bean' as soon as we got there a bunch of 3rd graders started running towards it. We could not help but take a few pictures ourselves.

Since we were in Chicago, we decided to go to the Field Museum and walked there! The wind was nasty, it would have been a great walk otherwise. I really wanted to see 'Sue' before we left Chicago. Here she is...

We went to the area of the Americas and found some information on Native Peoples from Colombia. Here is the map we saw. Medellin is approximately where the Quimbaya tribe lived.

Then we went to see a special exhibit on Mammoths and Mastodons that was just beautiful. We could not take pictures of this exhibit. The most exciting part for me was seeing Lyuba, the baby mammoth that was found in Siberia about 4 years ago. She was there in display. We were running out of time so we walked back to the train and waited. Our bones were achy and cold and we were both worn out, so we decided to get on the train (which was very crowded), and the minute we got to Mke we drove home.

One thing that was very upsetting that day was the fact that our agency sent us two e-mails that advised us that there were new fees added to our transactions in Colombia. We are not happy with our agency right now :{ They are extremely disorganized and seem to lack understanding of the Colombian program. We are trying our best to take it in stride, but it's difficult. We want to be happy about our process, but we both feel our agency has made it unnecessarily stressful. We will keep you informed about our next steps. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

--MM