today, as the gps may attest to, i spent the whole day trying to leave the country. first, i went to the shipping agent, and confirmed all of the details. then, i went to the secretary general’s office to get the car inspected and get an exit form for the car. after the 20 second inspection, i waited 3.5hrs for the secretary general to show up…only to find out that the customs agents (at the border) copied my license plate incorrectly. so, a quick sprint to the customs office….followed by another 2 hours of waiting. at 4:50pm, they told me i’d have to come back tomorrow. knowing that i could not afford to wait around another 5 hours….i begged….and they gave me the form.
so, i spent the whole day in an office waiting for one form and a signature. but, at least the office was air conditioned! also, one funny thing: i needed to get copies of….well, everything…and being a typical beaurocracy, none of the offices have copy machines. close to the offices, however, were two photocopy places. one was around the corner, the other across the entrance to a highway (with no pedestrian crossing). apparently it’s safer to dodge cars than to dodge bullets.