We wanna be Permanent Permanent ...

So ... today we thought we would really be on top of things, get the hard stuff out of the way as early as possible ... This is our third year, living in Buenos Aires.

To live in Buenos Aires, you have to be a resident of some type ..
Each type has different requirements , we are not working and not students..
So we just live here and behave and enjoy ourselves and so far, they like us and we can stay.

We had to get a Visa to move here, we have to Renew it every year for 3 years, then we are considered Permanent Residents and we can stop with the Renewals.. which aside from having gone way up in price each year .. the Renewal process also qualifies as one of the Rings in Hell.
You have to get this little book , a DNI .. which is your National ID.
Like a baby passport.
This gets us discounts, better airfares on Argentine airlines and is just good ID as well as keeping us from having to leave the country to renew the visa every 3 months, like visitors.

So along with   most of Peru and half of China, once a year you will see my husband and I sitting in various immigration buildings feeling like cattle waiting to be branded... en Español.

The First Year was a miracle and only went as well as it did because my husband is Brilliant.
The Second Year was ridiculous because we had all the papers we needed but they came up with a request for our Marriage Certificate, again.
They got it when we arrived, there are no more. The ones they want are notarized, legalized and translated.
Mine is just mine, the Original. We hopped in a taxi , came home, got the damn thing, taxi back to Immigrations where she said, but you both have the same last name. How do we know you are not brother and sister?

How does one answer a question like this?

I have been married to this man about half my life .. I still don't think we look like brother and sister.
We might sound alike, I do find myself saying things he says, using words that he has made up that I especially like and after all, you live with someone for a long time, you start sounding like them .. I just wish I was as smart as he is.

But anyway- I have a brother.. my husband does not look like him either.
There were so many responses running through my head.. something about hillbillies knuckle-heads     and Immigrations needing a tiny bit of intelligence behind the desk.

But I just looked at her and I think she realized how it sounded and she went on to speak of other things and eventually, after only 8 hours there, she let us go, with our DNI's renewed for another year.

And then I had to explain to Pup why he was alone in the house for 8 hours  ... He didn't believe it either.

We were going to the US Embassy today to get some paperwork.
Thankfully, I checked and found out that this is not the day for that, come back Thursday.
After they give us the papers we need, we have to take them somewhere else where we will get a number, wait for someone to call it, give them our papers to translate and legalize, then sit and wait until they call us.
These things can take an hour or 5.
This year I am remembering to bring food, drink, music and a book.
This will insure that they do it all in record time and I won't have time for refreshments, music or reading.

( I will let you know if my theory works)

Then right before the date of when we arrived, we have to go to Immigrations where they will come up with some new questions  for us , then the next day we will go to the big building where they will give us our DNI with a special stamp ( I think) that says we are Permanent.
You will know when it happens, you will hear the happy laughing and celebrating  from here to there.

Pup is lucky, he just stays home and waits for the news .. we come home and tell him, Congratulations, you are now an Argentine Caniche Grande ... enjoy.

Did I mention we have to be at that place around sun up to be in the first 1 or 2 hundred people who are waiting to be let in ?
Yep, my husband and I and half of Peru and China..

In case this was all just too technical and boring .. here are some photos to look at ..

mirror mirror on the floor .....

 Recoleta Cultural Center-Butterfly Garden

He said he was outnumbered 3 to 1, 

I had to rescue him.

On the grounds of a wonderful beautiful building

by the park and British Embassy, a huge magnificent old tree, broke. Taking the top of one of the columns that had held up one branch that was the size of a tree alone. We could never really see the columns before, it was all tree, now you can see that in a matter of weeks, the tree is growing back .. and the people in the building have views they never saw before !

Did you enjoy the photos?