Trouble at the Embassy

Well, everything was going to plan, I was moving quick- and on track to hit all of my planned destinations. I was in Buenos Aries, and on my way up to Rio via Uruguay.

I went to the embassy to find out what I needed to get my visa in order to visit Brazil while I was in Buenos Aries. I showed up at 1:15 on Monday, and of course, the office closed at 1. So, suffering my first set back, I left with the name of the website to look up the materials needed for my visa.

For the record, many people do not need visas for Brazil, just Americans, and a hand full of other countries. It was rumored to cost somewhere between 100- and 150 dollars, and take two days to get. Hence the urgency, since I only have about 10 days left on my trip now.

But, I had a new, cunning plan. There was another embassy in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay that I would have to pass through anyway. So, we took the morning cruise, across the ocean/ river delta to Montevideo from Buenos Aries, the ride took 3 hours, and it was fun- sort of a mini cruise ship type of thing. I went straight to the embassy, only to find out that my ticket to leave South America from Lima wasn't good enough proof that I was going to leave Brazil. I needed a specific ticket into, and out of Brazil. Also, the time frame changed, now it was anywhere from 2-10 days it would take to get the visa. Meanwhile, they have your passport and you can not go anywhere.

I thought about it long and hard. The cheapest bus ticket I could buy round trip was $132, just to have something to show them, I knew I wouldn't actually be taking that bus, and I also knew that I had a slim to none chance of getting a refund if I didn't use it. Next option? Planes. I was already considering, or planning rather, on buying a plane ticket from Rio to Lima given my time crunch. I knew it would be about $500, but I was willing to take the hit. Now however, those flights were $750 for some reason, and a ticket from Montevideo was about $260. The hitch here is, everything you are planning, and buying, is depending on some woman behind a desk, who really didn't look to happy to give me a visa, and would not assure me of any sort of time frame besides 2-10 days for the visa. I needed to have the visa in 4 days maximum, after that, I would be paying all this for a whole of 2 days in Rio. And, if I bought my flight and then didn't get my visa in time for my flight...then what??

Bottom line, $1,000 was too much to gamble on this disgruntled old woman. I wish I could have made it...but hey, I´m in Punta del Este, Uruguay...I guess I will just have some more time at the beach!