Legal residency...FINALLY

In mid-March Qiqe's dad was pushing us to start the application process for my worker's residency visa. "You don't want to wait until the last minute to deal with a bunch of problems," he warned us. What none of us realized at the time was that the whole process would be quite a problem.

I arrived to Peru on February 27th (the plane touched down right at 12:01....happy birthday to me!) on a tourist visa, providing me 90 days of residence in the country. After 90 days, I would need to leave Peru, enter a different country, and then re-enter Peru to revalidate my 90 days on a new tourist visa. To simply live in this country, this process does not present any legal problems...

...but, of course, things are never that simple. First of all, it is a tad expensive to move between countries every 90 days. Before Evo Morales took office in Bolivia, this situation was much easier. La Paz is a mere 6 hour drive from Puno, and many foreigners take advantage of the border to renew their visa. For Americans, though, the new policy of "reciprocity" has complicated the situation. Due to the strict migration policies of the USA, countries like Bolivia, Brazil and Chile have implemented a visa process for Americans who wish to travel to their countries. They all require US citizens to pay more than $100 dollars to apply for a visa.

Bolivia went above and beyond this requirement by presenting six or seven requirements for US tourists, including demonstrating economic solvency (they request a copy of your credit card!!!) Because I knew I'd have to visit Bolivia at least once in the coming year, I did apply and receive a Bolivian visa while I was still in D.C. It was a pain, but at least it was one less issue to worry about once I was in Peru. The biggest downfall is that the visa only allows you to enter Bolivia three times a year for a period of five years with a limit of 90 days per year!

Another reason that I need a work visa in order to, well, work! The benefit of having a worker's visa allows me to receive an income and live in Peru for up to two years without having to leave the country. Plus, it resolves any concerns that observers may have of my presence in the restaurant. The last thing I would want to do is cause problems for Qiqe, his family, or their business!

And so the process of applying for my workers visa began...and let me give you a summary of the ridiculous steps we had to take over a period of a month and a half:

**please note here that there is no written explanation or process to actually explain HOW to do all this...and each time we did one process we normally had to wait 30 minutes to speak with someone**

-go to the Ministery of Labor and present ourselves to the director who would okay the visa...just a quick "hi" to find out how to begin

-go to Migration Office to request the form required for a foreigner to sign a contract

-go to bank, wait in line to pay 20 dollars and 27 soles to the Migration Office

-return to Migration Office with bank payment slip

-go to photocopy center to make copies of passport, bank payment slip, and form

-return to Migration Office and receive form to sign contract

-go to Ministry of Labor with form to find out what forms, paperwork is needed

-create contract, print off diploma, fill out 4-5 other additional paper work needed

-return to Ministry of Labor to be told that we need three copies of each document, signed by notary

-go to notary to have papers signed...after hunting down three different lawyers on two days because they all take lunch breaks from 12-4pm!!!!!

-return to Ministry of Labor and be told that we needed to have three separate folders for each set of papers

-get folders, go back to Ministry of Labor

-go to bank to make similar payment to Ministry of Labor

-return to Ministry of Labor with bank slip

-go to Photocopy center to make copies of bank slip and signed document by Ministry of Labor

-return to Migrations Office with signed documents by Ministry of Labor

-go to bank to make another payment (I'm still unclear why we had to pay them again)

-return to Migrations Office....here begins the wait up to 45 minutes to speak to anyone, and most of the time they aren't doing anything in the office!

-go to Photocopy center to make copies of bank slip, signed documents by Ministry of Labor

-return to Migration Office to send materials to Lima for approval.

This was done on April 14th. We were told to come the first week of May to hear when we could go to La Paz to pick up the visa.

-First week of May, no word from Lima

-Second week of May, still no word. Some of my friends recommended that I pay off the staff with some cash to make the process speed up. I refused to sink that low.

Luckily, it turned out that Qiqe's mom was friends with the director of Migrations...get this....the director of Migration's mother use to sell them contraband televisions and other electronics. Oh the irony. Anyways, Qiqe's mom and I went into the office to meet the director. Enjoy the following dialogue:

Director of Migrations "Rosa! How are you? It's been so long since I have seen you."
Rosa "It is good to see you too. Congratulations on the position..."
(additional small talk)
Director of Migrations "I didn't know that this was your case...I will make sure it goes through tomorrow"
Rosa "Please do...Laura only has a few days left here with her visa, and we really would like to get things in place as soon as possible."
Director of Migrations "Of course"
Rosa "Yes, she is working with us now. She is my son's girlfriend"
Director of Migrations "Oh that is wonderful! You know, Laura, you two could just get married and this would go much faster"
(moment in which my face turns BRIGHT red and I somehow forget to speak Spanish)

We thank the director, and leave...and wait...and wait....until I can't wait any longer, and I have to leave Peru because my tourist visa is almost up. So Enrique and I take a day off to go to Bolivia, and return the following day to renew my tourist visa.
(the pictures are from our break in La Paz....one of my favorite cities in Latin America by the way!!!)




Four days later we get the call that my visa has been approved! FINALLY. Now, I just have to return to Bolivia in the coming week, obtain my visa from the Consulate of Peru in La Paz and come back into Peru.

So, ugh, yeah...gotta love Latin American bureaucracy!

Introductions

It has been unseasonably cold the past week. Needless to say, it was a bit difficult to wake up at 5:30 am and leave the comfort of 4 wool blankets, 1 fleece, and a hot water bag. Still, I managed to get up, put on two pair of pants, two sweaters, my winter jacket, my hat, my gloves, and my sunscreen. Qiqe and I were on the bus a little after 6am and rode out to Juli to meet up with Nico and Oscar of the NGO, Centro-IRPA, the local organization behind our new project.

We jumped into Nico's truck and headed out to our first visit of the morning in the community of Anchoaqui, in the District of Huacullani, of the Province of Chucuito (a.k.a- middle of nowhere rural Puno.) Our guest was a relative of Nico, which may play a key factor in making the project work in this sector.

Over the next hour, we spoke with two locals about the production of quinoa. Currently, they produce an adequate amount of quinoa and even in a year of difficult weather, for their family's needs. They are even able to salvage a few kilos of the grain for sales on a good year. Generally, though, they produce a more bitter version of the quinoa which requires additional washing, and is not as appetizing as the white, or sweet quinoa.

For the needs of the restaurant, we explained that they would have to harvest a specific strand of white quinoa called “Sajama” because it is a larger and sweeter grain that is easier for recipes like taboule, quinoto, and other salads. The two farmers expressed a bit of concern because sweet quinoa often falls victim to hungry birds that inhabit the area. We all shared a laughed as Nico joked that the community was afraid of birds. But he did question if they used any tactics to scare the birds off like scarecrows or netting. The farmers commented that this was never done, so it gives us all hope that a different method may help protect the sweet quinoa.

We spoke a bit more about the local human, socio-economic and technical farming production realities of the community. The population lives in extreme poverty. There is no medical center in the region and only one school for 60 children who are taught by 2 teachers (3 grade levels taught per teacher).

What I found to be completely shocking was the price at which they currently sell their quinoa grain. An arrobaor about 6.5 kilos sells for about 15-18 soles (that’s about .60 cents of a sole per kilo!) In the local market in Puno, quinoa grain sells up to 8 soles a kilo. We still need to do the math with the NGO as well as consider a more adequate payment for the quinoa, as to not overwhelm the expectations of the producers at the onset of our work.

Next, we set off towards Lake Titicaca. Nico said to save time we would cross one of the hilltops, which Qiqe and I thought he was just saying as a joke…but literally….we took this crazy path and drove over a small mountain. It was like being in a ford truck commercial…and his truck is, seriously, like a rock.

After another 45 minute drive we arrived in the lakeshore community of Isani in the district of Zepita. If the project works here, it is an ideal spot to conduct agro-tourism as it is situated right between the border towns of Yunguyo and Desaguaderos.

The wind from the lake felt so cold that we hoped to convince the farmer we had come to meet to meet in the truck. He really wanted us to come speak in his house, which in this case meant in the yard of his house. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

This meeting proved to be a bit more apprehensive and uncertain. The community currently does not produce a great deal of quinoa as it holds less purchasing power in the local markets compared to beans, potatoes, and barley. Still, the farmer was open to the opportunity and will invite another five farmers to participate in the effort.

With both communities, we are set to meet with all the interested farmers and begin discussion of the project in late June. The day was long, but extremely productive, and we are all quite hopeful for its development. Next up, Nico and I have a lot of work to edit the project and start seeking out financial support for the effort!