Emergency Passport or Bust!

The trip to the US Embassy started at 4:00 am. We (Ava and I) had to leave for the metro train by 4:30 so we could make the 5:00 run that went into town. Traffic here is beyond words. Imagine your worst traffic experience, double it and add motorcycles weaving in and out of the cars. Scott says that traffic is fine until 5:30 but then compounds until 6:30 when it is a dead stop. I experienced this the Saturday Ava's purse was stolen. We weren't planning to go to the mall we went to, but after sitting in traffic for an hour and moving only half a mile, we turned around and went there. All this said to explain why we were taking the train down. The train was only 14 pesos and at that time was very empty and the AC felt nice (I cherish all time with AC these days). We got off the train and haled a taxi to drive us the rest of the way to the Embassy. Scott (Our Friend and veteran missionary) thought that it might take time to find a taxi at that location but we found one pretty quick (The worst wait for a taxi came later). This early, things moved pretty quick and we were at the Embassy by 5:45. As we approached the Entrance there was already a large group of Filipinos standing around in a certain area. We joined them thinking this was where we needed to be but soon found out that we needed to be about a block further in a different line (The Embassy compound spanned several blocks). We joined a smaller group that was at a small gate with security checking Ids and letting people into an outdoor waiting area. We presented the photo copy of my passport and told them the lost purse story and they told us to sit at the bench for gate 3. We were second in line behind an Ex-Patriot (The term used for Americans living over seas). At 7:00 am we noticed that a line was forming in front of the door to gate 3 and that people were slowly being let in the door. I went over and inquired if we should be in the that line and they said we could go in but the office we needed wouldn't be open until 7:30. We went through security which required us to leave all of our electronic devices behind. The cell phone and electronic Yatzee and Phase 10 had to be left behind. Note to self: In the future take a book because they took my electric entertainment. Ava brought a book so she was good to go. We followed the signs to get to the American Citizen Service Section (Window D). According to the signs posted they see walk-ins from 7:30 to 11:00 am and you have to get a green numbered ticket to get your place. We were number 2.

Here's when it gets fun (NOT!). Our number is called and we go to the counter. We explain the situation and the woman starts handing us all kinds of forms to fill out and tells us that we need a 2x2 photo to include with the forms. No one told us about a 2x2 photo when we called the day before. They informed us that there was a Kodak booth at the Embassy that can take the picture while you wait. We went and had the photo taken, filled out the six forms needed in black ink (had to buy a souvenir pen since we didn't bring one and the agent wouldn't part with hers). We were told to return the completed forms to window E and wait for them to call our name. They said that they had to see all the people who had appointments before they would process our forms. We waited several hours and and Ava's name was finally called for the first time. They verified some information and then told use to go pay the processing fees and return the receipt to window E and then they would call our name again. Time past, maybe an hour, and an American called her name (Up until now all the agents have been Filipinos). This was the guy that would decide if Ava could get an emergency passport. If he declined her then she would have to wait 2-4 weeks to get a new one before she could leave. He was very nice and he granted the emergency passport. We didn't know that early that day Senator Durbins' office had faxed a letter to the Embassy on Ava's behalf, thanks to people at our home church hearing about our problem and taking action. We're not sure if that letter made it to the deciding agent but it was awesome to hear how people back home were helping us out. The Agent told us to return at 3:00 pm to pick up the passport. It was now 11:00 am so we had to find something to do for the next 4 hours. There was only a Starbucks (go figure) and a Yellow Cab Pizza near the Embassy. We had a calzone (mine was greasy) for lunch and hung out at Starbucks until 2:00 pm. At 2 we decided to head back into the Embassy and see if we could get the passport early. No luck, still had to wait until 3:00. No worries though, my greasy lunch upset my stomach so I past the time in the CR (that's the common term here for restroom). When we got the passport we asked the agent if this is all we needed to exit he country. They didn't know so they direct us to the Philippine Immigration office.

We left the Embassy and started towards Immigration. We stopped to give Val a call to let her know what we were doing and she had found out from a missionary that we did need to go to Immigration and get them to re-stamp the visa in it before she could board the plan. Also, since her visitor visa was expiring that day we had to get an extension. All of this had to be done before the Immigration office closed at 5:00 (the time now was 3:30). We quickly hopped in a taxi and went to the immigration office knowing that we only had an hour and a half and government processes are not timely. Her is the summary of how things went there.

• Went to 3rd floor records (where Val told us to go)
• Sent to 3rd floor certification room
• Sent outside to notary to get a letter requesting certification

I have to tell you about the notary place. We walk out the front door of Immigration and there were men standing around yelling to assist. One of them screamed “Notary?”. That's what we needed so we followed him. I thought he was going to take us to his taxi, but he lead us about a block away to this literal hole in the wall. They had converted a small archway under an old bridge into a Notary sweat shop. There were six ancient typewriters (three per row) with notaries pecking away at them (no AC just fans blowing on them). The letter we needed must have been very common because they knew what we needed and had it done lickity split. With our new letter stamped and embossed we headed back to Immigration.

• Back to 3rd floor certification room (Ava's asthma acting up since we had to climb stairs to the 3rd floor)
• Sent to 1st floor room 103 for stamp. Found out we didn't need the notary page but we needed to fill out different form and return it to the 3rd floor.
• Returned to 3rd floor without Ava (too many stairs!) and turned in form to get print out.
• Returned to 1st floor with print out. Her passport was stamped here with the original visa stamp that expired that day. Now we had to fill out another form and take it to another building for the visa extension.
• Walked 2 blocks to Immigration building with visa extension room.
• Went to window 28
• Sent to window 26
• Sent to copier to get photo copies of the passport made (this was in the same room so not a huge issue)
• Returned to window 26 and told to pay the cashier and we could pick the passport up in the morning....WHAT! MORNING!!!
• Went to cashier and paid money
• Returned to window 26 with receipt and begged to get it back same day.
• Sent to see chief operator for the extension section. She was very helpful and we left shortly after with a stamped extension on the passport.

Time.....4:52 PM.....we got finished with 8 minutes to spare....Praise God!!

So now we have to head home in 5 o-clock traffic. First we stop and got a drink before catching a taxi back to the train station. The taxi driver spoke really good English but creeped us out by telling us about all the recent kidnappings of missionaries. I felt inclined to play dumb when he asked where we specifically lived. I'm not looking to get kidnapped anytime soon. We hopped on the train to head back home. The train was packed with college students so we had to stand the whole way (still air conditioned so I'm not complaining). Once we reached our stop we had to catch a taxi back to the house. Scott had warned us that it might be difficult to get a taxi to drive us since it's up in the hills and most of the taxis have a hard time up them. I also learned a valuable lesson. If you want to get a taxi during the busy times you need to go up stream from the flow of cars. We turned right and headed towards the spot where we were dropped off in the morning. We found that all the taxis were picking people up at the other end so they were full before they got to us. We sat there hailing taxis for at least 15 minutes. Finally one stopped and we jumped in. Scott was right. Once we told him where we needed to go he said that his car couldn't make it and he put us back on the curb. A few minutes later another stopped and I open the door and asked him if he could take us to Antipolo. His response was “How much?”. How much? I wasn't expecting that question. I paused trying to figure out a response. I said 100 pesos and he returned with 250. I asked him if we could just go by the meter. He said it was broken (Scott said that was a lie or he was driving illegally since they must have a working meter). I said 200 right when another taxi pulled over. Ava was prompting me to try the next taxi when the first driver accepted the 200 peso bid. I had no clue what was a good price for the trip. Since we live in the boonies of Antipolo, I had to give him turn by turn directions. I did feel sorry for him because the house is in the middle of nowhere (Scott later said that few taxi driver knows how to get there because of how far off the beaten path it is). As we neared the house I decided to give him the 250 pesos because it was a long drive and his tank was on E (might have been broken). We arrived home and I paid the drive 250. His response was.....could you make it 300, it was a long drive and took a lot of gas. I was happy to be home so I gave in and paid the 300 peso (that's only $6.60 in US dollars so I wasn't too put out).

So we are home and ready to take it easy. Now we just need to rebook the flight and get Ava home.