¡Quilombo, Digo Yo!

Last night was a fun, but late night out at a club with my friends and Vero and her friends. It was Saint Patrick's Day, so my American friends who are on vacation were all about drinking. But I had to keep in mind that I had work the next morning, so by 12:30 am or 1 am, whenever we finally made it out of there, we called it a night.

Surprisingly, the day started off alright, even though I was tired. There was a deep gray and heavy air in the city, like everyone was hungover. Checking my email I saw that I was accepted to American University for grad school. Not a bad way to start the day. My big day was planned around a visit to the old Registro Civil at 1:15 pm. For the ninth time I was going to try to get my DNI. The magistrate who has helped me in the past was supposed to meet me there, and I called her yesterday to make sure she was still on board. After all, I'd had this appointment since February 1st, when my last appointment failed miserably. Also, we were using her information to get the appointment in the first place.

I got there at 1:15 on the dot and called to see where she was. The first time I called we got disconnected (or she hung up) and the second time she said that she had to go to the bank and would be there in 20 minutes. Not too good considering on an hour lunch break it took me 15 minutes to walk there and you had to expect at least 30 minutes while inside, plus 15 back. I tried to get a place in line but since it was her information I couldn't, and they told me I only had until 2 pm to get a spot or I'd lose the turn.

So I stood outside the Registro waiting patiently, sweating in the humidity while recently married couples had rice thrown at them by their friends. Once or twice I was hit with rice as an innocent bystander. By 1:50 pm I had to accept that there was no way this could happen, so I had to return to the office with nothing in hand. I still had a giant alfajor that I bought her as a thank you for helping, which I left in the office kitchen for my coworkers.

It was pretty disheartening to have another failure at the Registro, and I felt like there's little more I can do at this point. I did eventually go back into the Web site and make up a DNI number to get another appointment, though it's not until May 5th. So I'll have to wait again and hope that the 10th time works out well.