Pacific Northwest yetti
Expedition Medic
Nov 13, Lima Peru 7am.
So we are still missing 1 passport.
Flight from Lima to US, Nov 13 @ Midnight. So 17ish hours until wheels up.
We all awoke, got dressed and headed downstairs. Grabbed some coffee from Starbucks, and started our walk to the photo & print place. We walk inside and are greeted with a annoyed smile. As we must have interrupted what looked like a juicy bit of drama/chisme. I introduce the group and ask about photo and printing. After the price was relayed which, I don’t remember. 15.50 Soles maybe.
I hot spot my phone, as so the other phones with us can send the emails to the printer. For some reason G mail, decided to boot me out. And would not let me log back in. As they girls start working on getting pictures taken.
Pictures check,
Forms check,
Payment, ohhhh. No cards accepted, ( even though the window has a vis sign) and they don’t do change…. Its exact amount only. We don’t have anything that small. Two group members stay there, I head out to find an ATM. With the plan of getting a 20 soles, and calling the rest a tip. 2 blocks down there is a bank, so I hit two of the ATM’s. And they are out of cash.
Walking back I duck into a store and buy a 1 sole water with a 100 sole bill. The annoyed cashier counts me out the change.
Back to the photo place, hand them the 20 sole, say thanks and walk away.
So that was accomplished! Embassy still not open, and we are starving. So wander around to try and find some breakfast. Everything is closed, back to our apartment. As there is a coffee shop under it that was closed when we left, now open. ( Starbucks had no food items)
Grab some muffins, sit down and have a relaxed breakfast. Now, probably 7:45,
We head back to the Embassy.
I am not sure, if you are familiar with Embassy’s, but they have some very specific rules, are secure places. And must hire local guards for the front. Among many other things. And have a very relatively defensible front from a tactical standpoint.
As we are walking up, I coach the group to be polite, professional, take this seriously, remove sunglasses and hats. Smile for the cameras.
The local guard, 50ft from the front of the building stops us. Asks us who we are, and why we are here. I say special services, or however its spelled out on the kiosks behind him, that has passports labeled. He wands up, tells us to not walk in a group. Smiles and points us on our way.
Something worth noting,
is there is a bus stop a few blocks down that is closed for construction. Red slash, so busses, vans, are dumping their passengers right in front of the building, right outside the initial security/area. Green outline. And a lot of the vans, have the sliding doors tied open. And all the vehicles are honking, moving fast, speeding, bumping each other. So vans are screaming up, doors tied open, people jump out, and the vans take off again with almost never stopping. Now I realize, we are in Lima, and not ….other places, where that alone could get you fired upon… but the guards, and security were tense. I could see two people ( I am assuming marine sniper teams) on the roof of the Embassy who had eyes on this front area the entire time.
We are the only ones here, but the guard requires us to all one by one, go through the z “fencing” the little retractable people herding lines. We all follow through and end up at the correct window. Now back to English, we explain who we are, although she greeted me by name prior to an introduction. So, they must have been expecting this group? As we had been communicating with someone inside a lot the last few days.
Hand in the paperwork, she starts to organize it all, and says it looks good. The window sticker, and website said credit/bank cards are ok.
Agent “payment please”
Us “hands her a visa”
Agent “sorry, not that kind of visa”
Me “ holds up my bank card visa, and then my capitol one card”
Agent “ sorry those cards wont work, only specific visa cards’
Me “ what kind of card”
Agent “visa, or cash. But it has to be USD and exact” She hands all the documentation back to us and says, “bring cash, and if you get back ASAP. We can probably get a rush on an emergency passport, but there is only 1 person here doing that today. We are running with a skeleton crew”
Us” Thanks, we will try some ATM’s”
We start heading back.
Guard in Spanish “exit through the pathways”, (the z fencing) and he stops each one of us in turn. Making sure 1 person is through, before the next can go.
This area is open and sheltered by some large concrete planters. But no actual fence, or anything like that.
The first banks we hit, the ATM;s wont dispense USD. We found another, close to our apartment, that advertises USD. We get some USD, and head back.
Same guard, same process as above. Wands us, 1x1, with a few more roving guards in this area now. Stand in line, get to the window. All looks good, she says the person who lost their passport can no go through security. After handing a specific slip to then. I ask if the two family members can go in together. Which they instantly denied.
Back through the Z fence, to the 1st guard. Hands him the slip. Explains no watches, phones, jewelry, pockets must be empty, no hats, sunglasses, etc. The roof guards I can plainly see watching us through some binoculars. They are probably just bored, I think.
In the process of emptying pockets and combining all the paperwork we hand my friend the cash. He jams it inside his pocket. The guard wands him again, his pocket beeps. He goes to empty his pocket and all this cash falls to the ground and starts to blow away. They very cash needed to pay for this emergency passport.
Two of us go after the cash.
We are reminded to move slowly. And escorted by a second guard back to the 1st and the third member of our group.
Buss and van traffic has picked up quite a bit now. And many people are shouting, motorcycles end E bikes jumping the curb to get through traffic. Every few mins, a few more loads of people unload and continues down the street.
We are now holding everything for the third member. And the guard’s motion for him to step forward, reminding him to look up, face forward and at the cameras. He chuckles and pretends to cover his eyes and walk forward.
No one laughs, two of us shake our heads, tell him this is not the time for jokes. The guards reverse him. Wand him again, and then allow him to walk forward. We watch as he enters the gates, kill box;s and walkthrough scanners and out of our view…. Its maybe 9: 30 now?
Flights out at midnight.
So we are still missing 1 passport.
Flight from Lima to US, Nov 13 @ Midnight. So 17ish hours until wheels up.
We all awoke, got dressed and headed downstairs. Grabbed some coffee from Starbucks, and started our walk to the photo & print place. We walk inside and are greeted with a annoyed smile. As we must have interrupted what looked like a juicy bit of drama/chisme. I introduce the group and ask about photo and printing. After the price was relayed which, I don’t remember. 15.50 Soles maybe.
I hot spot my phone, as so the other phones with us can send the emails to the printer. For some reason G mail, decided to boot me out. And would not let me log back in. As they girls start working on getting pictures taken.
Pictures check,
Forms check,
Payment, ohhhh. No cards accepted, ( even though the window has a vis sign) and they don’t do change…. Its exact amount only. We don’t have anything that small. Two group members stay there, I head out to find an ATM. With the plan of getting a 20 soles, and calling the rest a tip. 2 blocks down there is a bank, so I hit two of the ATM’s. And they are out of cash.
Walking back I duck into a store and buy a 1 sole water with a 100 sole bill. The annoyed cashier counts me out the change.
Back to the photo place, hand them the 20 sole, say thanks and walk away.
So that was accomplished! Embassy still not open, and we are starving. So wander around to try and find some breakfast. Everything is closed, back to our apartment. As there is a coffee shop under it that was closed when we left, now open. ( Starbucks had no food items)
Grab some muffins, sit down and have a relaxed breakfast. Now, probably 7:45,
We head back to the Embassy.
I am not sure, if you are familiar with Embassy’s, but they have some very specific rules, are secure places. And must hire local guards for the front. Among many other things. And have a very relatively defensible front from a tactical standpoint.
As we are walking up, I coach the group to be polite, professional, take this seriously, remove sunglasses and hats. Smile for the cameras.
The local guard, 50ft from the front of the building stops us. Asks us who we are, and why we are here. I say special services, or however its spelled out on the kiosks behind him, that has passports labeled. He wands up, tells us to not walk in a group. Smiles and points us on our way.
Something worth noting,
is there is a bus stop a few blocks down that is closed for construction. Red slash, so busses, vans, are dumping their passengers right in front of the building, right outside the initial security/area. Green outline. And a lot of the vans, have the sliding doors tied open. And all the vehicles are honking, moving fast, speeding, bumping each other. So vans are screaming up, doors tied open, people jump out, and the vans take off again with almost never stopping. Now I realize, we are in Lima, and not ….other places, where that alone could get you fired upon… but the guards, and security were tense. I could see two people ( I am assuming marine sniper teams) on the roof of the Embassy who had eyes on this front area the entire time.
We are the only ones here, but the guard requires us to all one by one, go through the z “fencing” the little retractable people herding lines. We all follow through and end up at the correct window. Now back to English, we explain who we are, although she greeted me by name prior to an introduction. So, they must have been expecting this group? As we had been communicating with someone inside a lot the last few days.
Hand in the paperwork, she starts to organize it all, and says it looks good. The window sticker, and website said credit/bank cards are ok.
Agent “payment please”
Us “hands her a visa”
Agent “sorry, not that kind of visa”
Me “ holds up my bank card visa, and then my capitol one card”
Agent “ sorry those cards wont work, only specific visa cards’
Me “ what kind of card”
Agent “visa, or cash. But it has to be USD and exact” She hands all the documentation back to us and says, “bring cash, and if you get back ASAP. We can probably get a rush on an emergency passport, but there is only 1 person here doing that today. We are running with a skeleton crew”
Us” Thanks, we will try some ATM’s”
We start heading back.
Guard in Spanish “exit through the pathways”, (the z fencing) and he stops each one of us in turn. Making sure 1 person is through, before the next can go.
This area is open and sheltered by some large concrete planters. But no actual fence, or anything like that.
The first banks we hit, the ATM;s wont dispense USD. We found another, close to our apartment, that advertises USD. We get some USD, and head back.
Same guard, same process as above. Wands us, 1x1, with a few more roving guards in this area now. Stand in line, get to the window. All looks good, she says the person who lost their passport can no go through security. After handing a specific slip to then. I ask if the two family members can go in together. Which they instantly denied.
Back through the Z fence, to the 1st guard. Hands him the slip. Explains no watches, phones, jewelry, pockets must be empty, no hats, sunglasses, etc. The roof guards I can plainly see watching us through some binoculars. They are probably just bored, I think.
In the process of emptying pockets and combining all the paperwork we hand my friend the cash. He jams it inside his pocket. The guard wands him again, his pocket beeps. He goes to empty his pocket and all this cash falls to the ground and starts to blow away. They very cash needed to pay for this emergency passport.
Two of us go after the cash.
We are reminded to move slowly. And escorted by a second guard back to the 1st and the third member of our group.
Buss and van traffic has picked up quite a bit now. And many people are shouting, motorcycles end E bikes jumping the curb to get through traffic. Every few mins, a few more loads of people unload and continues down the street.
We are now holding everything for the third member. And the guard’s motion for him to step forward, reminding him to look up, face forward and at the cameras. He chuckles and pretends to cover his eyes and walk forward.
No one laughs, two of us shake our heads, tell him this is not the time for jokes. The guards reverse him. Wand him again, and then allow him to walk forward. We watch as he enters the gates, kill box;s and walkthrough scanners and out of our view…. Its maybe 9: 30 now?
Flights out at midnight.
