Registering Matthew

A few days ago we went into Teguc to register Matthew. Knowing that it would take a while, we hired Jenny Jackson to watch the kids and keep them going on school. We left at 9:00 am and got into town at around 10:00. We decided to go to the registry first and then do our running around. We got there and had a hard time finding a parking spot. We saw a huge line outside the registry. So instead of just getting in line we decided to push and shove like everyone else to trying to get inside and ask which line we are supposed to be in. There are two doors leading into the registry and both have lines that go around the building. We finally pushed our way up to the door and as politely as I could I started yelling, "Excuse me, I just have a question", in Spanish of course, when the guard opened the door. Finally he got to me and I asked him what we needed to do to get our baby registered. He told us that we had to be there at 8:00 am and get a number. He told us that there are only 50 numbers given out a day and over 300 people who show up to get a number. That means if we want to be one of the first 50, we must be there at 6:00 am to be one of the first 50 in line to get a number.

I was so frustrated. When we registered Joey there was a line, but it only took about 2 hours to get helped. It seems that with time the process should get better and more time efficient. To deal with just 50 people a day is crazy. A good worker could do that in less than 3 hours.

We decided to take Matthew to San Buenaventura (the town where we live) and register him there. We thought that going to Teguc would get us the papers much faster. So the next day, we went to the registry in San Buena and found out that the man in charge of registering was in Teguc. They took our phone number and told us they would call us when he came back. Later that afternoon Jason checked back in with them and was told that while the man was there, they had not been given the official book for births yet. They had the one for deaths and marriages, but not births. We checked back a few days later and they still hadn't received it. They suggested that since the land we own is part of Santa Ana (another town nearby), we should try to go there to register Matthew. We did yesterday and finally we got him registered. It will take us about a week to get his official birth certificate, but that is fine with us.

We need a Forma Larga (Long Form) certificate as well as the normal one for the US government. We had a time explaining to the registrar what we needed, but finally she understood and told us that she would have it ready at the same time, but it would be handwritten as they don't have even a typewriter. I hope the US government doesn't have a problem with that. Once we get the papers in order we will go and try to get his US citizenship. We are in a little hurry this time. We need to have everything done before tax time. :-)