Baby turtles, Temporary Residency and more

BABY TURTLES, TEMPORARY RESIDENCY AND MORE

“We take photos as a return trip with the ones you love.” Katie Thurmes

As you may have read in my last blog, my husband and I are applying for Temporary Residency in Mexico. We were approved at the Mexican Consulate in Vancouver, B.C.  We had 60 days to finish it in Mexico.

 Last Thursday, we went to the immigration office to start the process and hopefully finish it, as it usually only takes a few hours. When we started the process, they asked for our FMM, and we explained that we flew into Puerto Vallarta, and they said they were no longer necessary. At the time, we thought great, less paperwork. Because the INM (Immigration) wanted to see our FMM, we had to try to download it. Long story short, it took a while, but we got it downloaded but couldn’t access it. Then the power went out for 4 hours. The next day was a holiday and, of course, the weekend, so we had to wait until Monday.

On Monday, we head back to the office. They managed to finish mine but before they could finish my husband’s, they decided that all the offices were to be fumigated to control mosquitos. Of course, we had to leave the office, and after waiting a bit for it to air out, we went back inside, and they started his again.

Then there was an earthquake drill, so once again, we left the office to participate. Back again, and they managed to finish his. They asked us to come back in 40 minutes to get our photos and fingerprints done. We decided to go across the street to a restaurant and have a beverage. We were there for about a half hour when a real earthquake happened! We were told it was 7.6 . The building was really shaking, and it was difficult to get outside. After the earthquake, we couldn’t finish because the whole system was down. So we had to go back again the next day. We were able to get our photos and fingerprints done. We waited over two weeks for the cards to arrive! So what was normally a few hours to do took days. But it is done.

During the two weeks, we were fortunate enough to take part in the release of 500 turtles. We headed to the beach at the appointed time, which I found out later was determined by a few factors. One, the sun had to go down so the birds would nest for the night and not have baby turtles on the menu. Second, they were watching the waves, as in Goldilocks and the three bears, where the porridge had to be not too hot or too cold but just right. They wanted as few obstacles for the hatchlings as possible, as only 1 in a thousand make it. Once that happened, we all lined up to get a baby turtle and take it to the ocean to be released. As I was waiting in line, I talked to a local woman and explained that this was my first time doing this. She immediately grabbed my hand and brought me up to the front of the line (the children had already taken theirs) and got a turtle for me. She then brought me down to the ocean and showed me where I should let it go. Apparently, you can’t get too close to the ocean. The organizers draw a line in the sand as to where you should stand and release them. It was an awesome feeling. I hope my little one made it

A few days later, we left on our exploring trip. We took an ETN bus, which is the most luxurious line for comfort. It took us over 6 hours, and then we took a taxi to Jocotepec to start our adventure. More on the next blog.