Back to the Drawing Board

Well, we went to Azogues to attempt to transfer our visa to our new passports and, as all things go, it was pretty standard Ecuador. The transfer did not happen. (Okay, probably not a big surprise.) What did take us by surprise was the reason. 

Ron's pension statement comes in his day-to-day name, meaning "Ron", not Ronald. What's that commercial for men's hair colour? Reee-JECTed. When we actually received the visa, the pension letter was addressed to Ron (not Ronald, nor any mention of that). They have the letter in their files, verified by the Canadian government, notarized and duly translated. Said file made no appearance on the desk of our agent, almost like it doesn't exist or they don't know where to find it.

How I felt about it all

We didn't even get to my paperwork...what's the point? It really felt like the agent was just looking for a reason to reject us. Another couple who had been in the foyer had issues, too. Their agent said they wanted an original letter from their health insurance company stating coverage in PERPETUITY. (What private insurer is going to issue THAT?) I'm starting to wonder if we're facing a bit of racism. The one person who actually managed to get their visa transferred had a Latino name and really solid Spanish. Paranoia on my part, perhaps. It might be coming from the bad taste in my mouth.

There's nothing like having someone make you feel like you're stupid or treating you like a criminal. We can't quite decide what to do next. Perhaps we'll worry about it once we're back from our trip. Hey at least we saved ourselves $300USD.