this is a man's world...

although I still owe a number of blogs from Brazil I just had to jump forward a few weeks and share with you two thiings that happened this weekend.

you sould know that I am now in Buenos aires, only the chicest city in latin America.

the second thing that happened this weekend…

my family very kindly shipped out my laptop to me.  but frustratingly, in more ways than one, it got stuck at customs.  last week I tried twice to retrieve it, but with argentine beaurocracy the way it is, my attempts were in vain.

so this morning I set out to collect it.  here’s how my day went, bare with me, it's a long one but quick…

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I got the subway to the dhl office in centro, which I am now quite familiar with, having been there twice last week.  I presented my passport that this time I had brought with me.  without it I would not be given the paperwork I required to free the incarcerated laptop.

I paid two hundred and sixty pesos and got my first set of forms…  my first.

I was told that I then had to go  to customs at the international airport.  the minibus I had been told I could catch failed to show, so I hailed a taxi.

the taxi dropped me at the customs security where I paid the one hundred and twenty pesos for the ride.

at the security gate I presented my passport again, and got a slip.

this slip I showed to the second security guard at the turnstyle.

I then proceeded to the  office.  here I showed my paperwork and my passport again.  the lady advised me that I needed to take a numbered ticket and wait my turn.  those of you who are familiar with the classic movie beetlejuice will remember the scene that sprung to mind.  my number was number one and the screen showed three hundred and ninety nine…

when my turn eventually came up, I entered office number two where I showed my passport and paperwork.  this was copied and stamped and I was given a new form, which I duly signed.

this I was told I needed to take to office number one.  at office number one I was seen by one young fellow, to whom I showed my passport and documents.  I then was redirected to an older gentleman who asked me to return in fifeteen minutes.  

cigarette.

back in office number one the older fellow asked me to wait a few more minutes.  then he checked my paperwork, signed it, stamped it and gave me some new sheets and asked me to go to office three.

at office three I showed my paperwork and was asked to accompany the gentleman to office four.

at office four my package was retrieved, opened and checked, presumably for contraband items that my parents were likely to include in the package.  the package was closed and retaped shut with a different colour tape.  it had obviously already been opened at some point.

I then returned with the fellow to office three where he asked me about my entrance into argentina and asked me to sign some new forms and take them to office two again.

this time I jumped the queue and went straight to the smoke filled office and to the slightly aged looking lady.  here she checked the paperwork, signed it, I signed it and she copied it and added more pages.

yes you’ve guessed it, she then asked me to return to office one… by this point I am giggling…

at office one I see the young fellow again after waiting in line patiently.  to him I pay one hundred and eighty pesos, all the while praying that after all this, my credit card has not been blocked.  once the payment had been made, he asked me to go to see his older colleague, the same one that had asked me to wait before.

here he gives me some paperwork and…. sends me back to office three!!!  at office three he gives me a piece of red paper which he tells me I must guard with my life and sends me back to office one…

I go back to office one where he stamps and checks all of the papers, keeps them all except the red one I am guarding with my life and sends me to office four to collect my parcel…

but by this point, you can imagine, I can't believe it is this easy.   so I join another queue at office four and wait to see what happens next.  but I am approached and told that I can go straight to the window for my parcel.

package in hand, I look around somewhat confused.  surely this isn't it.  surely there is another stage to all of this.  but I head towards the exit and of course there is one last thing to do.  I meet security and they ask me for the red paperwork.  

I am now back in a taxi, laptop in hand and typing this, watching the metre run up beyond eighty five pesos…

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number of times I showed my passport - five

number of times I entered an office - fourteen

number of pesos spent - too many