Visa Extended, Bus Trip to Patagonia

Yesterday I managed to have my visa extended for 90 days so that I can remain in Argentina until 15 August.  It was not an easy task, even though I had the good fortune of having the help of Pato Salas.

We went to the immigration office here in the port area and found it closed even though it was 11 AM and their advertised hours were 9 AM to 1 PM.  Pato called their "emergency" number and was told that we would have to go to the main immigration office somewhere in the city.  Pato found it and after a wait in the queue there was a lot of discussion in Spanish that was way beyond my depth then Pato told me that we had to go to a business a block away and have every page of my passport photocopied.  We returned with the copies and the next step was for me to pay 300 pesos at the branch of a certain bank.  I groaned because I had spent a full 2.5 hours in the bank waiting to make a similar payment when had I first entered the country. 

We drove to the bank and I suggested that Pato leave me in the bank and I would later take a bus back to the boat but he said that he'd go in and have a look at the situation.  I gave him the 300 pesos in case he got lucky.  He returned 15 minutes later reporting success.  He had taken the next number for the queue, saw that the wait would be impossible, then jumped in front of the next number called to the teller, who was a bit slow in moving.  Pato used his formidable gift of the gab and got the teller to accept the money and stamp the document. 

We returned to the immigration office after their formal 1 PM closing but they let me in and after 20 minutes I had the visa. Without Pato's help the process would have taken me days.

With my tenure in Argentina secure Brenda and I visited the tourist office to make payment on an 8-day bus tour into the Patagonia region of Argentina.  We catch the bus on Sunday afternoon and travel all night to San Martin de los Andes, at the foot of the Andes mountain range, where we will spend 2 nights.  We will then go to Bariloche, further south, for 3 nights.  We will return to MdP on Sunday 20 May.