Last Monday we went to Fortaleza to apply for Hendrick's Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and his US Passport. Monday night we got on a bus, but only after much anticipation from Kylie. She was more excited to be on the bus and going somewhere than anyone. After settling in for the eight to ten hour ride, though, she settled down and went to sleep.
More than a couple times when we have traveled, we have encountered taxi drivers that either don't know the part of town we are going to, or want to run up the meter. I decided that planning ahead and printing out a map with directions would be better. It was a great idea. The taxi driver took us right to the address on the map.
Except the address was wrong.
I am still not sure how that happened, but once we got it figured out the address was wrong, I went from my memory. The problem was, that this guy had no interest in what I remembered, and insisted on getting more phone credits and calling for directions (all while the meter was running, of course). He came back with the same information I remembered, and we were on our way.
We now have a new family rule: Don't get in taxis where the driver is really old.
At the Consular Agent, we submitted our paperwork and discovered that we would have to get new photos, since the ones we had were not the right size. So once we got those taken and submitted, we had the rest of the day to play, since our bus was scheduled to leave at 9:00 PM.
We had lunch at a great restaurant, which I can't remember the name of, then we were off to the beach. After a short stop at a mall. At the restaurant we had been told that the beach was "800 meters that way," it ended up feeling like 1600 meters. But what do I know?
The fun part was that Kylie was so excited about the beach that she forgot we were walking. By the time we got there she had just started wondering if we would ever get there. She loved the water. We played for a while, had some coconut water and ice cream, and then washed up and caught a taxi back to the bus station. This taxi ride was much less eventful.
At the bus station we had some time, still, so Kylie made some friends with other kids waiting there. Once we were on the bus, she was asleep. The four of us were sharing two seats, so one might imagine that the kids slept better than the parents.
The first thing Kylie said when she woke up? "Daddy, let's go to the beach!"
Hendrick's US Passport could take almost two months to get here, they said. That is when we plan to schedule our trip back to the States.
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