Side trip to Oaxaca
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
15
27
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
Oaxaca,
Mexico
Friday, February 8, 2008
So I did some checking and discovered that there is a US Consulate Office in Oaxaca, which was closer to Puerto Escondido than Acapulco. FYI, it would take about 8-9 hours to drive to Acapulco as opposed to about 5 to Oaxaca. So rather than waiting to go with the RV to Acapulco, we decided to drive the 150 miles to Oaxaca in the SUV and return the same day.
We started out at about 5:00am, while it was still dark, and took Hwy 135 to Oaxaca. Let me tell you, the scenery, once we could see it, was okay, if you like nothing but mountains and lots of curves. There were far too many to actually count them, however, we did take several counts along the way for a mile's distance, to find an average, then multiplied. Over the 150 miles, one way, with about 16-18 curves per mile, that adds up to over 2500 curves each way!
And then there's the topes! Luckily, going through the mountains, there weren't that many little villages, however, each of those villages had several topes. The grand total was 150, which averaged one per mile, each way! Add that to the 2500 curves, we were happy enough averaging about 30 mph, tops!
When we got to Oaxaca, the traffic was totally congested, not to mention that most all of the streets in the center of town, where we had to go, were all one-way streets. So it took a bit of manuevering to find the Consulate, which, to add to everything, was on a pedestrians-only street. So Terry dropped me off and then went to try to find parking.
I found the building, went upstairs to the Consulate Office and then had to wait. I had called the day before and talked to the Consular agent, so after a not unreasonable wait, I was able to go in to talk with him. He was very nice and told me what to fill out, pay the US $100 fee and then where to go to get instant passport photos made to complete the application.
Now mind you, they don't issue passports at the Consulate. The application has to be sent to the US Embassy in Mexico City where it would be issued. I had been told before and they told me again that this process would take at least 4-5 weeks, more likely 6-8 weeks!!! So I instructed them to have it sent to the US Consulate in Mazatlan, which was the farthest away and that we would take that long to get to.
So, off we go to the Kodak store on the Zocolo, another pedestrians-only area about 6-7 block away. After getting the photos, I returned to the Consulate, only to be told that they were the wrong size! As it turned out, I went downstairs to a copy and internet place, for them to make copies of the photos, just on paper a tiny bit larger, because the actual face size was already correct.
This turned out to be a lot harder than expected. First the copier didn't want to work, then it appeared to be that the girl didn't know how to do it, so she got another co-worker to do it. Finally, I delivered the correct size photos to the Consulate and left to find Terry who was waiting by the car.
We had planned to try to do a couple more errands in Oaxaca, but by this time we decided to forget them and head on back to Puerto Escondido. Once we got out of Oaxaca, I took over and drove us all the way back over the 2500 curves, 150 topes and we got back about 9:00pm, again in the dark!! So it was a long, tiring, and not at all a touristic day.
Remember the 5-8 weeks process time for the passport? Well, just one week later, I received an email saying it was ready and would be sent the next day to Mazatlan!! Luckily, I was online when the email came through and I was able to email back that it would be better to send it to Acapulco, since we would be going there the next week. The agent at the Embassy confirmed back to me that he would do that and gave me the address in Acapulco. As it turned out, we didn't get to Acapulco for another two weeks, but I emailed them and they said no problem, it would be held for my arrival.
