Bureau-crazy or Burro-cracia

Navigating the world of visas is proving to be an unexpected headache.

 

It was my romantic vision that I would like to travel in Europe by bicycle.  As a Colombian citizen, I would need a visa.  If I were a US citizen, I would not need a visa.  Citizens of most European countries do not need a visa to travel in Colombia, or the US.  I don´t want to make this double standard the subject of this post, but I would like to point it out.  For whatever historical reasons, the citizens of many developing countries, especially Colombia, need visas to travel to developed countries.  I can only imagine that the assumption is that those in developing countries traveling to developed countries may choose to illegally stay there, or that they are transporting illegal contraband or something along those lines.  So they make you get a visa.

 

I started writing the day-by-day details of why this process has been so insightful into the absurdity of the bureaucracy surrounding this seemingly simple process, but I got too frustrated and decided that it´s better just to recap.  I wanted to travel for several weeks in the European Union.  First I was told to get the visa in Bogota.  In Bogota, I was told to get one in Boston.  In Boston I was told to change my flight.  Then I was told that I could not get the visa I wanted.  Then I was given a visa other than what I expected.  The short of it is that I am here in Spain with a visa that only lasts until Sep 13 but my return ticket is on Oct 17.  So my headache is not done.  I have to wait until September when most of Spain returns from vacation so that I can talk to a guy named Jesus who may help me extend my visa.

 

Speaking of headaches, I am writing at 7am local time because this is when I have returned from a night out partying.  Dinner started just before midnight, and then we hit several bars afterwards.  I am still a little jet lagged, so it feel relatively early for me, although I really need to hit the hay.

 

My bike is still missing.  My visa is still not what I need it to be.  I can´t drive because I forgot to get an international driver´s license back in the states.  I am still jet lagged, and I feel like a foreigner, like I´ve never really felt before.  I am far from home.  6875km to be exact, according to a compass etched in stone at a restaurant in Burgos.  But somehow, things still manage to be ok.  I am going with the flow, and so far it has steered me well.  I spent most of today at a country club, sleeping poolside.  Can´t really complain about that.