We arrived in the first Empanada Stand about 5 minutes from my house selling one Empanada for 4 Bs which is very cheap. But we were not satisfied with the quality of the Empanada and also since queso (cheese) is not my friend and they only had Empanada con queso. So we decided to hop into a Panaderia nearby where we indulged ourselves in what satisfied us - Torta de Pan.
As we left I stack my Passport between the pages of my book to prevent it from bending from my back pocket. Stupid as it sounds, this is how I lost my passport. After like 15 minutes I realized that my Passport was not with me. I decided to retrace my path to the Panaderia as I was sure I had it when I left. But until I arrived my Passport was nowhere to be found.
I had to go back to work. The first thing I did was google my nearest Embajada which according to the information I had, had to be in Brazil. But my searching results were giving me the Embajada of Tanzania in US as my nearest one. Something wasn't right.
I picked my the phone and called my mom in Tanzania and explained the whole situation. I asked her to call the Immigration and find out the process to take. She got back to me and told me I needed to contact our nearest Embajada which was in Brazil and this time she provided me with the name of our Ambassador - Francis Malambuji - together with his phone numbers. This is our Ambassador who hasn't put up the website since being appointed in 2010.
I picked up the phone and called the Embajada and the Secretary by the name of Andres answered and told me that the Ambassador was not in and I should leave my number. He also told me to send all the documents through an email address which would bounce for the rest of the weekend. On Monday I called again and I was given another email which this time went.
From Wednesday till Sunday, I had already put up an announcement in the local newspaper, El Impulso which to date hasn't borne any fruit. I also printed 50 announcements which I have been sticking around the streets I pass. Funny enough, someone has been taking them off. I haven't understood this. I am trying to wrap my head around it. It is not some authority but some random people according to the information I have gathered. 'It happens here,' I was told.
On the day my Passport was lost I visited the local police office which didn't get me anywhere. They seemed to be more confused than I was and unaware of the procedure in such a situation. They told me to go to a section called SAIME (Servicio Administrativo de Identificacion, Migracion y Extranjeria)
When I got there, I was directed to head upstairs where a lady told me there is nothing they could do for me. The first sentence she told me was to get another passport. And then I proceeded by telling her that I needed a constancia which is a written declaration notifying that my passport is lost. With this constancia my Embajada can start processing my new passport. But she told me they won't be able to do that as they are not in charge. I then asked where I should go and they told me to the Police. But then I told her that it was the Police which brought me to them. Nothing was coming out of this and so I left.
By luck there was a gentleman, some politician big wig who Anastasiia found me through one of her student. He had agreed to take me to a special section called CICPC ( Cuerpos de Investigaciones Cientificas, Penales y Criminalisticas). But during the day, the gentleman got an accident. I decided to go by myself. But the problem was finding the location. No one really knew and there was no address on the Internet or anyway else. The best people could offer me was to tell me it was far away from the city, in the Zona Industrial and that I would need someone to take me.
So after much deliberation, I decided to call one of my Venezuelan friend who was kind enough to take me there the next day. When we arrived we were ushered to a special department and before we knew it the letter was written from a template found on the computer and in less than five minutes I had my constancia and we left. With this I can use it as my temporary Passport while waiting for mine to be made. I had a feeling the process would be difficult and that I would find many people like in the Extranjeria but it was completely different.
Now with this constancia I can send it to the Embajada in Brazil so they can start processing a new Passport for me. Taking into account that a week has passed, I have no hope of finding my old Passport. I have made peace with that. My heart is calm. So now in case there is someone using it to steal or enter into some crazy drug dealing business, a report has been made.
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