'Copy of your passport please'... here you go... 'NO- we need a black and white copy- NOT a color one...come back...again' -Ecuador Procedures

Let me tell you a story about how to attain your License in Ecuador: Step 1: Must get your blood type test done. Loren and I went to get this done at the Police Hospital. While we walked into the building the News crew was outside filming the bullet holes in the wall from when the President was captured and held there a few weeks before. We go to a window and pay $2.60 each then proceed to the lab where they will prick our thumb. The medical facility there looked like a storage warehouse- not a 'clean medical lab'. We went inside and the man told us to hold out our thumb. He pulled out this small razor blade and sliced the thumb. That produced blood enough for him to put it on the glass plate. He told us to then go and sit down. We sat about 5 minutes when he called me (Alaina) back in. They had to re-do my test and squeezed my healing thumb for more blood. Loren on the other hand did not have to do this extra testing... Then they came back with our results. They were excited to tell me I had A positive blood type. I looked at it and said- last I checked I had A negative blood. We asked them to re-do my test again. So I gave them some more drops from my throbbing thumb. The first test they did (just by a man looking at my blood in the light) he said "I can't tell". Then they put some more drops into a test tube and told me to go sit down. They came back 2 minutes later and said- You do have A negative blood type! I looked at them not really sure if I was relieved or not. Let us just say I made sure to call my mom and confirm my blood type with a more reliable source than what they said! Step 2: Must attain your Ecuador Police record. The next day from the blood type test we hopped in a taxi and went to a different Police place near the market. As soon as we got their it had closed 20 minutes before at 4 in the afternoon. We just knew that would happen- so we went to a Venezuelan restaurant and ate an arrepa (if you don't know what that is please come visit us, we will show you!!). The next day bright and early we went down to the police station. On the wall we read the day before "all you need to get your police record is your Censo." We brought multiple copies of our passports, copies of our censos, our actual censos, and a $20. We got up to the front of the line and she saw the information we had and said- we need your actual Passport, not just a copy. And exactly $5 each- not $20. We just turned around and walked out. Attempt 2 failure. And they said on their window WHAT! So- the third day we got there as soon as they opened. We walked up to the front and actually gave us our Police records- and did not need a copy of one single thing! It really just depends on who your teller is. Isn't that comforting. Those are all the steps we have taken so far- the process will take I am guessing a few months- if not longer... oh the days where we lived in the states and you could renew your license all in one day! We would love to update you on the next adventure with actually getting our license here. Our next step is to take the written test (all in Spanish). We must first wait for some paperwork to come back- we will let you know when we get our license...Some day... <3 Alaina