Just the other day we received our certificates for the completion of the Ecuadorian drivers’ education course that we completed on June 11. When I (Steve) arrived to pick up the certificates, they gave me another list of things that we had to do or have before we can get our licenses.
Here’s the list:
1. Copy of cédula of identification. We don’t have a cédula. We have a censo, which is the identity card for foreign nationals. I am told that this will suffice. It has so far for all the other things we have had to do.
2. Copy of your voting papers. In Ecuador, the law says that everyone must vote. It’s not just a right, it’s an obligation for Ecuadorians. You have to produce this paper every time you do any type of other paperwork. That’s their way of enforcing the voting law. We have been told that we don’t need this either, because we are not Ecuadorian.
3. Copy of blood type and group. We had to provide this once already. It involved three trips to the Red Cross to find someone available to do it. Fortunately, we still have our card, so all we have to do is make a copy.
4. Two color carnet size photos. I didn’t even know what a carnet size photo was until we got here. It’s a little bit smaller than a passport photo. I think we have already printed and supplied enough of those to wallpaper a small bathroom. But we’ve only got one left for each of us, so we have to get some more made.
5. Original of the Legalization Form of the Non-Professional Certificate to Drive. That’s the form, signed by four different people, that says that we passed the exam given in the drivers’ ed course. That’s one of the forms that I picked up the other day.
6. Original of the Non-Professional Certificate to Drive. This is a suitable-for-framing (if anyone would want to) diploma-like certificate that says we finished the course. I picked those up from the other day too.
7. Medical Certificate of health. This is a new one that we are not too sure about. The lady at the drivers’ ed place said we could get a certificate of health from any hospital, including the HCJB hospital in Shell, but we have heard from one of the other folks here that they would only allow a certificate from an Ecuadorian hospital. We’ll see.
8. Pass the Provincial Transit Commission exam. This is twenty multiple-choice questions, mostly on the traffic laws and the consequences of disobedience. We’ll need to bring all of the above paperwork in order to be allowed to take this test. If we pass, we will (supposedly) get our licenses.
So we will proceed through this list. Hopefully, it’s the last list. But it wouldn’t surprise me if some things change between now and the time we complete the list. Maybe we’ll have our driver’s licenses shortly, and maybe not. All told, it has been a great exercise in patience.
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Sounds oh too familiar although ironically, it wasn’t this way for our driver’s license — in fact, after giving someone our info and pictures, he was able to get them for us. There’s a national who works for SIL who knows people in most of the government offices so his “job” is processing paperwork for people for temporary residence cards, drivers’ licenses, etc. I think we paid him $10 for his service, and it was more than worth it!
So, I have a driver’s license, but I hardly ever use it. It’s nice that I can run to a ladies meeting or something, though! But the way the taxis and moto taxis have the run of the road here with no laws — it makes me nervous that I will hit someone as they weave in and out from both sides of me or they will hit me — and we all know who will instantly be at fault — of course, me! Sigh… I get honked at when I drive when I’m not aggressive enough at the round-abouts or when I wait for two seconds instead of pulling around the taxi that stopped — instead of pulling around into the oncoming lane and making the two lane road into a three lane road where no one slows down. Not sure if it’s similar there or not.
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