Getting our Driver's License

We mentioned in a previous blog that live here in Guatemala is more time consuming than life in North America and Europe.  Things that maybe take minutes to do or maybe an half and hour or an hour can take several hours or days in Guatemala and countries like Guatemala.

Recently we had to renew our Guatemala license and we thought we would explain to you the process in order for you to experience what it is like. Step 1 in the process was to get an eye exam.  This consisted of five sub-steps.  First we saw the receptionist who wrote down our names.  Next we had to see the doctor who checked our eyes.  From there we were sent to another desk where they took our picture.  We next had to see the receptionist again and had to pay the fee.  From there we were sent with a piece of paper to see the eye doctor who had to sign the paper.  After that the final step was to have all our papers photocopied.  This whole process took almost an hour.  Step two in the process was to proceed to the place where they issue the license.  This also consisted of several sub-steps.  First we were given some papers at the door to fill out.  From there we had to pay the fees for our license.  After this we were sent to have our driving record checked to see if we had any outstanding fines.  We did not so we were asked to go to the next step.  At this step we were had all our papers looked at and processed.  When this was finished we had to go to the next step which was having our picture taken for the license.  The final step was waiting for our license to be printed and given to us.  This process also took almost an hour.  In total it took us around 2 hours to get our license.  This might sound like a lot of time, but we were actually quite happy at how quickly we were able to get our license.  Things in some areas a becoming more efficient.  

However, there are other areas that continue to be very time consuming.  We are in the process of getting residency status for our two youngest children and the immigration office keeps changing the requirements  Almost every person you speak to at the immigration office has something different to say.  It becomes quite frustrating after a while.  Hopefully, one of these days this will all be arranged.