Salvoconducto

As you all know, we have been moving this week.  If you don't know you can read all about it here, here and here.  Or you can skip all that.  Totally up to you.

It has been an interesting process but if you have ever moved before, you can imagine pretty much what my week has been like.  First the packers showed up with more packing material than they could have used in packing up the whole block:

And this is only half of it...

Then, they proceeded to try and prove me wrong on my last statement by using so much paper on each and every thing I owned that I thought I was going to have to make a large cash donation to Trees for the Future.

It really was an ordinary move as far as moves go.  They packed and moved and just generally made a mess out of the order that was our lives.  Like I said, completely ordinary.  Except (oh, you knew there was an exception, you were waiting for it even) for that stubborn Salvoconducto.  The salvoconducto is a form letter that by law the movers need notarized before they will even take a toothbrush out of your house.  Yep, you need a note from your landlord before you can legally move you out of your rental.

It isn't really difficult, but it can be time consuming.  You need to have a letter from your landlord saying that you are up to date on your rent.  Then you need the last 3 months worth of cancelled checks to prove that you and your landlord are both telling the truth.  You will also need the last 3 months of paid statements for your water, electric, gas and your grocery bills (I'm just kidding on the last one, but it's about the only thing they don't ask you for).  You take these things, your cedula (ID card) along with the copy of your landlords cedula, a copy of your rental contract and a partridge in a pear tree (again, just kidding.  I think.)  This goes to the notary in your comuna (neighborhood) and you sign and fingerprint the document (not kidding - they put a fingerprint on all official signatures here to prove that you are really the person that signed it).  Once you have your salvoconducto, your are free to have your belongings moved out of your home.

It wouldn't have been too difficult, just time consuming, if B hadn't been out of town the whole 10 days before we moved.  The landlord tried to take all of the documents to the notary and do it for us seeing as he was the person that was renting us the house.  Nothing doing.  I tried to get them to let me do it since I am his wife and also a renter.  But my name is not on the contract.  This could only be done by B.  Thank goodness the packers were good enough to start the process - without the salvo, without taking anything out of the premises - on the promise that B would have it by that afternoon.

And he did.

 From there on out, things went smoothly.  Better than smoothly actually.  I can officially say that I only have 2 more boxes to unpack and 2 sets of drapes to hang and we are all moved in.   And that includes all pictures hung, knick knacks placed and toys with homes.   Probably a record for me as it has only been 6 days since this move started.  It is one of the big perks of being able to move 2 doors down and unpack and set up, as they are still packing up your other house.  It allows you to keep ahead of the deluge of boxes. And the mass of paper...Oh, the masses of paper.  I would have loved it if they had taken the paper and re-used it (and the boxes too) but I think they were charging by the amount of supplies used.  I may need to make that donation to the reforestation efforts after all.