Costalegre Jalisco Mexico

Yesterday my friend Enrique and I went to our new driver's license office to renew our licenses. Little did we guess we were about to embark on a trek though bureaucratic h*ll. New rules to go with the new office. I though about giving a blow-by-blow account, but decided on just this quick summary: We were required to make a total of 9 visits to 4 offices -- lapsed time = 4 hours.

At the end of the nightmare, Enrique had a license; I did not. At the very end, there was a final paper check (by then the stack of papers totaled 8 sheets) before going to the cashier's station to pay $480 pesos ($341 three year ago, $250 six years ago). Enrique's papers were OK, so he got his license. The clerk (a very nice young man) said I had a problem: they could not accept my FM3; I would have to go to INM to get a letter saying I was truly living in Mexico legally. Well shiitt!

As we were leaving, the big Jefe came in. He is a friend of the family, so Enrique told him about our problem. He said "I can can take care of that." He called the clerk into his office and after a short chat, the clerk came out saying everything was OK, but it past closing time, and the cashier had closed her window, so we would have to come back this morning. I went away frustrated, but glad we did not have to wait several more days while INM made a letter. Oh! How wrong I was!

This morning we arrived to learn that the Jefe had called the main state office in Durango just to be sure that he had the authority to wave the FM3 rule. No, he does not. It is nor a new rule by the office, rather it is a new law that says driver's licenses can only be given to citizens. He said it is a new national law that applies all across the country. I don't know if that is really true, but I do know that I'm not going to be able to get a license in Durango.

I don't have a big problem driving with an expired license. It might cause some minor problem with the police, but I can deal with that. But I do have a very big problem driving without insurance -- no license, no valid insurance.

I very much want citizenship, and I'm going to try, but I don't think I can pass the language test. And it can take as much as a year to get citizenship after passing the tests.

I've always known that I would have to give up driving sooner or later. I just hate that it seems to be sooner than later.

What's a poor mother to do?

I sure hope your milage will vary.