NOLA for a VISA

     For me to go and live in the country of Ecuador for the next nine months, I am required to have one very important (and expensive) piece of paper - a visa. Actually, it’s a whole page in the back of my passport and two typed, stamped, signed, and sealed documents. This is no easily acquired thing - just ask my soon-to-be roommate Laura. I only had such a smooth go of this process because she went first and hit all the bumps for me.

     To get the kind of visa I need, I had to provide: two application forms from the Ecuadorian government, a police report and background check, a notarized document saying I am not going to Ecuador to work for a paycheck, a copy of my passport, two photos for the application, and about five different pieces of highly legal documentation from Ecuadorian officials provided by my sponsors.
     Oh, and the $180 application fee.

     Once you have all these things in hand, you must make a trip to your nearest Ecuadorian Consulate General to sign all these documents in person. I called and got an appointment (something I learned was a must from a mishap of Laura’s) with Senor Consul for the morning of Tuesday, July 26th.

     Tuesday morning came along, and me and Dad woke up early so we could get ready in plenty of time for our meeting. From Laura’s bad experiences, I had planned for at least a half hour leeway before my actual meeting, just in case anything happened. And boy, was I so glad I did! The address on Google and even on the Ecuadorian government’s directory page told us to go to New Orleans’ World Trade Center Building. We found and paid for parking, went in, and discovered that the Ecuadorian Consulate was no longer there. A man behind their front desk sent us down the road to a large office building at 400 Poydras St.
     We leave and find the next building with a little difficulty (they have no numbers on their buildings). Again we negotiate and pay for parking, go in, and the nice doorman informs us that the Ecuadorian Consulate doesn’t have an office there, but that Venezuela does. While I attempt to find another phone number to call (the one listed had been disconnected, and directory assistance didn’t even have a listing for the Ecuadorian Consulate), Dad went up to the Venezuelan Consulate to see if they might have a new address for Ecuador. Luckily they did, and we set off again.
     Third time was the charm, and after paying for parking AGAIN (you’re welcome New Orleans), we go up to the Consulate office. Consul Quinones was a very different person from the guy I had been picturing! I had talked to him on the phone, and he is as Hispanic as it gets. I had been expecting a middle aged, be-suited Latino man (yes I know, stereotypes will get me in trouble one day)…and out of the office walks a very tall African-Ecuadorian man, with shoulder length dreadlocks! I hope my face didn’t show the surprise I felt!

     Whatever his looks, Senor Quinones was very nice. He read through all of my paperwork, page by page. The translator lady was not in that day, but apparently everything was in order and between his English and my Spanish we managed to get everything done. He only had one or two questions for me, and at the end of his reading all I lacked were the two photos and a different type of police report. They wanted one on official police dept. letterhead, and the one I had had been done by a private company Global uses.

     While they processed my paperwork, I ran down to Walgreens and got my photos, and Dad called Pontotoc PD and fixed my police report drama. We returned, and I signed and received papers that were signed, stamped three times each, sealed, and had special stickers on them. My passport page has a special label stamped on it, and is also signed, stamped, sealed, and stickered. Funny enough, the fee I paid bought the stickers, not the visa. They actually say ‘30’, ‘50’, and ‘100’. All I have to do after returning home is fax the Consulate a copy of my plane ticket, and I’m free to travel to Ecuador!

     Laura, Senor Quinones remembered that there was another ‘Mississippi girl’ going to Ecuador just like me. You must have made a big impression on them!
     He also found it humorous that, while flipping through my passport, he didn’t find any Ecuador stamps. He says ‘You’ve never been to Ecuador?’ When I said ‘No, this is my first time!’ he just gives me this strange look, half rolls his eyes, and goes back to filling out paperwork! haha

New Orleans!

     Since you have to sign Ecuadorian visa paperwork in person, and our nearest Ecuadorian Consulate General is in New Orleans, my family decided that would make a nice last little family trip for us before I left. I mean, if you’re going to drive all that way anyway, might as well get some fun out of it, right? I love New Orleans, so I was all for it :)
     We drove down Sunday morning. My parents had arranged for us to stay at the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. They stayed there twenty-odd years ago on a former trip to NOLA and loved it, so they wanted to go back. If any of you want to spring for a great room the next time you’re down, I highly recommend it! The staff was amazingly polite and attentive, it’s located in walking distance of everything you want in the French Quarter, and the rooms are very plush. Also a bonus - valet parking garage, so you don’t have to fight to find parking. More on NOLA parking wars to come.

     Sunday afternoon we walked around a little, seeing the Quarter. My parents haven’t been in NOLA in years, so this was their first time back post-Katrina. My sister Molly had never been at all, so it was sort of a culture shock experience for her!

Me and the sis iPhoning away before we start our day :)

Bourbon Street

Jazz Funeral...is that the New Orleans version of an Irish wake? haha

     We ate supper at an amazing little hole-in-the-wall, the Crescent City Brewhouse. A little pricey, but the food is devine and the service was unbeatable. I ate the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had, and ’crunchified mac & cheese’, which was mac & cheese topped with cruched cheetos! The server said the chef got the recipe ’from the hood’. I told him I had to get more hood friends! Haha
     Of course, for dessert I just HAD to stop by and get Cafe du Monde to go. I figured the few blocks walk back to the hotel would settle my supper enough to make room for those amazing beignets, and whadda ya know, it did. I think if I were on death row, I'd request beignets as part of my last meal.

Little fried pieces of heaven, topped with powedered sugar glory

     Monday we were going to walk around some more, in the daylight, but we only got about an hour in before it started monsooning. Molly got to eat her first po’boy though, and even though it was bigger than she was she enjoyed it immensely.

   

This is her 'Oh my holy Lord, this is good' face.

    We decided since it was wet, we’d drive out along the River Road and see some of the big plantation houses. We stopped and toured Oak Alley plantation, which was GORGEOUS! and we took pics of several others along the road.

The famous oak alley...300 year old Virginian live oaks! 

Me & Molly twinking in the yellow

Great trees!

Giant copper pot they used to boil sugarcane syrup in to make molasses. They make great flower pots, no?

The 'baby oaks'...only 150 years old.

This would be an AMAZING climbing tree!

Oak Alley from the front

St. Joseph Plantation, next door to Oak Alley

Spanish moss...love how it looks on all the trees!

     Tuesday morning me and Dad dealt with my visa at the Consulate while Mama and Molly slept in (jealous!). We checked out of our hotel when me and Dad finished and drove down the coastline to Biloxi, just sightseeing. Molly had actually never been to Biloxi, and Mama and I hadn’t been down since the Christmas before Katrina, so it was kind of unreal to see the difference. We stopped and walked along the beach for about a half hour, but we were majorly disappointed in the beach there, so we didn’t stay as long as we wanted to. The beach was awful! The sand was nice and white, yes, but right at the water was covered in dead fish and stingrays the gulls had left, almost to the point you couldn’t walk there. It smelt awful, and looked worse. I’ve been to a lot of beaches in a lot of places, and that pretty much takes the ’worst beach ever’ award.
     We did stop at one souvenir store…lol. I love beach souvenir shops. It’s the epitome of clearance shopping. Where else can you get five t-shirts for ten bucks? Or a pair of flip flops for a dollar? Anyway, I found two shirts so I can show off my Mississippi roots while I’m in Ecuador. They are BRIGHT! One's highlighter pink and one is bright tiedye!

Un-American Sentiments? Not Hardly

     I have a bone to pick with the greater social networking world. All these kids on there (and by kids I mean you persons who don't have a drivers license, much less a diploma of any sort) see these posts and think 'Hey, that's funny, cool, whatever, I'm going to repost that.' Problem is, a lot of the time, they really have no idea what kind of a shallow image they're sending out about themselves and the world they live in.

     Case in point: I was reading back through some old posts I had missed while I was in Key West. That happened to be Fourth of July week, and many of the posts were patriotic, song lyrics, support-the-troops, etc. Until I came upon this one post, saying 'If you aren't listening to Katy Perry's 'Firework' or Miley Cyrus' 'Party in the USA' today, you don't deserve to live in America!'. Whooooo, that set me off BIG time.

     First, I'm sorry, but I deserve to live in America because I vote; I pay taxes; I have sent boxes to friends serving overseas in the military; I actually know the words to the Pledge, the Star Spangled Banner, and can name all 50 states and their capitals...I could go on.

     Second, my musical preference does NOT make or break me as an American. That's what it means to be American. You can listen to whatever you like, whatever day you like. I can listen to Jingle Bells in May, or The Star Spangled Banner on Halloween. It doesn't mean I'm any less of anything. And personally, I just don't like those two songs!
 
      I'm not a fan of most 'popular' music these days. I think it's just tacky, for the most part. The artists don't even try to actually have talent or even sing half the time, and the actual songs get worse and worse. (Rebecca Black's Friday, anyone?) Someone actually tweeted the other day about Justin Bieber being 'such an accomplished musician', they didn't see how he couldn't get the following of everyone on the planet. I'm sitting there thinking, 'The kid hasn't even accomplished puberty yet! Accomplished musician?!' I'm a music purist, I know, but Justin Bieber lacks a LOT to being considered accomplished in just about any circle.

     For those of you out there who are with the crowd thinking I'm now un-American because of my musical preferences, here's a taste of my America for you.

Fireworks and homemade ice cream, every Fourth of July

Kids playing in the sprinkler 

Lab puppies :)

Tomato soup, black eyed peas, fried okra. All grown in the garden and put up, every year. No, I've never eaten any of these foods bought at Wal-Mart. Yes, I plan to keep it that way.

T-ball with every kid in the community, and afterward begging our parents to let us buy the junk food the old concession stand sold. It tasted soooo good!

Walking down the road, picking Black-Eyed Susans

This is one of my favorite parts of where I live, and how I got to grow up. Watching all year as the farmers plow and plant their fields, watch the crops grow, watch as they drive their tractors up and down the fields. Driving to the fields in the ton truck or on the tractor with Granddaddy and Grandmama, drinking ice cold water from their cooler, letting the soybeans run over your toes and playing in the loose rough cotton, washing the mud off my feet at the water hydrant by the shop. 

Mission Trip 2011 - Fun Stuff!

     Needless to say, if our college class goes ANYWHERE, we are going to enjoy ourselves. This trip was for a part of the country none of us had been before, south Florida and the Keys. So, starting out we had a laundry list of things we wanted to do.
     First off, going into the Everglades, we stopped for....an airboat ride in Gator Park! Which would have been super cool and fun, except that about thirty seconds after we get on the boat, it starts raining. Now normally, in Florida if it starts raining, it's going to stop in just a few minutes. That day, it rained, and rained, and rained, and RAINED! Rain kind of stings when you're going super fast in an airboat, FYI. But definitely a do-again if I go back, just going to make sure I check the weather that day!
     Also at Gator Park, our tickets included a wildlife show. Well, the show wasn't half as interesting as the show's guide. This poor fella had honestly the worst voice I"ve ever heard! We thought he was doing it as a joke, until he kept on going. YouTube 'Gator Park Show' and enjoy. Well, I enjoyed it until he pushed a 'harmless' scorpion named Esmarelda very close to my face....low point of my day there! At least it wasn't a snake....

Esmarelda....grrrrr

We look real pretty after that soggy, breezy airboat ride, don't we?

     Next, we stop at Everglades National Park. Or, more correctly, Death by Mosquito National Park. We went down four little walking trails/boardwalks, and three out of the four were at high speed, as we were running for our lives trying not to catch malaria. Mind you, we all sprayed down with Off before each, and eventually we started spraying the air too! I think those mosquitos actually like the stuff...

     Now that first trail was great! It was an open boardwalk over some marshy area and some open water/lake. We saw, very very up close, about 15 huge alligators, 2 turtles, a bunch of birds and fish, and one snake that we hope wasn't poisonous!

     Our plan was to drive the length of the Everglades, but after that fourth trail's mosquitos were approaching nuclear size and demonic possession, we decided it was not meant for us to take that route, and we skedaddled!

     Once we got to the Keys, we got the chance to go snorkeling. Our group's underwater pics aren't back yet, but it was a cool experience. It was my first time, and even though it wasn't my favorite thing (I'm not a water/swimming person, and the day we went it was really rough so we got a little sick) I still enjoyed it. I saw a bunch of rainbow fish, like the book! A few other fish, some big teal ones and a school of little black and blue ones (how 'bout them technical names?). We also swam/snorkeled in the canal behind one of the church members' houses, but only for about ten minutes since it had tons of jellyfish!

Canal Swimming

     We did venture down to actual Key West twice (we stayed on Big Pine Key), once really quickly just for a look around, and one entire day. We went to Southernmost Point (90 miles to Cuba!), Ernest Hemmingway's house, Key West lighthouse, and walked around Duval Street for a few hours. I'm very proud of myself with the lighthouse. I'm not good with heights at all. As in, if it's a choice between climbing on the counter or doing without something on the top shelf, I'm going to just suffer. But I climbed ALL the way up to the top, actually looked out, and climbed ALL the way back down. I think the coming down part was the worst! They had an iron spiral stair, and it was slick from rain, so I'm holding on with both hands super tight and going really slow! If I'd met anyone coming up, I think they'd have just had to duck under my arms lol.

    

I did look out the lighthouse!

Key West Lighthouse

Mile 0

Modeling my sexy $2 rain poncho...I swear to you they do not sell raincoats or umbrellas in Florida.

Hola Fidel! lol

     We also got to go to the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key, and that was super cool. We got to actually get right on the platform over the water, and lean over and pet, high five, and shake fins with dolphins. Plus, watching them for as long as we wanted! Dolphins are awesome. They're very people-oriented, so the more we talked at them and clapped, the more they came up and showed off :)

     All this stuff is really cool, right? Well, none of this is my favorite part yet. It really shows how laid back and country I am that my favorite part of the trip, snorkeling in a coral reef, dolphins, alligators aside, was playing with the deer behind the church. Just about every evening between two and over a dozen little deer would walk up to the yard behind the church. And these deer, they weren't like deer here at home. If you sit back on your heels and hold out one hand, these deer walk right up to you and let you pet them! I could have stayed there all evening! Love those sweet things!

     And of course, the Keys are famous for one more thing....the sunsets!

     Of course, all our fun stuff wasn't exactly the location. We pretty much create our own fun anywhere we go. And with 20 hours of driving just to get there, we had a lot of conversations! Here's just a few of our more interesting topics:
     Guns
     Crackhead Midgets
     Legalizing Marijuana
     Extreme Couponing
     Laffy Taffy jokes
     Who ate all the Little Debbies?
     Sleepwalking
     Bathroom habits
     Swamp People
     Sassy Black Women
     Mosquitos taking over the Everglades
     Wheat Thins
     Tour guides with unfortunate voices
     Suspicious hotels
     Suspicious pedestrians
     Suspicious anything, really
     Love and marriage, in all its many forms
     When we get old we're gonna...
     Potential jobs we'll never have
     Fashion do's and don'ts
     Losing your salvation
     Personal views on sin and accountability
     Disciplining your children
     Drug addicts
     Casey Anthony
     Defective theology/Biblical history
     Key Lime Pie
     Public bathroom ratings
     Martin Luther and China....you had to be there