Update 9-2-07

Well, things are starting to move forward a little here. Spring is around the corner, it is time to start planting the garden and it seems to be getting warmer by the day. Lately, the temperatures have been in the upper 60’s to lower 70’s. It is just beautiful with all the hills and vegetation although I suspect the vegetation is going to start getting ahead of us pretty quickly (as you can see in the pictures, there is a lot of growth).

We have finished the “roof” on the house and have ordered the wood for the house. We had originally thought we were going to go with wood but then began thinking about a brick structure but after looking at the options for brick, and having difficulties with help and so forth, we decided to go back with wood. It will be faster, probably a little cheaper and I think it will look better. The wood shop has selected the trees to use and is cutting them to make the floor beams and deck for the second floor as well as the wall materials. We are going to have a “red” hardwood for the floor and outside walls and the inside walls are going to be pine. When I say “red” that means the maderera will select trees based on color and class of tree but not necessarily the same species – this is more economical than specifying a specific species. A maderera is not a saw mill or a carpenteria (carpenter’s shop) – Madera is wood or lumber so a maderera is a wood worker more or less – they take rough cut lumber and make beams and tongue and groove planks called machimbre). The name of the maderera we are using is Fuks & Fuks (pronounced like Fooks), this is the last name of the owners. With drying time included, it will take about 2 months for it all to be ready.

We have most of the material on the farm to install the septic system, and water supply. Lord willing, we are going to try and use the spring about 30 meters away to supply our water by building a small covered pond at the spring and a pump to pump the water up to our storage tank. The pump we have is a ram type pump and does not need electricity but uses the flow of water to pump the water. With about 3 feet of fall between the water source and the pump, the pump can pump a small amount of water about 100 feet high. About 10% of the water is pumped for use and the rest is wasted out the back of the pump. This is something that they have been using down here for a long time. We have a 1000 liter (275 gallon) tank and it will sit on top of a 6 meter tall tower next to the house. So, although the pump is slow, it will pump all the time and once our tank is full, there should not be a problem keeping up with our demand – and no electricity required, just nice clean spring water. We will boil what we drink and the rest will be for cleaning and stuff like that. Boiling water is really a lot simpler when you use a wood burning stove because you have a heat source from cooking that usually lasts for some time afterwards.

We have the tower for the internet on the farm also. It is going to be 35 meters tall (115 feet) and about 200 meters (660 feet) up the hill from the house. We have to have such a tall tower because there is a high hill next to our farm between us and the main tower, which is in a town just to the north called Campo Vierra. They are supposed to erect it early next week. Once that is up and operational, we should be able to be out there on a more full time basis building the house and preparing the fields.

I have taken some pictures for everyone to see some of the things we have been working on. It is turning warmer so a lot of stuff is really starting to grow and get green.

This one is of the limit of my property where I am clearing out for a fence. The tree to the left is a peach tree.

This one is of our homestead area with the tent and the tinglado.

The one below is of a path I am clearing from the house to the top of the hill where the internet tower is going to be.

This one is looking towards the river from our home site. A lot of the trees you see with no leaves are called Kiri and were planted to harvest and use for furniture. When cut, they grow back with another trunk and you can harvest them again 4-5 times. It takes about 8 years for them to grow large enough to be ready to harvest. In the spring, they get leaves on them about 12-18 inches across and heart shaped.

The one below is where I think we are going to start the garden. There is a little brush that we have gathered to burn.
Here is a closeup of camp. I have dismantled the old car somebody left behind into pieces small enough for me to carry. The tent is real nice since it is totally screened in we can get away from the insects and out of the weather.

Here is a picture of the internet tower out on the land.

Here is a field I cleared about 3 months ago for the tower (it took me about 2 ½ hours to clear about 75 meters square), all the new growth is winter growth. You can get a general idea of the way things slope here, this is a relatively flat field but as you can see, it still has a bit of slope to it.

You can see the 6-7 ft tall weeds to the left and all the cut vegetation on the ground. With the first cutting I am really only able to cut about 6-10 inches off the ground so you are looking at about 12-18 inches of cut stuff laying on the ground – it takes about 2 weeks to dry out enough to burn. Burning puts a lot of potassium back into the soil as fertilizer. I have done all this clearing with the weed eater in the picture above. This particular area of my farm has very good (deep) soil. I have learned since that the taller blue green bush in the left of this picture is called Canela and develops into a tree that makes “the best” firewood for our stove.

Here is the Argentina wagon. I did make a road up to the top of our property so that I could drive up to the internet tower.

Here is Abigail with a piece of bamboo (tacuada); she made it into some sort of decoration. Here I was trying to clear a path for the electricity from our house to the tower. I came into some pretty rough stuff and decided on another route. It is a funny thing that where I came from, straight lines were pretty easy to come by. Here, faced with the prospect of many scratches and hours of hacking at brush with a machete and an axe, you think, “I could just go over there 10 meters and be good to go”.

We are really anxious to start planting things and from talking to our neighbors and others, the options for planting are almost endless. Often when you ask what grows here you hear, just put a seed in the ground and it will grow.

Let me know if the pictures don’t come through or you have any other problems with the email.

Dane

Update from Argentina July 2007

July 21, 2007

Hello,

It has been a long time since we sent out an update. We keep busy with our daily activities and the time passes so quickly. So much and so little has happened since May depending on how you look at things. The pace here is very different than in the U.S, so according to U.S. standards it would appear that we haven't accomplished much, but by Argentine standards – we've done a lot!

We did finally get to Posadas, the capital city of Misiones, and get all the papers we needed to file for our residency. It took just two more trips there since the last update to get it all completed. We filed our paperwork at the Gendermedia (military headquarters where the immigration office is located in Obera), and received temporary residency until December 23, 2007. We should get permanent residency when we obtain our FBI background checks from the U.S. and submit them to the Argentinean Government for approval.

As far as the building goes out on the farm, we are still waiting for the builder to get back out there and put the roof on the barn and then Dane will purchase the wood and start building the second storey floor and the walls. Rain, wind, and other projects have delayed the builder from getting back out there, but we expect them to be back out there next week. Dane purchased some gravel and sand to make a concrete floor in the barn/house, but the dump truck got stuck on the road trying to deliver it, so Dane had the driver dump the gravel on the neighbor's property. When Dane tried to move a trailer load of the gravel the next day, the trailer got stuck (just so you know Dane will not admit to being stuck – he says that if he were stuck, he would not have gotten out). It took Dane nearly a whole day to get the trailer out, but with a winch and a tree and his perseverance (he kneeled in the mud for hours and inched the trailer out) he finally freed the trailer. Then we had rain for a week. The sand was delivered this past week and put on one of the other neighbor's properties. Dane will have to spend some time taking small loads of both the gravel and the sand down to our property when he his able to get back out there. Because of these difficulties, we have decided to build the barn/house out of wood instead of brick.

Dane found another spring on our property one day when he was cutting down monte. It is about 30 meters from where we are building the barn, so it will be great for watering the animals when we get them. The water comes out of the rocks in two different places and flows down into two pools. The overflow flows downhill to the other stream with the waterfall that feeds into the river Bonito. We are going to incorporate the building of the animal pens around this spring, so that the animals will have access to it, but will not be able to contaminate it.

Dane got his generator system built for our electricity on the property. He bought a 13hp gas engine and a local auto parts store donated a 24V bus alternator. He bought a pulley, some belts and two huge 400amp deep cycle 12V batteries. He built a frame for all these things and a local electric motor shop wired it all together. It runs pretty quietly and he looks forward to testing its capabilities as soon as he gets the inverter that he has ordered. If the system works as planned, we will move out to the farm barn or no barn. We are so ready to get out there.

Dane did get the water pump for the 4Runner. A man from an auto parts store here sent Dane's water pump by bus to Buenos Aires and they matched it and sent it back by bus. The whole process took about a week and a half, so we weren't without a vehicle for long. The windshield was also loose on one side and the vibrations made it crack down the middle, so Dane took the windshield out the other day and then reinstalled it with new sealant. He did a great job and now he knows how to install windshields. He said it really wasn't that complicated a process.

We got a wood burning stove for cooking and heating the house and water. We are all really enjoying it. The winter here has been unusually cool, so we have a fire going in the stove most of the day. It keeps the house warm and I can keep a pot of hot water for washing or for using as drinking water going all the time. We have been able to eliminate a lot of the paper trash that we have as well, since we use it for kindling.

Dane hired Noelia (the woman from the real estate company who has given us some Castillano lessons) to go around and get prices for building materials and other things that we need on the farm. The language barrier and the Yankee factor (sad note to all you Texans: in Argentina and probably most of South America – YOU and all North Americans are Yankees, pronounced jankee) was making shopping for materials difficult. Here they think that all North Americans have lots of money, and probably rightly so. Seeing the poor people here and the way they live makes even homeless people in the U.S. appear rich, considering all the programs available to help them. Anyway, Noelia has gotten lots of information for us which has helped tremendously and will, Lord willing, get us out on the land sooner.

Dane has been very busy with work from Brown – McKee and the children and I have been busy with schoolwork and housework. After six years of struggling to get done we have settled into a great homeschooling schedule. The children begin their work in the morning and are done by lunch every day. All it took was time restraints for each subject and our concentration problems seem to be solved. We now have the entire afternoon everyday for cleaning, running errands, or studying Castillano.

We continue to learn and to be humbled by our experiences here. We have visited our neighbors, the Sosas, on the farm above ours a couple times. They are simple people that would appear poor to most, but I don't believe they are. Mr. and Mrs. Sosa have twelve children, but only five are still living at home. They live in a small wooden house with a dirt floor and no electricity. For light at night, they run a line to their truck battery to power one light bulb in the middle of their house. When we were there one evening they served us cookies and bread with lunch meat. Mr. Sosa and one of his daughters sang hymns while his son, Javier, played the guitar and his other son, Andres, played the accordion. It was really nice and it made Dane and I realize that things are just things. With this house planning business, we say we want this and we want that, but in the big scheme of things, all is vanity.

The funny thing about not knowing a language very well is that a lot of words are difficult to distinguish between and if you mispronounce a word, you may in fact be saying a word that means something totally different. For instance, mimo (pronounced mēmō) means "mime", but mismo (mēsmō) means "the same". Other words that have been difficult are: hambre – hunger, hombre – man, and hombro – shoulder. We continue to make all kinds of funny mistakes. We are always laughing at ourselves.

Well that is all I can think to tell at the moment. We hope each and every one of you is doing well, and we love to hear from you. Here are some miscellaneous pictures that you may enjoy.

May 5 - Donaldson Argentina Update

May 5, 2007

Hello from Misiones, Argentina. A few weeks have passed and we have lots to tell about our adventures here, so much so, that I’m not even sure where to start.

First of all, we have not gotten much done on the chacra, but we are making all kinds of plans. The quotation from the electric company to get electricity out there is pretty expensive, so Dane has been researching hydroelectric power and other sources of alternative energy. He visited with Professor Dick Barney at the Engineering University here in Obera, who has been building hydroelectric turbines for 30 years, and he offered some of his students to help Dane when he begins the construction of ours (sounds like fun!). Senor Barney also has a truck that runs on ethanol and he told Dane that if he grew a hectare of sugar cane and bought a distiller than he could produce more fuel than he could use in a year, so, as you can imagine, Dane is very excited about the possibilities. In the meantime, while the hydroelectric project is being planned we are going to try to get out on the land using a generator and some batteries for electricity.

In addition, the water pump is also going out on the 4Runner and Dane has not been able to find a replacement in Argentina. A man at the auto parts store has been calling around and wants Dane to take the pump off the truck so he can try and match it up with something; hence, we will be without a vehicle for a while again and that will keep us from getting to the chacra too, but we have plenty of time. Dane has taken some great pictures when he has been out there.

Hacking through the monte, we found…..

a spring….

and Elisabeth.

David nearly lost two of his toes in one of the bicycles. He was sitting in a chair while Elijah was getting on his bicycle and swung his foot into the gear mechanism of the bike right as Elijah took off. When Elijah heard David scream, he quickly got off the bicycle and dropped it, jerking David out of the chair. Two of David’s toes on his left foot, the little one and the one next to it were caught in the gear and completely severed except for a small piece of skin on the underside of each. We got him to the hospital and they were not real hopeful that they could be sewn back on until after they viewed the x-rays. Remarkably both toes were severed at the joints and neither bone had been broken, so two hours later they put him under anesthesia and sewed them back on. The surgeon told us to make sure that the toes continued to have circulation in them and to come back immediately if they turned black. Amazingly, he was on his feet running after four days, and his toes appear better each day. We have before and after pictures that we debated about sending, but they are pretty gruesome. If you want to see them, let us know.

Furthermore, we made a couple of trips to Posadas (90 kilometers away), the capital of Misiones, in attempt to get our residency paperwork filed and to get Joseph’s documentation and passport; however, both trips produced nothing. We needed three things in Posadas: to apply for Joseph’s Argentine passport, to get Joseph’s birth certificate legalized so that it would be accepted in Buenos Aires when we filed our residency paperwork, and to get a Certificate of Good Behavior. The first time we went to the Federal Police they would not process a passport application for Joseph because the Registry of Persons here in Obera had made a mistake on Joseph’s DNI card (like a social security card) and the mistake would have to be fixed in Obera. So, we went to the Police Station to get our Certificate of Good Behavior to show that we have not committed any crimes in Argentina since we have been here, and found out that we would need another form from Obera to do so. Next, we went to get Joseph’s birth certificate legalized at the Ministry Interior, but they sent us to the Registry of Persons on the other side of the city – the office was open, but the people were on strike and would not help anyone that came in. Because of these things, we left Posadas without accomplishing anything. We spent the next few days getting Joseph’s DNI card corrected and obtaining a form from the police department in Obera. A week later we went back to Posadas thinking we had what we needed to get some work done. We went back to the Federal Police to apply for Joseph’s Argentine passport; however, their machine was broken and they said to come back in a week. The next stop was the police station for our good behavior certificates, but we arrived five minutes after they closed (I had no idea that they closed for siesta an hour before everyone else). Hoping to achieve at least one of the things that we needed to get done, we went to the Registry of Persons only to find that their office was again on strike for another week and a half. We left Posadas again without accomplishing anything. In the meantime, we have to have our documents retranslated and legalized here in Argentina because I had them done in the U.S. I should have known better, but since it looks like it might take a while to get the things done in Posadas that we need for the residency application, we have plenty of time.

We got our tourists visas renewed for another three months. After spending days trying to decide how we were going to cross the border with our large family and avoid taking our vehicle with Texas license plates just for new stamps, the Lord showed mercy on us and our neighbor who works for emigration here, arranged for us to drive to the Argentina – Brasil border to get stamps on this side of the border. The military personnel at the border were very kind and stamped our passports as if we had left the country and then returned again without our actually having to cross over to Brasil. This saved us a lot of money and time.

We now know that we can get packages without having to go all the way to Buenos Aires to get them. We went to the post office three weeks ago and there was a form in our box and the post office guy said that we had to go to customs in San Javier, about 45 kilometers away to get it. We went to the post office in San Javier the next week. We had to wait for about thirty minutes for a customs agent to come from down the street. When he got there, he opened the box, went through it, and charged Dane five pesos customs tax for the items in it. The customs guy was a little confused by all the toilet paper. Grandpa John and Grandma Fran had sent two jars of peanut butter and about ten Charmin to Go rolls from Florida (we are prepared and armed now for those outings to places without toilet seats and toilet paper- whew!). Dane told the man the toilet paper was a joke, but he doesn’t think the guy thought it was very funny – we did.

In addition, we have all enjoyed the many different kinds of critters around here. Everyone knows that things are big in Texas, but I bet the insects here would outsize most insects of Texan persuasion. The children have been really anxious to send some pictures of some that we have seen and some that they have collected. We will include some in this mailing and maybe another. Our neighbor’s cat has moved in with us and we all like him a lot. We try to keep him outside, but he takes every opportunity he can to get in one of the beds. We have found him sleeping with Joseph so many times that Dane joked that Joseph likes it when mommy purrs, since Joseph typically sleeps with me.

This is a moth the size of an adult’s hand in the bathroom.

This is an eighty eight butterfly that Abby found on the chacra. Dane also found one with an eighty and Sarah found an eight hundred and one.

This spider was on the wall in our bathroom. I think it is a wolf spider, but it is hard to tell because there are about a hundred baby spiders on her back. Creepy!
This tarantula was on the wall in our kitchen. We have been told they are edible, but I don’t anticipate cooking any – ever.

These two pictures are of a butterfly that Abigail caught in the house the other day. It is the size of an adult’s hand.

Here is a picture of el gato snuggling with Joseph in Joseph’s bed.

Here is another picture of el gato sleeping in Joseph’s bed.

Below are some other pictures we thought that you might enjoy.

This is a picture of David, Abby, Joseph, and Elisabeth in the front yard. The girls were trying to keep David busy after his accident because he got pretty bored sitting in a chair all day.

In this picture, Dane is holding Joseph while he is sleeping.

Smiling baby.

All of the family, except Dane and David who are behind the camera.

Well that is all for now. We hope you enjoy the pictures, and we will update again soon. We hope all is well with all of you.

March 31, 2007

I know that this update has been a long time coming. I actually started it a month ago, but time seems to be on fast forward here. I can’t believe that we have already been here for two months.

Dane went to Buenos Aires and has returned. We all missed him while he was gone for nearly two weeks, but he did make it back with all of our things and didn’t even have to pay a bribe for them. What an adventure that was for him. He will tell you all about it in his update that he is working on.

The children and I carried on here without Dane. We walked to town and back a few times, which was slow because David is slow and all over the place, but nevertheless we made it and didn’t have any problems. We went to the Jardin de Los Pajaros (Garden of the Birds) here the same Sunday that Dane and Elijah went to the zoo in Buenos Aires and we all enjoyed that very much. One night when I took Elisabeth to the bathroom, I saw the biggest spiders I have ever seen in my life. I closed the door behind Elisabeth and me, and when we turned to leave, there they were! The two spiders were larger than my hand and could have made a meal out of a mouse. Needless to say, I had a hard time opening the door again, but when I mustered up the courage, I ran in the house and returned to the bathroom to give them a large dousing of cucaracha spray. Thankfully, the spiders ran off out of the bathroom.

We have had requests for more pictures of our rent house and new pictures of the baby, so I hope to include them in this update. We did discover after we finally ventured into the overgrown backyard of the house that we have two lime trees, two orange trees, a mango tree, an avocado tree, three peach trees, mandioca (cassava plants from which mandioca and tapioca are harvested), a squash or gourd vine, a banana tree, and something else that I can’t remember the name of, but the neighbor said it was dulce (sweet). The children spent an afternoon picking green oranges and limes and squeezing there own juice. What fun. Our neighbor with the chickens also has a guava tree and some other fruit that resembles a fig, but tastes like a banana. What a blessing to find these things! We had no idea that our rented house had such a goldmine of produce around it.

The front of our house and Abby.

Flowers in our yard in front (above). And part of our backyard (below).

The children are doing great. We have finally gotten back to our homeschooling and this week the children are starting to get into a comfortable routine with it. The baby is growing and is such a sweet one. David, our baby genius, who turned two this week is talking up a storm in full sentences and riding Elisabeth’s bike with training wheels all over the house. He runs the bicycle into the wall on purpose in order to do what he proclaims is a, “pop a wheeie!” The girls are a tremendous help with everything, and Elijah loves having the opportunity to help his father with all the things he has been working on.

Joseph at five weeks.

(above) Joseph at six weeks. (below) All the children last night (notice the red dirt on the boys pants and the girls feet – if you live here your children will never be clean for more than 10 minutes)

Since Dane has been back from Buenos Aires, he has made life a little easier here at the house. He plumbed water into the house so that we now have water from a faucet at the kitchen sink. He also rigged me up a hose so that I could fill the washing machine without having to haul buckets of water (running water is so nice, particularly when you don’t have to carry it from place to place, but have it just where you need it, when you need it). He also put some shelves up in the house, so that we could unpack some things and get some things off the floor. I especially appreciate the arrival of some of the things that we shipped from the U.S, namely; towels, plates, and cooking utensils.

Dane has been able to make frequent trips out to the chachra and has begun some work out there. He began by clearing a path in the weeds with a machete and the 4Runner and today he bought a weed eater and took it out there. We hope that the construction of the barn will begin soon. It has been delayed for various reasons up to this point, but it will go up very quickly once the guys get started on it.

We will have to make a trip soon to get the necessary signature on Joseph’s birth certificate that can only be given by one man in Posadas (95 kilometers away). Without this man’s signature, Dane nor I will be granted residency in Argentina based on Joseph’s birth. In addition, we will have to go together to Buenos Aires to the American embassy to get Joseph’s CROBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad). If we can’t get to Buenos Aires for a while, we may try to get his Argentine passport and wait until we come to the U.S. to apply for his U.S. documentation.

Furthermore, we continue to be humbled and realize how spoiled we have been. We have visited several farms lately and have seen some very different ways of existence. Homes here are very small and some families on the farms live in single roomed shacks with dirt floors. The people make things out of any available materials and they often don’t have running water. These people don’t complain and are very gracious hosts. Visiting with them and seeing their homes have made me realize that there are so many things that I have taken for granted in my life of convenience. I am thankful to God for opening my eyes through these experiences.

I have so much more to say, but this email needs to be sent out. I will try to get another update out soon. Take care.

Jessica

An update from Argentina 3-9-07

Hello all, sorry this is so late, it is long but a lot of stuff happened. I hope it does not bore you but it is a good example of how things work here.

I finally got back from getting my truck and things from the port in Buenos Aires (BA). This is one story to tell about how things seem to work here.

The ship was scheduled to arrive on the 23^rd of February with our things and our lawyer, Gonzalo, in BA wanted me to be there a few days earlier to try and get some paperwork done and be prepared when the ship arrived. The ship was reporting to be on time so I left that Wednesday evening (2-21-07). I decided to take Elijah with me for company and so that he could see everything that was going on. I went to the bus station and got one ticket and they said Elijah could share the seat with me since he was young. The bus ride is about 12 hours and Elijah slept well but I did not because he was in my lap. We arrived in BA the next morning (2-22-07) and went straight to Gonzalo’s office and checked on the arrival of the shipment and low and behold, it was not going to arrive until Monday the 26^th. So with nothing else really to do there, I decided that I would save some money by taking a bus home and go back to Buenos Aires again on Monday. Because the bus station in Obera let Elijah share a seat with me, it only cost $126 pesos for the trip and the cheapest hotel in BA that I could find was $80 Pesos per night. This coupled with the fact that Jessica was home alone with the rest of the children and the new baby, I wanted to go back to Obera. Elijah and I went to the bus station in BA and I went to a bus line that had whole beds (cama total) on the bus, I thought that if we could share a bed then it would be much more comfortable for me on the way back. The beds are about $24 pesos more than the recliners (semi-cama exectivo). So when I got to the window for Singer (the bus line with the beds), they told me that Elijah could not ride with me because he is 5 and only 4 and under can ride with a parent. I tried to plead my case but I did not succeed and I did not want to spent another $150 pesos so I went to another line, Via Bariloche (the one I used to go to BA) and they told me the same thing, that I was going to have to buy a seat for Elijah. After I pleaded in very bad Spanish, and showed them my ticket going to Buenos Aires, they relented and allowed me to purchase only one ticket. This worked out pretty well because the bus was mostly empty so we each got our own seat and I slept better that night. We made it back to Obera that Friday morning and all seemed to be going well until I got a phone call from Gonzalo about7:30 that evening and he had a new development.

Gonzalo had hired a customs broker to help him handle our case at customs, he felt that the agent would streamline the process and generally speed things up. Well the broker took our packing list to customs and the customs officer said that we were trying to bring things into the country that are not considered tourist items. The agent said that if I could apply for residency (apparently if you can import more things as a resident or at least as someone who has applied for residency), bring them the residency application and $3,000 then he would let me have my things. Yes, I said $3,000, and that was US dollars. I was shocked and I told Gonzalo that we probably just needed to send the things back; our whole shipment is not worth $3,000 (in the US). Wow, Jessica and I had been concerned about this shipment for a long time. We had invested a lot of time and money into getting everything just right (as far as we knew) and with everything starting to wear on us being in this new culture, this was really very unsettling news. We were very careful to only ship things that would be needed for camping as a tourist which would allow us to import the things without paying any duties. I remembered that Natalia (the escribana who has been helping us) said that they had a friend who was a customs broker in Obera so I called her to see if there was any way that we could enter the things through customs in Obera. Well apparently all things like this have to clear customs in Buenos Aires. Natalia also called a lawyer friend of hers who used to work customs in Buenos Aires and he said he was surprised that the agents were asking for the coima (bribe) prior to the ship even arriving. The lawyer friend said that the bribe usually happens after the ship arrives. None of this was very comforting, we could not call anyone to explore other options in the US or in Buenos Aires because it was late Friday evening so Jessica and I had the weekend to think about this before I left Sunday night to go back to BA and actually deal with this.

So Elijah and I booked another bus, this time we paid for 2 beds, I was very tired from the previous trip and I wanted to be rested when we started to deal with this new surprise. Before we left Jessica and I were coming to grips with the fact that we might have to pay a big chunk of money to get our things out of customs. The way we saw it at the time, we had already spend about 2000 USD to ship the things there plus the value of the things and there is no way we could replace them here for that much money. Our options were really very few, we could either comply with them (looks like 3000 USD), or let them confiscate our things (0 USD but no things) or ship them back (2000 USD or more and no things). I did not sleep well that weekend. I want to note here with hindsight that my attitude about this whole thing was very selfish and I was not trusting in the Lord but I was relying on my own judgment and understanding to solve this crisis, this was the real problem, I do not believe that my trusting in the Lord is going to afford me personal gain but that it is my obligation as a Christian. It is all too easy to be moved out of the way when such small trials present themselves (this will be a lesson learned for me, Praise the Lord).

The time arrived for us to go to the bus station and this time the whole family went to see Elijah and me off. The bus that is qued up has a Buenos Aires on the display in front so I am thinking that this might be our bus. It is always a little awkward boarding a bus here because we cannot communicate well so what typically happens is, as did in this case, I approach the driver (or whoever it is that appears to be checking the tickets) and just give him the ticket and try and figure out what it is he is going to tell me. This time I think the driver told me that I needed to board the other bus in about 15 minutes (really for all I know, he could have said I need to board in 15 minutes or there won’t be another bus). So we waited around wondering if that is our bus or if there is going to be another one in 15 minutes. The other bus does show up and I gave the driver our tickets and he indicated that this is the right bus and so Elijah and I get on. The driver told us to go up and this confused me a little because I thought I had booked 2 beds on the bottom but I went on in and went up the stairs. On top, we found our seat numbers but not only are they not beds but they are small “cheap seats”. Ok, I am thinking, I need to go and try and figure out what is going on. I talked to some people inside the station and after several attempts, I think that we are supposed to change busses in Posadas (the capital of Misiones about 100 Km away). I explained all this to Jessica who is waiting with the baby and 4 children and we got on the bus. Everything went pretty smoothly with the help of a couple of other people who were on the same travel plan as we were and they helped make sure we got switched over to the right bus. I have noticed that when people know or perceive that we are having problems or need help someone seems to show up to help us, this has been a real blessing all along the way. The bus ride went pretty well until we got to Buenos Aires where there was a major accident on the only major freeway going into the city from that direction. I found out later that a truck ran into a pedestrian bridge and knocked it down. We were at a complete standstill and we were expecting the ship to arrive that morning. After being stuck for about an hour and a half I contacted Jessica to see if she could discuss our options with the shipping company and perhaps bypass or at least make a new run at the customs office. Jessica talked to several people and it was becoming pretty clear that we did not have many options. So after about 4 and a half hours the traffic started moving again and we were on our way to meet Gonzalo in his office.

When we arrived, Gonzalo was ready to move full steam ahead with making my application for residency, which would take at least 2 days, so that we could have all the paperwork we might need when we deal with customs. Once the ship arrives, the port charges you per day per cubic meter so any delays in customs or wherever were just going to be costing money. First we called the receiving company to confirm that the ship has made it in as scheduled and, guess what, it won’t be there until the 28^th 2 days later. So apparently, ships are very unpredictable and they really don’t communicate well either. This ship left the Bahamas several weeks prior and has had no other stops, you would think they would be able to estimate their location and speed better than that but at least this gives us a few days to get the residency permit filed and be ready. At this point I decided to make my case to Gonzalo who was convinced and adamant that we were bringing things not consistent with a tourist. Gonzalo said that the customs officers had concerns about several things that were a problem and that we were not going to be able to explain away like the garrafa (large steel tank), the 48 swords, and the drill. I told Gonzalo that I don’t know what a garrafa is, I am not bringing 48 swords, nor am I bringing a drill. He looked at me a little puzzled and then got out our translated packing list that I sent to him by email. At this point, I got out our packing list in English so that I could see what he was talking about. The first item that was a concern, the garaffa, was a Gatorade thermos (about a 2 gallon thermos), after a quick explanation to Gonzalo about what that was he said OK well that will be simple to explain but how can we explain the 48 swords. We both turned to the place where he was referring and what was there was 48 razor blades for my utility/carpet knife. Well apparently when this was translated, it came across as knives for cutting carpet and in Argentina, they use big swords for cutting carpet. Now aside from me being very curious about how in the heck do you cut carpet with a sword, I could see what the problem was. I then explained for the next half hour or so what these little old rusty handful of utility blades were that I have had since 2001 when I graduated college, that most of the things on the packing list could fit in a small toolbox and weren’t worth 15 USD new but could be handy as a tourist if I needed to make some repairs while camping in the jungle. The last issue to settle was the drill which Gonzalo pointed out was a perforadora on the list. In Argentina, a perforadora (a hole maker) is a drill but in English, this was a punch which is certainly reasonable hand tool if you are going camping in south America. So, all these things in a new light, I had some relief that things were starting to look better.

So Gonzalo is now going to retranslate the packing list so that we can make a run at customs as a tourist and I agreed to proceed with the residency filing as a backup plan. Gonzalo is still not very optimistic about things primarily because the customs broker he has hired is not very optimistic. The main reason is that the agents have already looked at our case and are expecting there to be problems and are thinking there is an opportunity for them to get something out of the deal. So we began all the steps to getting residency, I have all the paperwork I need; passport, criminal background report (translated with apostile), Josephs DNI (documento National de Identidad), and Josephs birth certificate. Now we need an Argentine criminal background report and a certified translation of my passport and Texas criminal records and we are good to go. We went to the place to get my Argentine criminal history and they were not taking any more people that day so we had to wait until the morning and we got the other papers to the translators so they should be ready the next day so we should have everything we need the next day then we can go to the immigration office and make the filing.

Tuesday morning, first we called the receiving company about the container and it won’t be there until the 1^st, so we have another day or two or three, now I know why they told us over and over that they don’t guarantee arrival times. So we went to the criminal history office and took a number, our number was 320 something and they were on 100 or so and this was about 10:30 in the morning. I asked Gonzalo what time they opened and he said about 8:00. I said that if it took them 2 ½ hours to see 100 people, then we aren’t going to get in until 2 or 3 o’clock that afternoon. He did not think so, so we went around the corner for a coffee (the thing to do in Buenos Aires) and went back to the office about an hour later and they were on number ……. 140. So we were going to come back that afternoon, in the mean time we went over the retranslated packing list to be sure there were no other items that might cause problems. We should have all the documents that we need and we will be ready to go to immigration first thing Thursday morning to make the filing. The immigration offices open at 7:30 am and close for the day at 1:00. The ship is still scheduled and now confirmed to be arriving on the 1^st which is Thursday. We have not had much time but things seem to be working out.

Thrusday Morning, we show up at the immigration office when it opens and wait a little bit, our number comes up and we see our agent and everything looks good …… except for one thing. The officer wants us to have the signature on Josephs birth certificate legalized. So we go to the office where this can be done (about 20 blocks away) and low and behold the person who signed the birth certificate is not registered in the computer at Buenos Aires so they cannot legalize the document. The only solution to legalize the birth certificate is for someone in Posadas (600 miles away) who is registered in the computer to sign and legalize the birth certificate. So we went back to Immigration with the idea that perhaps we could get another agent and the other agent would not notice or ask for the same thing but when we got there, we got a different agent but the first agent was helpful enough to remember us and discuss the issue with the second agent so we are stuck. We thought perhaps we could FedEx the certificate but FedEx does not go to Misiones. We tried DHL but they have a 48 hour delivery. None of these options were going to get results before the middle of next week and there are charges at the port to think about. I thought that I could catch a bus to Posadas that night, get the paper signed on Friday (if the person was not on vacation or something) and I could be back in BA on Monday morning ready to go back to immigration. Then I remembered the Lord and I could see that there was only one way and that the doors were closings on any other option. There are none that have authority that is not from that Lord, this includes the customs agents. I had been living the last 6 days without prayer or thinking of the ways of the Lord and now all of a sudden I understood that I needed to relax and trust him and that He had made a way for us thus far on our journey and without so many road blocks and difficulties. I was relying on the reason and efforts of men and got wrapped up in all of that so I told Gonzalo that tomorrow (Friday – it was after 4 and customs was closed) I wanted to go to customs; I could go by myself, and just see what the Lord has in store. Gonzalo did not think that was a good idea but I insisted a couple of times and he still did not think it was a good idea. I told him that if the Lord will make a way then there will be a way. He said he wanted to talk to his customs broker and see what she recommended since it looked like the residency thing was out of the picture any time soon. He talked to her and guess what she recommended, she recommended that we go down to customs alone and just see what happens just like I had told him; although he acted like it was a new idea and asked me if I was willing to do that. I told him yes that that is exactly what I wanted to do. There are still a lot of hurdles ahead but now I am back to doing what I am supposed to be doing; trusting the Lord, whatever the outcome, I am going to be a lot better and there is a big weight lifted from my shoulders.

Friday morning, we went Vanguard (the receiving company that handles all the paperwork at port) and paid them and got a receipt for clearing the container through customs. At Vangaurd they needed some document notarized so we went to get this document and paid Vanguard. By the time this was finished, it was about 11:30 and we went to customs but they were closed for lunch. Gonzalo knocked on the door and the guy that opened the door knew Gonzalo and let us in and looked over our paper work and said it looked good and for us to come back after lunch. When we went in after lunch, the clerk sent us to one of the customs agents who looked over our packing list and said that it was too complicated and that we should just put a car and a trailer for camping. All the documents were signed and filled out and we were done with customs. That was it, no problems, no bribes and ready to go. There was still an inspection to do but I was confident that that would go well. So with our clearance from customs I went to the terminal (it is about 5:00 Friday Afternoon) to see if I could unload the container and the people there said that they were still working the ship and it would not be ready to start releasing containers until Monday. So I am going to have to spend another weekend in Buenos Aires away from Jessica and the children.

On Saturday, we rested.

On Sunday, Elijah and I went to the Zoo in Buenos Aires. This was fun for us both. All the zoo’s I have been to do not want the patrons to feed the animals (aside from the petting zoo or something) however this zoo relies heavily on the patrons feeding the animals. So, except for the bears and tigers and such, the animals (elephants, rihno’s, camels, deerlike animals, monkeys, etc) are all waiting for the passersby to throw them some food. This was very interesting in some parts and very concerning in others where the animals looked to be malnourished. All in all, it was fun.

Monday morning (March 4, 2007), we went to the terminal to get the container and we found out that we need to hire a bonded warehouse to take our container out of port and handle the inspection. We went to a couple of these locations and found one that would do it Manana. It is funny because when everyone is talking in Spanish so fast that I cannot follow, I always seem to pick up that word out of the conversation. It meant another day in Buenos Aires.

Tuesday morning, we went to the warehouse to get the container and we found the container and were going to open it. There was a problem, the seal on the container did not match the number on the paperwork. There was obviously a typo where the first digit in the 10 digit number was not the same. It looked like for a minute that they were not going to let us open the container but since I had the key to the lock on the container, it was clearly mine and they agreed to let us open the container. So we opened the container, and I drove the truck out of the container, the customs agent looked the car over for about 10 minutes and said Ok it is good to go. Whew, this should be it, ready to leave and get back to Obera. We went into the office of the bonded warehouse to pay and get the release and they said there was a problem. There was some piece of paper missing that showed the container was released from the port to the warehouse and we needed to go back to the customs office and get this paperwork. AAAARRRRRGGGGG. So we went back to customs and got in just before they closed and after waiting a little, we got the document and permission to keep the vehicle here for 8 months but when whoever it was that gave us permission signed the documents, they put a note requiring another inspection from someone in another department. Double AAAAARRRRGGGG. We went back to the bonded warehouse and gave the customs agent there the paperwork hoping he would not notice the note but of course he did. He said we need to go get the other agent at an office about 8 blocks away it was after 5:00 by this point and the other agent had gone for the day so we were going to have to wait until tomorrow for the other inspection. Manana again. The other inspection is really rather stupid because I have been in and out of the truck and trailer and it has been out of the container most of the day where I or someone else could add or remove things from it. I drove the truck back into the container for safe keeping overnight and went back to the hostel.

Wednesday morning, we went to the office where the other agent was to take him to inspect the shipment and he said that he needed written instructions before he could go, we showed him the note from the customs agent who made the request but he said we had to get the his order from a particular person in an office downtown. So we went to the office and after spending some time finding the right person, he made a little note on the back on a piece of paper and handed it to us. I want to say here that all these documents and things we are getting from these government agencies have no other records, we have the 1 and only copy to all of these documents and in many cases there are no documents, just one guy telling another to do something a certain way. So with the “work order” in hand we went and picked up the other inspector and took him to the warehouse. I opened the container (before the agent was there) and when he got there I pulled out the truck and he looked at the vin number on the truck and said OK, good to go. That was it. I had to wait a whole day for basically nothing. I paid the warehouse and after spending 3 hours getting a signature from what seemed like everyone who works in the bonded warehouse, I was allowed to leave. So not knowing how much gas I had, I went to the service station, dropped off Gonzalo near his office and hit the road. It took me about 18 hours driving time because the truck was struggling a bit with the load and I drove straight through (with a little 1 hour nap early in the morning). I got one ticket for Elijah being in the front seat (only people 10 and over can ride in the front apparently) and made it home the next morning.

The Lord made a way for this, although it was very difficult and when I got home, I was doubting whether it was worth it or not but I made it home. Well that is the story and if anyone wants to import your vehicle as a tourist, I could give you a lot of pointers on how to make it a lot easier. From start to finish, it took 2 weeks and 2 trips to Buenos Aires and back. I praise the Lord and thank Him for His mercy on me and my family.

There is more to come. I would like to tell you all about Buenos Aires some time and about some of the other things that took place while I was there, perhaps in another email.

In Christ,

Dane Donaldson and Family

February 22, 2007 Update

February 22, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week has passed and we are doing great. I hope all well with every one of you in the U.S.

Our first week with the baby has gone really well. I have recovered very quickly from Joseph’s birth and Joseph is such a quiet, sweet little guy. He rarely makes a sound unless he is hungry or has the hiccups. As of Tuesday, he had already gained 9 ounces. When I walk with him in his sling, the people here are very concerned that he is squished or hot; however, he is very comfortable and snug just as my other babies were in it.

We are continuing to get more settled into our rent house. We purchased a refrigerator and a stove, so now we can cook and store food. The diet here is different from what we are used to, but the food is very good. I will have to learn to cook with the ingredients that are available here. For instance, our Argentinian friends who speak a little English have never even heard of peanut butter, or peanuts for that matter, as they are nonexistent here. We have been eating lots of dulce de leche (something like caramel that is made from milk and sugar and used to eat with all sorts of breads and cookies), polenta (like grits) with meat, milanesas (like chicken fried steak, but more Italian) with rice, fruit, eggs, and of course lots and lots of pan (bread). The diet here does not have much variety, but the food is good and carne (beef) is the cheapest and most available meat. Barbequing meat is very popular, but we haven’t done that yet; however, we did have some at Gabriella’s parent’s house. One of our new friends, Noelia, a baker, is going to teach me how to cook some things on Sabado (Saturday), which may expand our current diet a little.

They do things differently in the stores here. In the meat department, all the meat is laying in the case in huge pieces or slabs. The customer tells the butcher what type of meat and how much he or she wants and it is all cut there in front of you. You can tell the butcher exactly how thick you want your steaks, etc. I like this feature a lot. Furthermore, in the fruit department, there are bags that you fill with however much fruit or veggies that you want and then the attendant ties your bag closed and weighs and prices it. The eggs are sitting on a shelf or in a basket unrefrigerated and fresh from some local farmer. The customer takes as many eggs as he or she wants and puts them into a bag or carton. At the bakery, the bread is sitting out in baskets or in the display case and you have to tell the attendant what kind and how much you want and they weigh it out and price it for you. The one feature that we don’t like as much is the unrefrigerated ultra pasteurized milk. The milk isn’t that bad if you take it home and refrigerate it, but it will be nice when we have some fresh milk again.

Dane left for Buenos Aires with Elijah on a bus last night because our vehicle was supposed to arrive on the ship this Friday and the lawyer wanted him to come early to begin the paperwork process; however, he called this afternoon and said that the ship has been delayed until Monday. Due to this, he may leave there this evening and be back tomorrow morning. It would be cheaper for him to come home and head back there Sunday night than to stay in a hotel there for the weekend. Buenos Aires is a much more expensive place to stay than Obera.

I know many of you would like more pictures. We have not sent many because they are so large and we don’t want to tie up your computers all day downloading pictures, so we will send a few at a time.

I better stop writing for now and will try to write again soon. Take care.

Jessica



Sarah at the back door of our house.

Abby filling water bottles in our bathroom.

Dane’s office in our bedroom.

All our boys in our bed with Elisabeth in the background.

And me at our kitchen sink.

***I’ll have to get a picture of Dane to send to you so you can see how much weight he has already lost from all the walking. I keep teasing him that I’ve already lost about 30 pounds (from having the baby of course), but pretty soon he is going to need some suspenders, at least I have my regular nonmaternity clothes.

**************Reading this old email, I realize how ignorant we really were when we first arrived here in Argentina. For instance, they do know what peanuts are here. They are called mani and they do sell them in the stores and our neighbors even grow them. However, peanut butter is something they are not familiar with. The peanut butter that my dad sent from Florida was a big hit with the English students that we met in Obera. They were very excited to try something they have seen on television as a popular food in the U.S.. I'm not sure if it is available in other parts of Argentina.**************