Colombia Day 19 – Passport Day

We met with Magnolia and Elena this morning to finalize all of the legal paperwork. We were given copies of Cameron’s original birth certificate, as well as copies of his new birth certificate declaring him as Cameron David Mulvehill Hatmaker, and the son of Patrick and Mary Ann Mulvehill! Along we several other documents, we received all of the paperwork that we will need in Bogota to apply for Cameron’s US visa. We said goodbye to Elena, the lawyer, as we wouldn’t be seeing her again. We are very thankful for her diligent work on our case. There were a few tears shed as we said goodbye. We feel that she was more than just our lawyer, she is also a good friend.

With the new birth certificate in hand, we were off to the passport office. Magnolia said that the lines at the passport office can often be very long and that we should plan to be there for two to three hours. The rain had been falling most of the night and off and on throughout the morning. As we approached the passport office, Magnolia commented on how few people there seemed to be. We parked across the street and walked right into the office! About 45 minutes later we were on our way back to the hotel!!! It was so quick. Several things worked in our favor. First, the rain seemed to have sacred people away. Second, Brazil was playing Holland in the World Cup and Colombians love their football, especially where Brazil is concerned! They even had the game playing in the passport office. But most of them just stayed home, or at least away from the passport office this morning. The third thing that worked in our favor was being with Magnolia. She knows the system and the system knows her. They always take people with children first and Magnolia made sure we got processed as quickly as possible. We left the office with Cameron David Mulvehill’s Colombian passport in hand!

Once we got back to the hotel we said our goodbyes to Magnolia. We won’t be seeing her again on this trip. We have declared her “Aunt Maggie” and hope that we will see her again in the future. She has family in the states so maybe she will visit us soon. She has been the most incredible help during our time in Cali and we owe her so much. Thank you Aunt Maggie!!

It was almost time for lunch so Cameron took a quick nap before we headed down for lunch. After lunch we decided to walk around the city a bit. We walked through an interesting “cat” park and down some new streets that we hadn’t walked before. It was a wonderful afternoon followed by a quick dip in the freezing pool, another nap, dinner, bath, and now bed. Cameron loves the water! I have some great video of him at bath time splashing around in the tub. He is so much fun to watch!

The weekend will include a trip to the Sugar Cane Museum and a water park. We will be flying to Bogota on Sunday evening around 6:30 PM. Monday is a holiday so we aren’t sure what we will be doing in Bogota on that day, but the next three days will be spent getting Cameron’s visa and preparing to come home. If all goes well we still plan to be flying home next Friday.


Day 19 Photos


Day 19 Videos

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Cameron wanted to play in the rain while Daddy was getting the final paperwork from Elena. Watch carefully and we will see him stick his tongue out to catch the rain.