This is a difficult day. I had a bit of a TODO list remaining for my last day in Quito:
- Pay for the Galapagos cruise
- Check the police’s supposed stash of stolen things
- Get a notarized declaration of (no) insurance to file a purchase protection claim for my camera
All of these turned out to be quite bureaucratic processes. First I went to “La Fiscalia” because W., the school’s driver had suggested that the police would keep a pile of recovered things there. My first guess turned out to be what seemed like strictly a government building, not one that served citizens, much less tourists. The lady at the entrance sent me to a building a few blocks away by a similar name. This one was clearly intended to provide some kind of service and take “denuncias”, but would not help. My “denuncia” was apparently from the wrong department. This police doesn’t handle reports for that police. Likely the tourist police falls under an entirely different government ministry. They sent me back to the tourist police where I had originally filed the report. I had little hope there because W. had told me that was not the place to go, and indeed they had nothing.
Next I went to the nearest “notaria” to get my insurance declaration notarized. They told me they couldn’t notarize something in English and I would need to bring a translator. By the end of the day, I had written a declaration in Spanish with much help from staff at the school and got it notarized. This involves the notary translating my statement into their template, which explains why they need it in Spanish.
In between the trips to the notary, I went with someone from the school to pay for the cruise. When we showed up at the agency, they were not expecting me. It turned out they never got my information and my spot was not confirmed. Fortunately, there was still a spot on the boat, and I had already booked the flight separately. Handing over way too much cash to be carrying around, I got my ticket.
At five in the afternoon I was finally out of the notaria and done with my errands for the day. I grabbed a sandwich from a deli for a very late lunch and rushed home with my hard won papers.
Costs
Galapagos cruise payment will be included tomorrow. This is it for Quito!
Cost today: $42.99
Cumulative cost: $2,693.61