Having fun is hard work!

The whole plan and then some

The plan is to do a three month South America trip in a loop starting from Quito, Ecuador and ending in Bogota, Colombia covering three other countries- Peru, Bolivia and Brazil (maybe). The trick is in getting your visas at just the right time. I need three visas. Ecuador and Bolivia have a visa on arrival provision. All the visas, I’m given to believe expire if they are not validated within 90 days of issuance. This means that I need to get my Colombia visa last as it is the last country I’m visiting. I also need to factor in the one month I’m spending in the US before heading to South America, to ensure that I have a valid visa to get in.

Getting the balance just right is key. All the travel agents I approached in Bangalore refused to get it done as it was shuttling between one too many consulates for them and complicated as South America is not a popular area with Indians in general. And so I packed my bags and flew into Delhi to get the visas.

Most visas are multiple entry and valid for 90 days in a year.

 Estimated processing time times and, cost-

Peru visa- 3 working days. Cost- Rs 1,800 for any nationality

Brazil visa- 10 working days.    Cost- Rs- 1,200 ( + another 1,200 if doing it through a third party like a travel agent or friend/relative)

Colombia visa- 3 working days. Cost- Rs 2,508+ Rs 2,850 visa processing fee

Allow for weekends and other delays such as requests for additional details and bookings. In all, it will probably take me a month in Delhi to get it all together. Other information-

Vaccinations required- yellow fever vaccination (especially for getting out of Brazil, and Leticia in Colombia)

Vaccinations recommended – Tetanus, Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Rabies

The Peru Visa experience

How to get a Peru visa in India? Delhi is the only place to get it.

The process is quite straightforward.

General requirements for tourist visa ( as listed in the embassy website verbatim)

1.     Valid passport for at least one year.

2.     Two DGC-005 forms dully typed in block letters.

3.     Two passport size colored photograph with White background.

4.     A Photocopy of the passport is required at the time of submission.

5.     Return ticket or reservation from Peru.

Additional requirements ( as listed in the embassy website verbatim)

1.     Letter from your company indicating the purpose and the time of your stay.(In case of retired, house wife, student, minors etc covering note is required for the sponsorship of the trip and all expenses).

2.     Proof of financial capability - Last 3 month’s original Bank statement duly stamped.

3.     Latest income tax receipt of the applicant with Income Tax Department seal or notary seal.

4.     Hotel reservation from Peru. In case of sponsored trips:

a) Sponsor in Peru or India should present a written affidavit in which he/she states that he/she shall be responsible to bear all costs of boarding and lodging of the applicant or repatriation in case of traveler has acquired illegal status or does not have sufficient funds to return.

b) Identity and financial proofs of the sponsor.

Consular timings

Working days: Monday-Friday
Submission Time :  10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Collection Time  :   04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.

Here is the link to the Peru embassy in Delhi. You can download and print the DGC-005 forms from here.

http://www.embassyperuindia.in/visainformation.html

Embassy address-

Address: F-3/16 Vasant Vihar New Delhi -110057 Delhi

Phone:011 4616 3333

To get to the embassy-

The closest metro station to the embassy is Hauz Kaz. Take the yellow line; get off at Hauz Khaz station. You can either take a bus (Rs 10) from right outside Gate 1 of the metro station : there are  two of them going towards Vasant Vihar  (route 620 and 764  )or take an auto. An auto will set you back by Rs 50 one way.

Ideally you should have your visa in hand in 3 working days after you submit your application. Well, ideally.

3 working days after I applied for my visa I was at the Peru embassy on the dot at 4.pm. eager to collect my visa. But it was not to be. No passport fresh with visa awaited me. Instead it was the same rigmarole.

You are going to Peru?... and after a meaningful pause ...alone? and you are not flying in? You don’t know Spanish? How will you manage? And you don’t have a fixed itinerary? And no flight tickets in and out?
  
Sigh.

 I’m not unused to such interrogation.  Yet it continues to baffle me every single time.

 I patiently explained as I had already done in my cover letter that I was doing it by road from Ecuador and re-entering from Bolivia the same way. That I wanted it to be spontaneous. And that I did have tickets in and out of South America, just not from Peru. I also pointed out that I won’t be the first person to have done it and that there were lots of backpackers who do the same thing. That language has never been a barrier. Also, that I was old enough to do the trip by myself (I was hard pressed to keep myself from rolling my eyes) and that I have been doing solo trips around the world for a while now.

But to no avail. 

Groan.

I was told to make a detailed day-to-day tentative itinerary and mail it to the embassy for consideration which I have now done complete with hotel names and phone numbers. So what should have taken 3 days has now stretched to 7 days and still counting. I don’t really blame them though. It is not so much the color of your skin as much as it is the passport you hold is what I’ve realized. They are just not used to too many Indians from India travelling independently. And to top that, if it’s a woman travelling solo, it is something of a novelty and therefore by default arouses suspicion.

As more Indians enlarge their travel repertoire, that is bound to change.

But for now having fun is hard work. Seriously.

 The experience threw my mind back to a rather now- funny –but- then harrowing visa getting experience over two years ago. 
 

The not so new supercilious eyebrow raise

At the Kenya-Tanzania border applying for a Kenyan visa (on arrival) an Indian passport instantly produced a volley of questions - “Why do you want to travel in Africa?  And all alone? Who is there in Kenya? etc. I had to bite down the mild retort that usually hovers on the tip of my tongue. “Am I not too conspicuous for a terrorist or spy?”

Apparently the ‘T’ word is dangerous and back chat not a recommended approach or so I’ve been told. I stoically refrained.

After much repetition of patient answers, half an hour later I emerged outside smiling, clutching my passport with the precious visa in it. I had been relieved of an additional 25 dollars (the last of my money) by the wily passport officer but so what? I had the visa. The joy was short-lived. The bus I’d come in was nowhere to be seen. It had with all my belongings trundled on minus me. The border officials hurriedly put me on the next bus out and assured me that it would catch up with my earlier bus. That was absolutely no consolation. Distraught, I issued the driver an  erm  dire albeit tearful warning, “If I don’t get my bags, I’m going nowhere till you find it for me. I don’t know how you’ll do it but you had better.”

I suppose the threat ( or more probably the tears)  worked. I arrived in Mombasa penniless but nevertheless safe and sound... legally with a visa  and all my bags . I had to rely on the kindness of a stranger, a woman seated next to me on the bus to get me to my pre-booked hotel. But that my friend is a story for another day.