On U.S. Territory

Last week we were on U.S. territory briefly. We had to go to the American Embassy to get Isabella all registered and legal. It was a fun trip. Victoria and Olivia stayed home with friends (what a blessing!!!) and Sofia and Isabella came with us to Mexico City to the American Embassy. The toll road from Morelia has improved quite a bit, with several loops, so we made good time. It was great to be in the big city with the smell of fumes, the hustle and bustle of people, the taco stands, the skyscrapers. It reminds me of Argentina...
So, we were doing great until we made a wrong turn and a cop spotted us. He was so helpful to get us on the right road quickly so we could make our appointment, but as many cops in this country, he wanted his due reward! Enough said...As you might guess, security is tight at the embassy, so they took all our cell phones, electronics, car openers, scissors, and liquids. Then they put our stuff (diaper bag) through the xray machine. This is where it gets embarrassing...I had taken some things out of the diaper bag, but not exactly cleaned it out. So, when the lady tells me there was a cell phone in the bag, I had to look for it. I started pulling stuff out, and it never ended. There was a flashlight, little dolls of all sorts, jewelery, socks, empty communion cups, old wet wipes, etc, etc...AT the bottom, sure enough, there was an old cell phone that the girls played with. I turned it in and promised there were no more questionable things in my bag. The soldier asked if we had any dirty diapers in there, since they could be bombs (I still don't know if that was a joke of not). Thank goodness, there were no dirty diapers.
We got our business done, Isabella's report of birth abroad and passport, and we got Sofia's passport corrected since her last name was spelled wrong. One little bit of information we found out is that if there is a mistake in a passport and you wait longer than a year to correct it, you have to get a whole new passport and pay for it! Sofia's passport was one year and a couple of weeks old!!!!!! You win some and you loose some...
We topped off the day with a trip to the Santa Fe mall where we window shopped (can't really afford much of anything there) and had lunch at Italianni's. Yummy! It felt good to be on U.S. territory where people spoke English and appreciated our rights as U.S. citizens. On the other hand, outside the window where we were working on our stuff, there was a long line of Mexicans waiting to apply for a visa to the U.S. From what I hear, they don't always get treated very nicely. It's sad, but a consequence, I suppose, of all the ones who don't bother to try and get a visa. I would show you pictures, but much like customs in the airports, pictures are a very big no, no. So, just imagine it.