One day in the saga to buy a car

I want to share (at my own expense, not the country I call home) a little ditty about the final day of transferring a title from a friend's name to my own. This day was the culmination of several hard-headed attempts to do it my way. All others failed.

I awoke at 7AM to take a taxi to the DETRAN (i.e. DMV) with what I thought was an adequate amount of time and documents. At 8AM, the nice security guard informed me that I had more things missing than BMW in a chop shop. I called my friend Keith to bring the car as fast as possible to have it inventoried. Then I walked for about an hour to an internet cafe to print off a bill to prove my address. Keith and I met at DETRAN around 10AM where the car was checked for serial numbers and working lights. Having done this, I stood in line with a number while the office attempted to get reconnected with the national network. At 12PM, the long line sighed as the fax began to print off documents. I received confirmation of my paperwork as well as a 60 reais processing fee. Unexpectedly, I was told to pay it and THEN the sales tax on the car which was more than I could extract from an ATM in one day.

I called my wife who was at the beach, and asked if she had cash. She directed me to a location (by taxi) where I got exactly the amount needed. It was suprising; it was also more than my rent. With all the bills paid, I received my tag and told my story to the clerk. She said my wife would love the car. I felt that the whole office would burst into clapping had there been less witnesses. I ate a ham sandwich at home around 2:30, and a good time was had by all.

On another note, I baptized a student last Tuesday. She is very happy and wants to tell all her friends about it. Let's pray she does. Tchau for now.