Brazil, here we come!

Some of you readers might know that I am heading to Rio de Janeiro on the 4th of July for a little over a week for an absolutely incredible photo project, where I will be shadowing a collective of Favela graffiti artists. In order to enter the country as a US citizen, it is required to have a tourist Visa, a direct reciprocal action for the Visa requirements we impose on them. In order to get the Visa, you need roundtrip airfare, application form, bank statements, passport photo, credit card, and most importantly, the fee ($147US). I was under the impression the process would be kind of difficult, or at least take a long time, inside the consulate, but it went very smoothly. Where it got tricky was making the payment. It was one of those TIA moments (This Is Argentina). You can only go to two banks, both of which are mere blocks from the consulate. I arrived thinking it would take 5 minutes. Nope! The place was absolutely PACKED, no seats at all. You had to pull a number to see a teller, I got number 69. They were on 45. Well whatever, I'll wait. The problem was that at about 52, the machine went all haywire and began going out of order, thus creating the problem of the person with the correct "number" going to the window, even if it meant they were skipping 8 people who should have gone before them. After about 45 minutes I finally got my turn, and paid the fee, 30 second transaction. So now, with Visa in hand, I will be setting foot in Brazil in a mere few weeks. YES!!!!!