And We're Legit

We're golden! Today we picked up our signed and sealed "temporary" residency papers, good for one year and renewable for two more. After that, we are eligible for permanent residency and, two years later, citizenship. The process requires quite a bit of paper collection: apostilled and notarized birth and marriage certificates, criminal records (or evidence of lack thereof), proof of pension, etc. The last item is the one that greases the skids. Thank you to the Newspaper Guild, AFL-CIO, for Kurt's monthly pension check.

Those residency papers already have come in handy. Tickets on Aerolineas Argentinas are about half the price for residents. We picked up round-trip tickets from BA to Mendoza (capital of the wine country, as everyone knows) for $300 US for the two of us. Charge to non-residents would have been $750 US. Life is good.

Sunday we head to Mendoza for a quick reconnaissance (and break from waiting for the furniture to arrive). Back on Thursday to continue the process of setting up the bank account here. More paperwork, but it's worth it.