Ivan finally got his government issue voting card!!! It is called the INE, which stands for Instituto Nacional Electoral, and it has taken at least a month of torment, but he got it. Without this particular card we can do nothing. Now we can open a bank account, PLUS, we got the “points” card at the local grocery store, Soriana, (we’ve been using other family members cards, giving them tons of points. They give 1 point for every 8 pesos you spend, and we routinely spend 1200-3500 pesos weekly. At almost 20 pesos per $1, well, you do the math!!). It doesn’t get much more exciting than that!
Having a bank account here, however, is not like in the US. Here, there is so much money laundering done that if you deposit xx amount of dollars within a specified amount of time, usually 30 days, and then deposit xx amount more, within the same 30 days, you are immediately under investigation. They want to know just how you got the money, where did the money come from, (having to show proof of its origin), why you have deposited so much within that particular time frame, plus you have to pay 30% of said money to the government in taxes- then and there. So, before we open said account, we will be speaking to said bank officials about our riches, and all of the millions we are making as retired US citizens 🙂
We will not move all of our money here because the folks at the Moline Municipal Credit Union have been so amazing over the past 20 years, or so, that we have been members there. They have seen us through the good times and the bad times. And they have continued to help us transfer money down here, first to buy the apartment, and then the Mercedes!! It is a lot of work to transfer that amount of money into a country very much on the radar where money transfers are concerned.
I will close by saying that for the first time in our lives we own two luxury cars, a luxury apartment, and are completely debt free. I know many of you reading this are not thus, but remember, please, that Ivan and I are 66 (next week) and 64, respectively, and it has taken us all of our lives to get here. We thank the good Lord every day for what we have been given, which allows us to give, generously, to others. It is so exciting!! Thanks for coming along.