Business as usual

Still handling some loose ends from EE.UU. Yesterday had an email with an attachment that needed to be unzipped, printed, filled out and signed, then faxed back. You’d think the university system would have online forms, but noooo.

After numerous discussions, Lillián (amazingly kind and wonderful madre de mi host familia) said there was a place nearby where we could do that. I’m pretty sure my limited Spanish didn’t fully convey the “unzipping” concept, but it was enough. Suficiente.

Only a half block from the house is this funky little computer/convenience-store center, sort of like an internet cafe, but with services, office supplies for sale, refrigerated display case with water/soda/juice and an extremely nice, guapo and, best for me, knowledgeable guy running it all. Knew what I was asking from my few phrases with questioning looks and gestures. He had only one speed of talking though, way too fast for me!

I accessed my email (pronounced here, predictably, “A-myle” with a long A). Clearly they do this convert-and-send thing a lot, as all functions were set up for drag and drop. Unzip and print form. Fill it out. He converted to jpg and attached it to my reply email. Send. Done. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes. What would this have cost at FedEx Office or if I’d had to go into the Centro to DHL office to fax or overnight the form? Lots.

And here ¿Cuánto cuesta? 15 pesos. Which is about 58 cents. But the best part, really, is how nice most folks are.