Well I am officially Cristian's father today. I signed the Adoption Decree (sentencia) at about 9:20 this morning. Jose Cristian Velasquez Trinidad is now legally Jose Cristian Placek. This ends the adoption phase and begins the immigration phase.
The immigration phase has four steps:
1. Obtain the amended birth certificate from La Palma, where Cristian was born
2. Get a new Colombian passport in Cristian's new name
3. Get a checkup from the embassy doctor
4. Get entry papers from the U.S. Embassy
If all goes smooth it takes 3 days. Well, the first phase has already been messed up. The driver who I had been assured was standing by to go to La Palma as soon as I signed was an absolute no show. No drivers were willing to leave today since they didn't want to be on the road after dark. La Palma is in guerilla country and of course is where both of Cristian's parents were killed. I was willing to pay for them to overnight in La Palma, but nobody would go. So they driver leaves tomorrow morning and that likely means no progress tomorrow.
At this point, having had one mistake/delay, our likely departure is Saturday. If we have another one, it gets pushed to Wednesday due to national holidays. So hope all goes well in La Palma and hope that the flights don't fill up in the meantime. If so we may still make it home by the weekend.
