Saludos de Chile! We are just across the border from Peru in Arica, Chile. We came yesterday in order to pick up our visas with our friend Christi, who is a SAM missionary teacher in the jungle. All three of us are now official "non-Catholic religious residents" of Peru. I never dreamed the process would be so easy, but we were able to take care of it in about an hour. Actually, all we did was wait and sign our names once or twice.

As I am growing more accustomed to doing every day, I had to sign "Hannah P. Fulton." Four years ago when I had my passport amended to have my new married name, they put a little note in the back in English to say what had changed. I'd say more times than not, it doesn't work. Especially since most people here can't read it, they insist that my official name is Hannah Fulton and that I must have all my paperwork done in that name. When I dropped my passport off to start this visa process, I explained very carefully about the name change. No luck. So now in addition to having my cell phone in my maiden name, I have my visa and probably will have to have my national ID card too. What does this mean next year when I have my passport renewed and my name really changes?

The official business completed, we are enjoying our stay in Arica. Yesterday we ate lunch overlooking a port filled with sea lions. They're huge! Today we spent a few too many hours on the beach and came home pretty in pink. We'll return to Arequipa tomorrow morning for a brief stay at our house and then on to the SAM Peru conference this week.

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