I received one of those letters where I had to prove I was still alive.  It needed countersigning by someone official, and as I know no-one yet, I went to the police station and spoke to a constable, who called a corporal, who called a sergeant, who called the senior sergeant.  They all deliberated over the document,which none of them could read (it being in English) and asked for a translation of every word.  - and what I was getting a pension for, and from whom and what I had done in my working life.  All this strained my Spanish to the limit, but eventually, the senor man wrote his name, grade, etc. signed it and affixed the police dept stamp, which was what I really wanted.  Smiles all round and they took my cell phone number for their records.  So when the earthquake hit, I got three reassuring messages from them by SMS No 1.  Keep Calm.  No.2 There will be no Tsunami and No.3 Try not to travel in case of aftershocks.

Of course, that hurdle surmounted , I then had to beard the Post Office to get it sent by some secure method.  I was sent to the Civic Centre, a long low white building (but then most buildings are white) rather like a shopping mall.  All airconditioned and with a wide walkway containing benches, while each department lives behind a glass wall, so you can see what they are up to.   Here I found public health, child welfare, electricity account, telecom, transportation and refuse collection, and my destination - the Post Office whose office contained chairs for you to sit on while you wait.  I only saw the ground floor so goodness knows what lurks upstairs

The lady who helped me spoke some English so we established the urgency, the security and my fears.  She said it could be tracked all the way, but the system was down.  She took the letter and said she would email me in the morning with the tracking number, which she duly did.  I am beginning to gain some faith in the infrastructure here! (although all Americans remind me this is a 3rd world country.  They just dont know what that really means)