(france is not [quite] a third world country)

I wish that i had transcripts of my conversations with the reception at Hôtel Albert 1 in Algiers.

I just got off the phone again with them and, while it was more or less business as usual, i was particularly amused. Once again, i made the mistake of calling on a wednesday morning, which through some cultural and geographical magic, amounts to friday afternoon there*. the person on the line tells me everyone's gone home, I say I've been waiting weeks (and is there seriously no one who can use a fax machine?), she asks me when my reservation is, I say January, she says "oh, you have plenty of time. don't worry." I remind her that I have to get a visa which takes time or a trip to the capital at which point she starts supplicating and promising that everything will work out, just please can I call again on Saturday. I ask what time, she says anytime between 10 and 4**. So i guess i'll be up and on the phone sometime between 4 and 10 am Saturday. With any luck i'll have my confirmation then.

And then I need the actual visa. I called the embassy, and after getting transferred to nowhere the first time and a directory service the second time, the phone got handed directly from the receptionist (same voice all three times) to the decision maker. I asked about how best to submit my visa request, specifically if I could do it in one or a few days. He said, with an air of secrecy, that he couldn't tell me. I verbally raised an eyebrow, and he repeated himself. Upon further questioning, he explained that the consul had to approve and sign everything, so that could take an indeterminate amount of time (from his tone I gather that the consul is a capricious monarch, not a salaried official) and then the paperwork comes down to him, which takes varying amounts of time depending on how busy things are. we discuss other concerns, like the type of visa I'm seeking. He asks me twice if I'm visiting anyone. Just before the end of the conversation, he casually drops that visa processing usually takes a week to 10 days, and it's a slow period now, so maybe less.

adventure!


*It does make sense if you consider that the weekend is thursday and friday there and the six hour time change makes it 4pm instead of 10am.

**awesome business hours for a hotel, no?