VISA Update - I can stay!!!

FIRST, sorry this is posting so late.  We just got back from the Vet (12:40 AM). I will let Chels explain the circumstances tomorrow.... It was ugly.  

I am pleased to report that I am legally in Paraguay and will be staying here for a while longer (see stamps to prove it at right).  The result is beautiful and I am thrilled... but, like all interactions with a Government Agency, there was inevitably some red tape.  I have no complaints AT ALL but I do have to share the story:

In the morning I talked with the very helpful people at the US Embassy.  They put in a phone call to the head of Foreign Immigration in Paraguay on my behalf and explained my situation.  The Head of Foreign Immigration (for the whole Country) then called the Immigration boss in Encarnacion and I was instructed to go visit said boss at his office.

The boss understood the situation and said that the US Embassy should have stapled my passports (old and new together) after they voided my old one but that, nevertheless, my other Visa was still valid and would remain so until the date of expiration (May 28).  He explained that if the embassy had stapled the documents together then people would have understood that the visa in my old passport was related to my new passport (seems kinda silly, but... whatever).  The boss called the people at the Bridge and instructed me to go leave the Country so that I could get a new "Exit" stamp, enter Argentina and then turn right back around and come to Paraguay so I could get a new "Entrance" stamp without a 3 day limitation.

We followed his orders.  The entire situation had to be explained 4 more times to 4 different people - when exiting Paraguay, entering Argentina, leaving Argentina (4 minutes after entering) and then when re-entering Paraguay.  Each one of those people also explained that the passports should be stapled together.

Chelsey and I also learned from the boss in Encarnacion that we should be able to get new Visas in Posadas which is just on the other side of the bridge.  We thought we were going to have to travel 12 hours to a different city SO this is definitely a great thing to know.  It will save us bunches of time and cash.

Anyhow, the conclusion... I take many things away from this whole debacle:

1. Your experience at a border (and possibly in dealing with the Government) depends more on who is working than what the law is;
2. in Paraguay it is best to cite the name of the Immigration boss when trying to explain complicated situations, and;
3. most importantly, things work out so try not to stress too much about things you cannot control and what 'might' happen in the future.  We have enough to worry about in the present with what we can control.