We had read in our guide book that checking in with the Authorities in Brazil could be a full-day affair, but we had no idea what we were in for. To sum up the very long story to follow, in our two years of sailing, to say that this was a difficult check-in would be an understatement.

We set out early on Monday morning to visit the authorities. After roaming around the docks for a while looking for the Port Captain, we found a policeman who directed us down the road to Customs which we found relatively easily. Unfortunately he told us that we first needed to visit Immigration (Policia Federal) which was another 1km down the road. So we headed town there, through a pretty unsavory area in 90 degree heat, and when we arrived we were told that because of Carnaval, they would not be open until Wednesday afternoon. We had quite a difficult time translating, but think they told us that there was another Policia Federal in the Port...so back we headed. Not being able to find any trace of this, we paid a visit to the Port Captain which turned out to be a bad move. He told us that we could not speak with him until we visited Immigration and while we tried to explain that they were not open, he was not the least bit helpful.

Fortunately for us, a German guy arrived and, I'm sure sympathetic of what we were going through, helped us out. He directed us back to Customs where apparently there is another small outlet of Policia Federal around the back of that building, upstairs in an unmarked office. We returned to Customs and the guy took us around back only to find that Policia Federal was nowhere to be found. He yelled up to the open windows but nobody answered. As it was nearing lunchtime by now, we assumed it was siesta time and he told us to come back at 2:30.

Exhausted and hot, we stopped for lunch at the Mercado Municipal, a huge round building situated on the harbor full of craft stands. We sat at a little plastic table out front and had some very local cuisine (chicken hearts, for example) and watched a local group of young teens performing caipoera. After a quick stop at the internet, we returned to our checking-in mission. We headed back to Customs but the man did not return for another hour. The office was air conditioned and we passed the time reading a local newspaper - or more like looking at the photos. When the finally showed, he was not in a good mood but did take us up to Policia Federal where the man was very nice and even joked with us. Better yet, he checked us in and stamped our passports! From there he told us to go back to Customs and then to something called Anvisa, but when we went downstairs, they would not let us back in through the door which we exited, and directed us to go around.

We walked about 1km in search of an exit and in doing so stumbled upon Anvisa. We walked up the stairs and started knocking on unmarked doors and finally found an unlocked one with two men inside. We explained that we were here with our boat and after a few minutes he gave us a form to fill out. Apparently Anvisa is the Brazilian equivalent of Quarantine - they asked about our health, etc. and after quite a bit of paperwork, we were on our way with another stamp.

By now it was nearing the end of the work day, so we hustled back to Customs where we filled out form after form of seemingly useless information. The reason I say this is the guy wrote Chris' name differently each time, but never including the name Mays, which is typically the important part. He also photocopied the Visa stamp in his passport, but copied a very old Visa from New Caledonia and not the one for Brazil. In any case, after a whole lot of paperwork and difficult communications, he also gave us our clearance.

We were almost done, or so we thought, and rushed back to the Port Captain. It was getting close to cerveja time and the two men on duty argued about who had to deal with us. I only picked up bits of their conversation, but very clearly heard the words beer and foreigner several times. I had to fill out a two page form with tons of boat details, etc. On the second page there were only about three questions and a place to sign. Chris accidentally signed on the wrong line and instead of giving us a new second page to complete, we had to start over from scratch. After more paperwork, etc, we got our inward clearance. We also told them that we would be leaving in the morning and would like to have our outward clearance, but of course that would have been too easy. Come back in the morning, they said, as they are open 24 hours.

We went back in the morning and, what came as no surprise, were told that by the armed guards out front that the Port Captain would not be in until noon. After much back and forth, we agreed to come back at noon and do our grocery shopping in the meantime.. By now it was almost funny because when we arrived at noon, the guards made a phone call and told us that we could not see him until 3pm. We pleaded with the young boys obviously on a severe power trip and they decided to let us through. There was a different, and pretty nice, Port Captain this afternoon and he gave us our clearance and we were on our way.

By now we had spent the better portion of two days on this process, but it doesn't end here. We were only given clearance to the next port where we will have to go through this all over again...and so on for each stop we make. I do think that much of it depends on who you get and what sort of mood they are in. The language barrier is also worse than anywhere else we have been. While we respect that Portuguese is the national language, not one of the Authorities spoke a word of English which is widely understood as the universal Maritime language, for better or worse. Our Spanish has been relatively helpful, but there are countless gaps we have not been able to fill, making this already tedious process that much worse.