There’s our truck, parked in front of room 107. Chon says he’s going to write Symphony 107.

Tomorrow it will have been a week staying in Hotel Estrella Dorada Internacional. We have spoken with the agent several more times. A few minutes ago he told us that the agency he is using had electrical problems today, and that they had been without electricity all morning. He offered to take us there so we would believe him, and that this is the longest it has ever taken him to get a new registration. He told us to trust him, and that he had worked on it all day. He said this is very bad for his business, as he works through referrals. We probably will never have many opportunities to recommend anyone for this job, but he’s right; we probably would not refer anyone to him.

By now all the employees here know about our plight. We’re practically family! We are friends with the cook, Don David, who confided yesterday that he is in love with Alma, who works the front desk. The manager, Jorge, is acquainted with Samuel, our agent, and says he is known for his alacrity and efficiency(!). Alma has four children from her previous marriage with a car collector who often left them without food because he spent so much money on cars. Rocio also works the front desk. 

Literally everyone here knows about registering cars, as the hotel gets most of its business from people who are registering their cars have other customs business. Everyone knows at least one agent, and now we know that the agents work on their own, usually for one certain customs company. You can do it yourself without an agent. Yes, we could have done without an agent, if we had only known…