{"id":1833,"date":"2012-05-24T13:34:48","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T18:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/?p=1833"},"modified":"2012-05-24T13:34:48","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T18:34:48","slug":"0-the-return-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2012\/0-the-return-again.html","title":{"rendered":"0 – The RETURN (again)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, the memories.  My first 0 sticker.<\/b>  I wondered if I would get one.  It took a lot of work and conversation, but eventually I did.<\/p>\n

You may or may not remember what a 0 sticker is.  Here in Mexico City, there are restrictions on who can drive when.  For example, a foreign vehicle (like ours) can’t drive between 5:30am-11am weekdays, one Saturday a month, and one day a week.  Yes, that’s a lot of restrictions!<\/p>\n

But there is a way out.  If<\/i> your vehicle is less that 8 years old, you can have it emissions tested for a small fee (for me around $23 Canadian), and you have the chance to get a zero sticker.  That means you can drive whenever you like for 6 months, at which time you go back and try again.<\/p>\n

I’ve done this many times now, and we got our 0 sticker when we came back to Mexico in November.<\/p>\n

Here we are 6 months later.<\/b><\/p>\n

The van went through the line quickly … then I waited, and waited, and waited.  I spent a couple hours at the place, and was finally told that for some reason the "system" would not give me a zero.<\/p>\n

So they were very helpful (they know me by now) and gave me my money back and suggested I try another Verificentro (where the test takes place).<\/p>\n

So today I did.<\/p>\n

Spending hours on something like this may remind you of the complexities of life here – there’s always something!<\/p>\n

Anyway, I went to another place (a place that, as I recall, told me years ago that I simply couldn’t get a 0 because I was a foreigner).<\/p>\n

Once again, they told me I couldn’t get a sticker because I didn’t have such-and-such, so I talked and explained and chatted and so on and so on….<\/p>\n

Eventually, they felt they had enough paperwork to give it a try.<\/p>\n

So I went into the prayer room (I’ll bet you didn’t know that Verificentros had prayer rooms!  Well, ok, they call it a waiting room, but that’s the same thing, isn’t it?), and reminded myself that God is more powerful than any computer system.  And that I would accept what He decided to do.<\/p>\n

In no time, the tests were done – and I have a 0 sticker!<\/p>\n

Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

So we can actually drive the van for another 6 months… then… we’ll see!<\/p>\n

\"Verificentro
Our van being tested – can you find it?<\/i><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

Our other zero posts:<\/p>\n