The Telcel cellular facility in the heart of Puelba across from the Zocola or main square is impressive -- shiny glass entrance doors and marble floors. I thought Wow -- getting a Sim card for my idpad here will be a snap. I stood in a long line at the entrance -- which I discovered later was to get a piece to paper to stand in another line.
Had I looked more closely at the 40 or so clients in the place then, I would have realized that they were all Mexicans in working clothes paying their cell phone bills.
I was wearing an orange Patagonia jacket, had a camera and purse slung over my shoulder and a bright yellow pack on my back. No one spoke English. The clients around me looked amused. I guess I looked like some kind of exotic bird.
When I finally got to the wicket and explained what I wanted, the fellow, hesitated, did a bunch of research, called his superior over and then asked me for the ipad. He took the card from his own phone and put it into my device to see if it would work. Seemed compatible.
Then he forgot to remove his own chip. He asked for my passport. Good Lord. I'd been in two long lineups already but couldn't get the card or data transfer without my passport?
So back to the hotel with the guy's phone card in my ipad then back to the shiny facility to the entrance lineup for the piece of paper to get into the second lineup. Finally at the wicket I gave my story to a second lucky fellow, showed him the ipad and my passport.
He called the first fellow over and then voila I had two guys looking after me. Together they did more research, checked with few more experts and then the second guy opened the slot to insert a card. "But," I said (in Spanish), "I already have a card." Then the first guy remembered he'd left his in my ipad.
The paying doesn't happen in the same place as the ordering. The pay wicket is conveniently located on the other side of the room. So after paying for the card I had to cross the floor and wait in another line with three signed documents, return to the original wicket, order the GB transfer and repeat the pay process But the second time my Visa wouldn't go through. Gawd.
Finally I left the place with a Sim card and a GB of data transfer. I thanked the fellows but told them that the process had been incredibly complicated. They apologized.
The moral of the story -- if you are from another country and want a card for anything other than your cell phone take your meals and bedroll with you and don't forget your passport!
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