Getting out of Brazil

Boy, It wasn't easy...
After the Sean Goldman case it is extremely hard to take a child out of Brazil with only one parent. And we did have a very hard time doing so.
At the last day we had several issues.

1.  The moving company got only authorization for the cats to leave the country;
2. My daughter needed a notarized document signed by me authorizing her to leave the country with my husband;
3. My son had the same document but there was a little mistake on it.

So here we go:

1. The cats had to fly on separate flights - remember the 2 pets per cabin rule? - so we needed 2 authorizations from the Ministry of Agriculture to be able to board the plane. Of course, dealing with all the last minute problems I could not go to the airport to get another copy of this document. The airport in Sao Paulo is an hour away from where we live. I called the moving comp[any, flip-out and demanded that this got done. It was a Saturday and nothing really works in Brazil on Saturdays. They got it done. But my stress level was high.
2. On Friday we had to go to a Brazilian Cartorio - public notaries there are not like in the U.S. , there is a lot of bureaucracy involved in trying to do things right in Brazil - but the place was totally packed. They told us it would take 6 hours to get the document stamped. We didn't have that kind of time to waste. So we decided to go to the airport together and I would authorized my husband to take my daughter out of the country. Easy, right? But no, they said that I needed a document stamped at the cartorio for that. I was there, saying it was ok, but my word was not good enough. Finally I talked to a Sheriff (delegado) from the Federal Police (Policia Federal) and he stamped the freaking document and said it was ok for them to fly.  Stress level: Super high.
3. Sunday! My last day in Brazil. I stopped by the pool at our development for the last goodbyes, got back to the hotel, had an awesome lunch with my son and our housekeeper - who cried all day long with saudades, and we'll miss her too! - packed our bags, put the cats in the crate and we were ready to go. As we got to the airport and I showed the damn authorization paper to the Delta representative they said my son couldn't leave the country with that authorization. The phrasing of the notary just wasn't right! Can you believe it? So I tried the federal police and they told me tho go talk to the inspector of immigration. I talked to the guy and he told me that the police had to authorize it. So I was running around with a little boy and 2 cats trying to get the permit to board the plane. About an hour before the plane's departure I just had a melt down. I was crying my eyes out, and so was my son, right outside the police's office. One of the sheriff's there felt sorry for me and started to look into the case. I can't thank this guy enough!! About a minute before check-in was over we got our tickets, we were the last ones to board the plane but we've made it! Stress level: About to have a heart attack!!

So the people from Delta Airlines were not helpful at all. And when we landed in Atlanta we found out that our flight had been cancelled and we would have to wait for 3 more hours and board the next available flight - COACH!! At this point and as stressed out as I was and with one child and 2 cats coach just wouldn't do it!! So I found the one nice person who works for Delta - a manager at the gates in Atlanta and explained my situation to him. I told him I did not want a refund for my ticket but that I needed my seats on business so we could all be accommodated reasonably well. We had to keep the 2 crates under our feet during the flight. But this wonderful guy put us on the wait list and we've made it to Miami.

And you would think that's all right? But no, our luggage didn't show up. But at this point we were all exhausted and we could't care less about the bag. It was time to go home! Even tough I knew I would have to go back to the airport the next day to get the bags. It was time to rest. And try not to end up at the hospital - or a mental institution!