Photo Fails

While we had been planning to drive to Indiana for our annual trip to the midwest, it turned out that it wasn't a great deal more expensive to fly.  A bit more cash for one day of travel versus 3 or 4 solid days in the car?  Sign me up.

However, this meant that we had to get Joey a new Mexican passport.  We hadn't planned on renewing it, as they don't check documents on this side of the border when entering by car.  But the airports sure do.  And the Mexican government decreed last year that ALL Mexicans entering Mexico needed to have a Mexican passport upon entering Mexico.  Merely providing children's birth certificates would no longer suffice.  Now, I don't know what they might do if I were to plead ignorance of this new rule (fines, no doubt), but it seems to be a matter of pride for Mario that the kids also sport their Mexican passports.

So we renewed Joey's passport this week.

Or we tried to.

And we tried.

And the third time was a charm!

This passport photo, while adorable, sported hair covering his forehead.  No dice.

Retake.  Clean forehead.  But the pixels were too obvious, apparently.  And there may have been too much hair around his ears.  

Despite being washed-out, this ugly polaroid was the winner.  Never mind that Joey doesn't look like himself. 

So, if you're in need of Mexican passport photos for Mexican nationals (the visa office for foreigners is much more forgiving), find the one photographer in town who still uses film.  Not a digital camera. While it was a pain to get his pictures retaken this many times, I am glad they didn't send our completed passport package off to Torreon, just to have the photos rejected there and start the process again, a week later. 

If you're in Saltillo, looking for non-digital passport photos, JR Botas, right across the street from the passport office, provides that service. 

Complete with a spray bottle of water and free use of their comb.  Which I clearly used liberally.