Mug shot, multa

¡Éxito!  I was able to file my paperwork yesterday with the Instituto Migratorio.  The only hang-up: I was supposed to have registered with them before the 12th. The multa (fine) is about 450 pesos.  "But," I countered, "I was told to come back today." 

     "Who told you that?" the woman with my paperwork asked me.  

      "Er.... the woman who was working here that day. I could have come of Friday, which was the 12th, but she told me to come back here today, Thursday." I was using all my negotiation skills.  

      "What did she look like?" she narrowed her eyes at me.  

       "Um... she was tall..." I started.  

        "Tall?!"  she repeated, looking confused.  Oh, drat.  What does tall mean here? I thought.

        "Well, kind of tall," I said.  "With brown hair."

         Now the girl looked really perplexed, and a little suspicious.  "Brown hair?" she asked. 

        "Um, yes, pelo café," I said, using a different word for brown.  What does brown hair mean HERE? I thought desperately.  Obviously, our two cultures were at odds with physical descriptions.  

     "Momento," she said, disappearing into a back room.  A woman poked her head out of the door, looked at me, and disappeared again.  Moments later, the woman with my paperwork came back and started stamping things again.  

    "Is everything ok?"  I asked.

    "Oh yes, you're fine," she said.  "Sign here."

     Whew.