Time Takers

Continuing with the brief series that I started, I will now tell about another chore that takes up some of my time here in Peru.  This is not a daily task, but is something that I only have to do once a month, and actually it falls right at this time of the month.  It is not one of my favorites time takers, nor one that I enjoy doing.  Every month it frustrates me with the inefficiency and amount of time that is wasted.  I am talking of course, about paying bills.  Here in Peru, bill paying is done a bit differently.  Nobody (that I know of) here pays with checks.  People just don't have checking accounts.  There may actually be online bill paying, but I haven't heard about it yet, and it probably wouldn't work for us anyway, since we have our bank accounts in the US and not here.  So you may be asking yourself, how do they pay bills in Peru if it isn't by check or online? 

Bills, bills, bills

Well, you go in person to a payment facility and pay your bills.  The thing that frustrates me most is that we have to go to several banks or stores to pay our bills because they aren't all payable at the same place nor due at the same time.  We have to go to one bank to pay the rent, but they don't accept payment for the electric bill.  So you have to go somewhere else to do that.  The grocery store will accept payment for the telephone bill, but not for the water or electricity.   You get the picture.  It is not convenient.   On top of that, wherever you chose to go you usually have to wait in line.  It is definitely not my favorite way to spend the time.  Occassionally it works out well, we happen to be going grocery shopping on the day the phone bill is due, or something like that.  But for the most part, it is just one more chore to add to the to do list.  Thankfully it only comes once a month.