Seventh Decade: The Quest for the Argentine Passport, Pt.2

Before we went to Iguazu Falls, Henry secured a copy of his birth certificate, the first step toward applying for an Argentine passport. When he had talked to the officials at the Argentine Consulate's office in Los Angeles, they had suggested that Henry obtain a second, notarized copy of the birth certificate; the original would be submitted with the passport application; the copy would be his to keep.
The afternoon we returned from Iguazu, we continued the quest. When Henry picked up the birth certificate, he was told he needed to get it notarized. We headed that direction around 2:30pm but couldn't find the office. We walked another block to the next official-looking building and asked for help.

We were given specific directions -- and told the office had closed an hour earlier -- but that we might be able to talk to someone.

We managed to get into the office, only to be told that it was indeed closed and that we'd have to come back the next day. Fortunately, a second person at the counter was more helpful; he explained that we would need to first go to the Colegio de Escribanos first, where the certificate would be notarized.

We found that building and went to the first entrance we saw. We were sent around the corner where we talked to a man at the desk. We were told again that the birth certificate required a special, certified stamp but that we should have an official copy made first.
We went back across town, near where we started last Thursday. We walked into what looked like a typical copy shop. However, when we explained that we weren't there to just make an ordinary copy of an ordinary piece of writing, more time and money was involved. We waited about twenty minutes in an almost-deserted shop and paid 25 pesos to have it copied and certified that it was an official copy of an original document.