Hospital Hassle

Today I visited one of our ladies who is in the hospital. I went with the niece of the woman in the hospital. I thought getting in to see someone would be fairly easy, wow was I wrong. There is a line you have to wait in to get a visitors pass. The patient can only have two visitors at a time. We waited half an hour until the current visitors left and then had to leave our Portuguese tax id number card with the receptionist so we could get a pass to see the patient. Talk about complicated. Once we got in, we were able to visit for quite a while and had a good visit. Getting out was much simpler. Just a sample of life here in Portugal. Not your normal American hospital experience. Next time, I will be prepared for the hassle.