Mexico Write Up 2006

Hola from Mexico…where to begin…

Dia Uno:
Left Denver on Sunday morning…you all will be happy to hear that I did not take out anyone in the airport this time around (think India). Managed to get to Monterrey, Mexico without any international incidents. The hotel was very nice and is right outside a macro plaza and many museums (that I won't get to visit). Dinner…where does one begin. The restaurant's name was "El Rei de Cabrito" which translates to "the king of little goats". Is anyone catching on to this yet?!? For someone who refuses to eat veil and lamb…bring on the baby goat (just eat it Melody and don't offend the locals). Although I must admit…it was quite tender. We (my co-workers and I) proceeded to walk off our dinner of infant goat in the macro plaza and took in the local arts and culture for the rest of the evening. Let me mention how hot & HUMID it is here…my hair is doing the "Pollyanna" curl.

Dia Dos:
Ahh…time to begin actually working. One thing to note is that everyone in Mexico is on "Hawaiian time"…don't get in any big hurry and if they tell you to be ready @ 07:30…they won't show up until at least 30 min. -1 hour later. So needless to say…setting up the room for training at 08:30 didn't occur until ~10:00. So once we got the room set up…we didn't actually start the training until 15:30 in the afternoon. WHAT?!?! Who's bright scheduling idea was this??? And no…I got no siesta in between all this. Ahh…let's not forget dinner. Four of us walked to a local restaurant…again with the infant animals…but let’s start at the beginning of the meal. Appetizers - some sort of cheese dish and cuitlacoche (this is a dish that they let mold grow on…tasted like mushrooms to me); we will see in a couple of days if I have to get into the Cypro. On to the main course…my co-workers decided to share a "suckling pig"…I swear I dissected something like this in high school (fetal pig). I had to tap the ball of the femur just to make sure it had hardened up. I thought I would play it safe and order a chili shrimp dish…oh the shrimp was "cooked"; not how you & I think of cooked…it was "cooked" in vinegar i.e. soaked in acid for 30 minutes. So my first bite of shrimp was cold…humm…but very vinegary…Look up "Ceviche".

Dia Tres:
Good Lord where to begin on this day. Have I mentioned how hot & humid it is here? Day starts with meeting our distributors at "08:30" for a 3-hour training. Needless to say around 09:15 we finally are off to the offices. We stood around for about another "15 minutes" and didn't get started training until 10:00. Now let's remember that I have the "beast" that I have to feed ~every 3-4 hours. This training didn't get over until ~13:00…and we had to wait "30 minutes" for everyone. Needless to say the beast was very upset when 14:30 rolled around and still no food. Have I mentioned again how hot and humid it is here. This becomes very important shortly. With "lunch" finished…we now have to pack up and head to the next town "San Luis Potosi ". This is about a ~5.5 hour drive from Monterrey. We again sit around for "30 minutes" before we leave. There are 5 adults (with a week's worth of luggage), large laboratory instruments, and 5 computers in 1 Nissan wagon vehicle (about the size of a outback) with no A/C & 1/4 tank of gas. So about 17:00 we finally get on the road (Monterrey is a city of 6 million people) right in the middle of rush hour. As I am sweating away into a pile of salt, trying to catch a few zzzz's…I am awoke by the rest of the car telling me that the car is overheating and we need to turn around. WHAT??? We aren't going to try and cross the desert on a horse with no name??? About this time…all I can do is start laughing. We manage to get back through traffic and to the rental car place (Sheraton Hotel…and I'm thinking I should just say). We are now currently in a Ford Mini-van with A/C. I am much happier now…out of my sweat-stained suit and in my Keen's and knickers. I will let you all know how the tequila is…for I fully intend to hit it when we finally arrive at our destination. A destination that we were supposed to be at ~17:00pm…it's now 01:00