First days in Mexico.

We're here. It's true. Finally. It took sometime, but we did arrive. Our time in Kansas City was fantastic. The Hinken's truly made me feel at home while I was there, and I can't thank them enough for that. But it was time to move on. We had planned on this trip since before we decided to join Cerner France in December 2007. We put the trip on break, some might have thought it was a permanent shelving, but alas, we have made it.

The trip from KC was a bit hectic. We said our goodbyes all week long, late into each night, it seemed. And Monday night was no different. We were up till the wee hours of the morning, and had to get moving by 6am to catch the flight. Quite a difficult task, but we managed. The hitch came when the plane from Chicago to Houston was delayed by about an hour, which meant we missed our Houston to Mexico City flight. So we tried to get on the next flight. There was one seat available. So we decided Erin should go and meet me down in Mexico City because the chance that two seats would come up together was slim to none. So she left around 3:45pm, and I stayed in Houston, walking around the airport aimlessly. I was on standby for the 5:40pm flight, but there were no seats available. I was booked on the 8:50 flight, which meant I wouldn't get in until 11pm or so. Not exactly as planned. But luck was on my side. I was first on the standby list, and there was one spot available. The courteous flight attendants even checked the hallway to make sure their missing passenger wasn't running down the hall to catch the flight. I had my fingers crossed, and got on board. Whew!

So I when through immigration and customs, met Erin outside, (who had already had her first beer waiting for me!) and we took the metro to downtown and checked into our hotel, the fancy schmancy Hampton Inn. We used our Hilton Honors Points from my Cerner days for 4 nights of relaxation and luxury. A great decision. We were still a little wired and hungry, so we went walking the streets for some food before crashing. And we found the best taqueria, which reminded me why I love mexican food so much. Delicious tacos al pastor, which are tacos of marinated pork loin, cilantro and some onion. Yum. Then we crashed hard.

The next morning we met my old friend Mildred from Cuernavaca. She is a French teacher south of Mexico City now. It was great fun to sit and talk with her to catch up and reminisce about the old times in 2000 and 2001 when I lived here. We walked around quite a bit, didn't really do too much formal sightseeing, but we did walk around Chapultapec Park, Mexico City's equivalent to Central Park. Then we had a couple of drinks, and Mildred took off for Puebla, saying we'll meet in Cuernavaca on Saturday. Apparently there are a few people that we get to see there, which should be a lot of fun. I'm especially looking forward to showing Erin the school I went to while I was there. Maybe there will still be some people I still know. Maybe.

After Mildred left, we were planning on seeing the Ballet Folklorico, which is a mexican exposition surrounding the various cultures they encompass, going from the very beginning, through Cortes, through the 1800's, and all the way up to today. Unfortunately, we were at the wrong location, and so couldn't go. Minor oversight. Apparently they moved it in the last 8 years. Who knew.

So we headed up to Garibaldi, where Mariachi's swarm tourists like African Killer Bees. We get there, pick out a bar with a show, and sit down to drink some delicious tequila (Tres Generacions). The show included some folk dancing and a mexican country singing by a man in a maroon leather outfit with matching maroon cowboy boots and maroon cowboy hat. Quite a sight, really. Wasn't exactly what we were thinking when we left, but it worked out pretty well. The only problem came with the bill. Two tequilas = 74 pesos apiece = 148 pesos total right? Nope. 200 pesos for the show additional. Is that it? Nope. 122 pesos for tax and service. That's about a 35% tip. No wonder the outfits were so good. Total bill was 470 pesos instead of the expected 148. Ouch. The biggest problem that we ran into was that we didn't have enough pesos for this. We had about 300. There was a big sign that said no credit cards. But apparently, that's just a suggestion, because once they realized that we didn't actually have the cash they easily accepted our credit card. They even had a swipe machine like any normal business. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Today is a quiet day. We'll do some walking around and maybe a museum or two, but that's about it. Nothing too serious. We're on vacation. And we're taking advantage of that.

Cheers,
T