Mexico City... Still Interesting After All These Years

I made my first trip to Mexico City more than a decade ago, albeit just to the airport.

Since July 2007, I've made a couple of dozen trips here, working on a very large project with PEMEX, the state-owned oil company. Yeah, it is crowded (25 million people). Yeah, it is dangerous (the kidnapping capital of the WORLD). Yeah, it can be smoggy and dirty and poor. Still, I've grown fond of the city. You have to love a place where the opposition party pays people to dance buck-naked to protest the government (show times are 10 and 2, by the way).

It is really a shame that crime and corruption are so pervasive here. Most of the people I deal with are polite, intelligent, and exceptionally nice. It takes a VERY long time to begin or end a meeting because of the ritual of handshakes, hugs, and air-kisses. The Mexicans are a very touchy-feely people.

This trip is a short one... I flew down this morning and will fly back to Houston tomorrow evening. I'm taking a few pictures (with my iPhone, so set your expectations accordingly) so you can see some of what I see.


Nice to know that my iPhone knows where I'm at while I'm in Mexico.

A room with a view... from my hotel room.

Lunch was interesting. Yes, those are octopus suckers there in the middle of this dish.

My current home-away-from-home. The rooms here are very nice, and the rate is better than either the Camino Real or the Sheraton Maria Isabel.

Oh, yeah! I am TOTALLY going to wear this robe at some point! I'll spare you that image, though. You may be reading this at meal time.

So, you notice that I didn't put in any "work" pics. I did that intentionally. Work is work, whether it is in Houston or Ciudad de Mexico. We all know how bone-numbing business trips can be, with cramped flights, long lines, stalled traffic, interminable meetings, and the resulting to-do lists. My workday started around 4:30 this morning and ended about 9:30 tonight. Tomorrow will be at least as bad.

Signing out for now,
Big S Ranch