It’s a good thing my flight doesn’t leave until tomorrow. I’m sure flying on Friday the 13th would be a bad idea. Approximately 1 am, I’ll be boarding a flight here in Mexico City, bound for Montreal. I’ll spend roughly 12 hours on the ground there, then fly to Paris, where I’ll be meeting up …
Continue reading ‘Friday, Sept 13, 2013 — Leaving the Americas’ »
About a week and a half ago, I was driving near Querétaro, when the answer to this riddle became quite apparent: Q: How many Mexican highway workers does it take to change a light bulb? A: 50. One to change the light bulb, and 49 to redirect traffic. Driving along the highway, I saw some …
I don’t have much to write today. But I have a free moment, so I’ll write something. I just walked back from the market, where I bought a liter of fresh carrot and orange juice for MXN$25 (US$1.97), and a mango to put on my steel-cut oats. I’m in Guadalajara this week, staying with some …
Today I took my second trip to the Mexican Immigration office in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Also my third, fourth, and fifth. In stark contrast to the good experience I had with the Mexican bureaucracy on Day 3, this experience left much to be desired. I showed up about 9:30am yesterday, and was told …
Continue reading ‘Day 14 – July 26, 2013: Immigration office’ »
Last night I was invited to the Far West Rodeo club in Monterrey, Mexico for some live music. The MXN$150 (~US$12) cover included free drinks, so I had some cheap beer and come cheap pineapple juice with rum. The music varied a little, including some Salsa and Cumbia, but mostly Tejano. As wikipedia points out, …
Continue reading ‘Day 6 – July 18, 2013: If you’re holding a beer, it doesn’t count as dancing’ »
Yesterday I drove from Reynosa to Monterrey. It would have been about a 2-hour drive, but without a GPS, and Mexico’s lacking road signs, I got lost in Reynosa, and again in Monterrey. But this is part of the adventure, right? Today on my way from the hotel to where I would be working, I …
Continue reading ‘Day 5 – July 17, 2013: Train-dodging in Monterrey’ »
Today was a bad day. I went to Telcel to buy a new SIM card to use while in Mexico, as I had lost my old one. That went fine, but when I rebooted my Android phone after installing the new SIM, the top half of my touch-screen didn’t work. It looks like I’ll need …
This last weekend, I had the pleasure of making a run to the border. I’ve had my car with me in Guadalajara, Mexico, since August of 2010, and as a tourist, I can only keep my car in the country for 180 days before I have to take it out of the country again. So …
I don’t remember exactly which day I received my electric bill, but it was probably early the 2nd week of September. I stashed the electric bill on the shelf in my kitchen, and made a mental note to pay it soon; next time I went by an Oxxo. (Oxxo is a convenience store chain popular …
Continue reading ‘The Cultural Experience of Paying a Mexican Electric Bill’ »