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Woke up at 4:30. Got up at 5:15. Finished putting my bags together, and my ride showed up at ten to 6. Got to the airport and the sun was coming up by the time I sat down to wait. Wasn’t able to communicate with the girl at the Mezcal shop. That’s OK, I couldn’t buy any anyway. Flight was uneventful.
Didn’t have any trouble at MEX this time. Didn’t have to exit the terminal or go through security. My only problem was my brain. It was like, OK, gate 67. It’s not that direction, I’ll go this way. Stop to look at the board because I forgot what gate it was. 67. It was the other way. I go back. OK, what gate is it? Gate 67. It’s at this point that I realize that’s the year I was born. That should have been an easy one to remember!
Slightly longer flight from Mexico City to Monterrey.
Jose Luis is an engineer at the plant, who I worked with. He left the company in July, but we have stayed in touch. He was excited that I was finally coming down. He is friends with Rafael, another engineer who used to work there. Jose Luis was waiting at the entrance. He looked up from his phone just as I was going by. Good thing he saw me because I wouldn’t have recognized him. We didn’t video chat often, and when we did, he was wearing a mask – just like he was this day, but you still only have the eyes.
Rafa was driving. We went to a town outside of the city, Cadereyta Jiménez. Jose Luis grew up there. We had dinner in a place called La Tinaja. Then we walked over to see the church and took a look inside. Across the street was a plaza with market stalls, so we took a walk around. We stopped for a churro.
We drove farther out of the city to a tiny town named San Juan – eight by eight blocks. There’s a park called Remembrance Park "The Cradle of Baseball in Mexico". American GI’s came to town to build a bridge, and they also made a baseball field. Both are still there. Jose Luis told me there are three places in Mexico that claim to be the first places to play baseball in Mexico. Then we went out on the bridge. It was a standard iron girder bridge on concrete piers, single track, with eight spans. I’m guessing it was about 50 feet above the water, maybe less, but it seemed pretty high – the wind was strong. Jose Luis had brought his fishing pole. He was using corn as bait, and he wasn’t catching anything. Rafa and I were just kinda hanging out, I was shooting pictures. After a while he said, “We can’t fish here.” I said, “why? You can’t catch any fish?” “No. Is too dangerous.” He tried again from shore by the side of the tracks, but still didn’t catch anything. We drove to a different bridge, a road bridge, not so high. He tried for a while, still didn’t catch anything. We drove into Monterrey.
Monterrey is surrounded by mountains, for about 180 degrees. I knew this, but they were much more impressive in person. They’re like a wall around the city. There’s a hill in the middle of downtown that gives you a 360 view of the city. There’s enough smog that you couldn’t see the horizon to the northeast and east, or even the edge of the city, but you could still see a long way off – it’s a big city.
We drove down from there and went through a very busy section of city. A shopping area, nothing but stores. The sidewalks were just packed with people. We drove on and found a place to park. We parked in an old section of town. It looked like Oaxaca, but it was only a few square blocks, and there was no life there. People lived there (and there were hotels, since it was on the edge of a touristy part), but there were no shops. It looked cool, though. And nothing like the rest of the city.
We walked a couple of blocks to the canal. It was built sometime this century, I guess. It is down from the street, with bridges over it. There are walkways on either side, with cafés some places. Tourist boats go up and down. At the end, we went up to the plaza. The Macroplaza. Possibly the largest plaza in the Americas. It’s about ten blocks long. Fountains, statues, trees, a stage and manymany booths of people selling kitschy souvenirs. And I got corn. A cup of corn, with some hot sauce, and cheese on top.
After that adventure, they brought me home. I got a defective room. The window wouldn’t latch – no safety concerns, but it was noisy. And there were some lights out. So I switched rooms, and got the only good night’s sleep of the trip.
.
Didn’t have any trouble at MEX this time. Didn’t have to exit the terminal or go through security. My only problem was my brain. It was like, OK, gate 67. It’s not that direction, I’ll go this way. Stop to look at the board because I forgot what gate it was. 67. It was the other way. I go back. OK, what gate is it? Gate 67. It’s at this point that I realize that’s the year I was born. That should have been an easy one to remember!
Slightly longer flight from Mexico City to Monterrey.
Jose Luis is an engineer at the plant, who I worked with. He left the company in July, but we have stayed in touch. He was excited that I was finally coming down. He is friends with Rafael, another engineer who used to work there. Jose Luis was waiting at the entrance. He looked up from his phone just as I was going by. Good thing he saw me because I wouldn’t have recognized him. We didn’t video chat often, and when we did, he was wearing a mask – just like he was this day, but you still only have the eyes.
Rafa was driving. We went to a town outside of the city, Cadereyta Jiménez. Jose Luis grew up there. We had dinner in a place called La Tinaja. Then we walked over to see the church and took a look inside. Across the street was a plaza with market stalls, so we took a walk around. We stopped for a churro.
We drove farther out of the city to a tiny town named San Juan – eight by eight blocks. There’s a park called Remembrance Park "The Cradle of Baseball in Mexico". American GI’s came to town to build a bridge, and they also made a baseball field. Both are still there. Jose Luis told me there are three places in Mexico that claim to be the first places to play baseball in Mexico. Then we went out on the bridge. It was a standard iron girder bridge on concrete piers, single track, with eight spans. I’m guessing it was about 50 feet above the water, maybe less, but it seemed pretty high – the wind was strong. Jose Luis had brought his fishing pole. He was using corn as bait, and he wasn’t catching anything. Rafa and I were just kinda hanging out, I was shooting pictures. After a while he said, “We can’t fish here.” I said, “why? You can’t catch any fish?” “No. Is too dangerous.” He tried again from shore by the side of the tracks, but still didn’t catch anything. We drove to a different bridge, a road bridge, not so high. He tried for a while, still didn’t catch anything. We drove into Monterrey.
Monterrey is surrounded by mountains, for about 180 degrees. I knew this, but they were much more impressive in person. They’re like a wall around the city. There’s a hill in the middle of downtown that gives you a 360 view of the city. There’s enough smog that you couldn’t see the horizon to the northeast and east, or even the edge of the city, but you could still see a long way off – it’s a big city.
We drove down from there and went through a very busy section of city. A shopping area, nothing but stores. The sidewalks were just packed with people. We drove on and found a place to park. We parked in an old section of town. It looked like Oaxaca, but it was only a few square blocks, and there was no life there. People lived there (and there were hotels, since it was on the edge of a touristy part), but there were no shops. It looked cool, though. And nothing like the rest of the city.
We walked a couple of blocks to the canal. It was built sometime this century, I guess. It is down from the street, with bridges over it. There are walkways on either side, with cafés some places. Tourist boats go up and down. At the end, we went up to the plaza. The Macroplaza. Possibly the largest plaza in the Americas. It’s about ten blocks long. Fountains, statues, trees, a stage and manymany booths of people selling kitschy souvenirs. And I got corn. A cup of corn, with some hot sauce, and cheese on top.
After that adventure, they brought me home. I got a defective room. The window wouldn’t latch – no safety concerns, but it was noisy. And there were some lights out. So I switched rooms, and got the only good night’s sleep of the trip.
.
