This is a repost of an email I sent on my first trip to Mexico City, back in 2007. No pictures, just text ... since this hasn't been in my blog before, I figured I'd share ...
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What an odd place this is.
Everyone we have encountered so far have been very friendly, yet we are constantly warned about crime.
I'll spare the cliches about "country of contrasts" and junk and just ramble on ;-)
IBM Rochester as signs proclaiming that they ban guns .. but IBM Mexico City/Santa Fe has security guards armed with shotguns. And the exterior smells like sewage. In the bathrooms there are signs saying something about paper and toilets, and if they have wastebins in the stalls like at Kio Networks, I would have put the paper there .. but since there are no bins, I will assume they want me to flush it down. Yet it appears that the sewage system can't handle it.
So, the crime. The armed guards are evidence of that. So are the guards at Kio Records. To get to the data center, we have to go through a gate manned by two guards in business suits (think Mafia). After we enter, we park and approach the entrance - which is controlled by a guard inside. He has to push a button to open the door for us. This is followed by a metal detector (like at airports). We finally get to the receptionist, where we provide (and surrender) identification to get a badge. Then the guard calls for an escort who (usually) arrives promptly. Again, the door from the reception to the data center is activated by the guard behind the desk ( i.e. you can't leave unless they want you to). The escort takes us through a door into what I call the "airlock". Have to stand in a small (5 x 8 foot) room where only one door can be open at a time - and the guard needs to key a code to open the inner door. This leads us into an office area, but we go upstairs (with the escort) who lets us into the computer room. The computer room is pretty big, with a cage in the middle. The space between the cage and the computer room walls is about six feet wide, all the way around the cage. We walk to where we need to go, and the escort has to get access to cells within the cages using a swiped card and a fingerprint reader. At least we don't have to work here much - we do that in a different part of the building, where there is a lot of construction noise and we are crammed into a desk area like IBM Interns. Anyway, leaving is the process in reverse - out the cage, out of the computer room, through the airlock, to the receptionist (if the guard lets us) and then we get our identification back in exchange for thier badges. Oh, I forgot to mention that we had to register our laptop serial numbers on the way in, and verify them on the way out. And back through the metal detector, car, parking guards, etc.
At least it is easier at the IBM facility - get a badge, swipe and go. And try not to make funny faces at the guys with shotguns.
My guidebook says there are four kidnappings per day in Mexico City and therefore we are to avoid taxi's unless we called ahead, paid at the hotel, and verified the cab number and ID of the cabbie card. Just outside IBM, when I leaving, there was a guy in a red car, no markings, asking if I need a taxi. I suppose this would be a good place to find kidnappable people .. I wonder how many ransom's IBM has paid?
But I think the biggest danger here isn't crime (or the water) but traffic. There are lane markings, but they are largely ignored. There are few controlled intersections .. unless you consider speedbumps to be "control". Right outside the hotel there is a busy intersection, and getting across (by car) involves waiting for cross traffic to slow for the speedbumps. IBM is right across that busy street from the hotel, and there are crosswalks. But there are no buttons to push to stop traffic, and if there were, that wouldn't help anyway, because there are no lights to be activated by such a button anyway. At least there is a large (30-wide) grassy island so I only have to cross three lanes at a time. Oh yeah .. the crosswalks lead to grassy islands, not sidewalks. This is by far the least pedestrian-friendly city I have visited. Oddly enough, this part of town is only ten years old.
There are people everywhere here. Yeah, I know, 25 million and second-largest in the world, but I mean in the service sector. At the gas stations there are two pumps per attendant, in the restaurants there are 2-3 waiters per table, multiple bellhops and there are taxis everywhere. I suspect that labor is so cheap that they hire a whole bunch of folks to do one job. At least they're all very friendly!
So far language hasn't been much of a problem, perhaps because I have been with Jose or Mathew. I find I can read most things and understand them, and my vocabulary is growing exponentially every day. I'm getting better at ordering food (besides cervesa and arracherra!), indicating I am finished, saying 'hello' and 'thank you' etc. But today, at IBM, I couldn't remember which floor had the mobility center so I asked the receptionists - and was met with two people whom I could not communicate with .. so we waited until someone came by with the language skills we needed.
Things are very inefficient here. I am finding it is a hassle to contact the customer, a hassle to get to the customer, a hassle to find a place to work, and a hassle to find food of sorts (especially water). They haven't attached the devices I need yet, so I don't have anything to do. They seem to not care - so we pester them every hour or two. Jose (my host, and IBM'r) explains that's how things are done here.
That should be enough for now ..
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