Glacier Trip - Part 4b: Guy Trip and a Ryan

Saturday
We had the best intentions for an early start the next morning. Ryan, who knows me like a brother, was chuckling that I was not stressed out by the timeliness of the trip. Hey – it is vacation and everything is beautiful so why rush anything. That, and the fact that for some reason I was the slow guy for pretty much the rest of the trip.

We eat another wonderful massive breakfast and head over to the Ranger Station to get our campsite reservations. The guys begged me to say that they had all already watched the video. In a moment of significant peer pressure and severe weakness, I conceded. It hurts.

I planned out a trip back to the Belly River area where I had been every year so far – but since we had a limited time I wanted to give these guys the "Greatest Hits" tour. I was hoping to stay the night at Cosley lake (8.5 mile hike), but it was completely booked – which makes three years in a row that I could not stay there.

• Year 1 – Closed because of a juvenile grizzly bear frequenting the area
• Year 2 – Closed because a horse had killed another horse and so the owner had blown the dead one up with a stick of dynamite. Apparently, if a horse dies out on the trail, the carcass is too large and a bear would hang out there and eat. If they blow it up, then the smaller animals would carry the pieces away. However, this was a "blow up" gone bad and the bears were enjoying the buffet.
• Year 3 – Fully booked.

We booked the trip to Glen Lake and then Elizabeth Lake. We would enter at the Canadian border and then my idea was that I would hike the 10.5 miles (800ft climb) back to the car and pick them up – because I was sending them out through Ptarmigan tunnel which is a 10 mile hike but 2500ft up and 2500ft back down. I figured that would teach them to hike faster than me…I had done that hike before I would simply describe it as "spectacularly brutal".

We headed out after filling up on water and got on the trail around noon. We ran into the Ranger around mile 3. He was on his horse (and was leading two others) on his way to pick up his girlfriend. We talked a bit and he told us to stop by his cabin and rest in the shade. We did – and Mike took probably my favorite picture of the trip along his corral. Looking in his window, he had a fish thawing on the counter and a couple bottles of wine open – with candles ready. If this cabin starts a rockin’… An additional note, Tim rated his outhouse the best of the trip. Apparently, there was a nice breeze that blew from underneath that Tim found pleasant after a long hike.

The cabin is 6.2 miles into the trip. We left to have lunch another 1.5 miles away at Gros Ventre falls. My friends from last year will remember that stop as where I forced them to march with limited breaks because we were running so far behind. (They actually still speak to me). The falls were nice, although you can tell that the water is down from the last couple of years. We hiked the last 3 miles from there to camp and my friends got to fishing.

Now it should also be noted that on almost every trip I have taken butter and foil – but no one with me has ever caught a fish. That streak was maintained this evening. Fish Count = 0.

Tim stopped reading his book "Night of the Grizzlies" because he finally got scared. He had left his book "Spectacular Plane Crashes" back in the car so he would have to read that on the flight home.

Sunday
We took the shorter hike with the stream crossing to Elizabeth Lake. The first year, the water was well up my thigh, but this year it was around my knees (although still shockingly cold). We stopped at Dawn Mist falls and then headed over to camp.

We picked a camp because there was a lure there attached to a tree. The guys went out to fish with the lure and it turned out to be the charm. They caught more fish that I could count – but kept 9 to eat. The logic was two apiece, but the 9th was so big that they had to keep it. I guess there is a rule. They had brought oil and spices to cook with – but with my doubts about the fish (in Grizzly country) I had not really brought the right thing to cook it in. We used my aluminum heat shield on the stove – until it melted through after fish #4. We used a rock as the serving dish and picked the meat out with our fingers. The fish was the best of my life. Ryan – I am sorry that I doubted you.

Again, paranoid about the smell – I wouldn’t let anyone sleep in the clothes they wore for that experience. There was some push-back, but with the slightly crazed look I had in my eyes, everyone conceded.

This was also a bit of a switch in sleeping. Mike and I shared a tent – but the campsite was at a slight slant, so Mike did not want to sleep "down hill" so rather than sleeping "head to toe" as I normally encourage, his head was up on my side of the tent. You see, head to toe is great. If only one head is at the end of a tent, (1) you can toss your stuff around., (2) you don’t smell each others breath, and (3) you don’t wake up face to face and scream in the morning because you don’t have your bearings about you and you think you picked up a really really ugly chick from a bar. This is also good for a reason that Mike was soon to discover – because in the middle of the night, with your hat pulled down over your ears and the sleeping bag tightly wrapped around your head – you still cannot block out the volume of my snoring from 12 inches away. Mike’s quote of the trip was "Nicole is a saint".

Monday
We get up the next morning, pack up and head out. Tim generously comes with me and Mike/Ryan head over the river and through the woods to Swift Current Motor Lodge they go. We make it out about (Tim 30 min. earlier) and drive the hour to get to where Mike/Ryan would come out of the woods. They had been there about 10 minutes and we stretched out on the porch letting their feet dry. I asked if it was a good hike and they said it was – and they had seen bears at the end of it.

We paid for showers at the camp site – but this was more of a place for car campers so no towels or soap was provided. So, I bought a bar of Irish Spring and we cut it into four pieces. For Towels, I bought a roll of Bounty that we split. Soon, as clean as a whistle, we headed out to Two Sisters for lunch and PIE. Everyone was full but I required that we order at least one piece – I picked the blueberry peach, which was not a great combination, but it was still pie.

We headed on to our next challenge. Tim’s goal was to see bear. Mission Accomplished. Ryan’s goal was to get away into the woods far from email. Mission Accomplished. Matt’s goal was to set up a great trip. Mission Accomplished. Mike's goal? Make it out of the woods in time to get to a sports bar to watch the Bengals’ pre-season game. Mission soon to be accomplished.

We headed into Whitefish which was an awesome little town and found what turned out to be the local blue collar hang out. Which was also full of Green Bay fans (who the Bengals beat like a drum). No fights but the locals got even because the greasy food we ate made the game of rock/scissors/paper for the bathrooms a little more aggressive.

Tuesday
I got up around 4:30 to take Ryan to the airport and came back for the guys. Ryan (and then Nicole) had coached through getting an earlier flight and so we all then could fly out around the same time. The security at Kalispell seemed a little lax – so Mike dared me to see if I could run through it. He even offered to yell a long war whoop as I ran through the metal detector. My blister on my foot was bothering me, so I passed.

Mike also had access to the Crown Room at the airport in Salt Lake – which is awesome. We arrived in Cincinnati, Nicole grabbed us at the door. We gave Mike a quick ride home. Trip Complete.

Glacier Trip - Part 4a: Guy Trip

Tuesday
We drive the 1 1/2 hours back from the airport for Nicole and to pick up Mike. There is some debate about the choice of location for that night -- but it isn't like the scenery was horrible to view... Mike arrives with no luggage, but it turns out his luggage beat him here... All is well... We are pumped about our next day.

Wednesday
The next morning after the wonderful Glacier breakfast buffet, Tim takes the long and winding road back to the airport (and back) to drop Christie off. Our goal is to get a route with the ranger better than my original plan. With Ryan coming now on Friday, we have broken the trip into two three-day trips.

Around noon, I go wandering over to the Ranger Station (no car) but it is closed. Tim gets back about the same time that I do, so we go back as I thought I saw an official looking vehicle drive up. The truck was driven by what turned out to be a local Ski Legend who works doing trail maintenance in the summer. He takes us down to the closest Ranger Station at Two Medicine.

Having skipped the Two Medicine trip last year, I scheduled us to go to No Name Lake and then on to Upper Two Medicine Lake. None of the hiking was going to be really hard, we were going to cover about 20 miles and only about 800 feet of elevation gain.

I was a little concerned that Tim and Mike did not take the safety video as seriously as I would have liked. This was to be a scary trend that would cause me great stress and agony. You must understand that when you hike in Grizzly country that you have to be very careful. They eat you. I, being ever so slightly risk adverse, make sure that anything with odor is carefully hung 200 yards away from our tents. The next few days would be an exercise in patience -- yes, we must hang the toothpaste -- yes, we that Powerbar wrapper has to be hung. As well, as we were comfortably about to fall asleep in our sleeping bags, I hear Tim from the next tent ask "Does anyone want any of these potato chips?" Mike responds "No, I am too stuffed from this can of Mackerel -- I can't eat it all so I will just leave it out here for later." I sob myself to sleep.

Thursday
The next morning we climb up to the glacier nearby that was too difficult to reach the evening before in our sandals. The glacier is inside a huge bowl of rocks that have been pushed out over time to build a 50-60 ft. wall. Mike and Tim play a game of throwing small boulders back into the bowl, trying to knock over piles of rocks. We decide that the area has now been primarily shaped by the ice age and the Tim/Mike/Matt trip of 2006.

Oh
Fish Count -- 0
Bear Count -- 7
Animals Mike has seen -- a crow, 5 squirrels, and a duck

We pack up and head on down to Upper Two Medicine Lake. It is a short hike today so that there is plenty of time to fish. We hear on the trail that there is a Moose (from Americans, so it didn't count) at the campsite so we hurry on.

The tents were hot last night, so Tim leaves his rainfly off so that it would guarantee some rain. 11 hours and a damp Tim later, the rain stops.

Friday
Earlier, we had run into two guys from Miami that were pretty much newbies when it comes to backpacking. Now I will say that when I started, I read a bunch of books but really did learn a lot from logic and experience. These guys -- not so much. First -- no rain gear. That would get them voted out of the tribe immediately. Second -- all cotton. In my humble opinion, unless it is a flannel sheet -- cotton is the devil. It gets wet and doesn't insulate and won't dry and... sorry I am getting too worked up... ANYWAY, these guys were cold, wet and almost hypothermic. We gently coached them to skip the rest of the trip and get out of the woods. They did.

We hiked out of the woods and Mike jogged to get the car. We drove the 1/2 hour back to East Glacier (with the windows completely rolled down) to go to the perfect combination of a Laundry and Shower store thing. For 1.50/pound they would do our laundry, which we thought was more than worth not having to touch our underwear again. For about $5 or so -- we got 8.5 minutes of hot shower. There were only two showers available, so I lost rock/paper/scissors and got to go third.

I then drive Mike/Tim back 1 1/2 hours to the Many Glacier Lodge and drop them off at the bar. I head the 2 hours back to the airport (grabbing our clean laundry on the way) to pick up Ryan (I was 1 1/2 hours late) and we meet the guys back at the lodge.

Fish Count -- 0
Bear Count -- 11 (Grizzly and Black Bear repeats)

Glacier Trip - Part 3: Vacation with the Mrs. (and Tim and Christie)

Saturday
Our new flight leaves very early the next morning. We arrive in Kalispell at 1:15 which essentially makes us lose a day in the park. However we aren't upset at all until we hear about all that we missed with the Super 8.

Tim & Christie pick us up and we head to the park. We stop at Lake McDonald Lodge for some pictures and then head through the middle of the park on the "Going to the Sun" road to the East Glacier Lodge. The views are spectacular.

Tim's goal was to see a bear and had been a little disillusioned by a kid working at the Kalispell outfitter that said "I have lived here all my life and have never seen a bear." So it was nice that on the road across the park we saw a mother black bear and two cubs. Bear count = 3.

Sunday (My birthday if you want to get me something. On my wish list there is still a Rolex and a Ferrari, surprisingly enough.)

We went into Canada to see the Prince William Lodge and for a hike to Lower Bertha Falls. The Lodge had availability, but at $250 USD/night we were happy to stay in the US.

The hike was long and with good rolling hills that definitely trended upward. The falls were nice at the top -- we tagged the rock and headed back down. Unfortunately, this "easy" hike caused the group to stop trusting me and requiring a book check for all future hikes.

We had lunch in a little cafe while I tried to work on my sunburn. We then headed back through the incredibly polite US Customs (really, it was -- although there was some questions about why Christie was with Tim).

On the drive back, we saw a grizzly mom with two cubs and a juvenile black bear. Bear count is now 7.

Dinner was at the lodge. The place is run by temporary help mostly from Eastern Europe. Tim and I had a little side game going trying to get the Russian staff to say "Moose and Squirrel". He kicked my butt.

The other thing that was Tim with his restaurant background was constantly asking "How do you prepare this..." or "How do you prepare that..." Yet when asking about the Elk, he asked the waitress "Elk, how do you pronounce that?" She gave us a very confused look and carefully said "Eeeellllllkkk". Nicole and Christie were on the floor.

Monday
Today we went to the center of the park for the requisite Hidden Lake trail. It is a very steep hike, but mostly on board walkways. We were struggling at one point, only to look over and see a guy that had to be 120 years old with an oxygen mask. Needless to say, we sucked it up and hiked on. The great thing about this hike is that there is so much wildlife -- no moose, but a lot of squirrel.... ...and moutain goats, and big horn sheep. The view is spectacular and unlike anything else in the park.

I made everyone eat at Two Sisters and then follow it up with pie at the Park City Cafe (Pies for Strength!). We then went on to Apikuni (Trick) falls and to the Two Medicine area. We finished with day with a good dinner and got Nicole ready to fly out on Tuesday...

Tuesday
Ryan is out. I call Mike and he says Ryan is in. We verify on the way to the airport and we have to unpack Nicole's suitcase to get the tent and other things for Ryan out. We take a casual day and come back to pick up Mike late that night.

Glacier Trip - Part 2: Revenge of Delta

I wanted Nicole to come along as well -- 1) because she is nice to have around, 2) if she ends up liking it, I get to come more. We are to fly out of Cincinnati (cheaper oddly) on Friday night. Tim brings along his wife as well, with Nicole and Christie flying back prior to the guy trip.

Here are a couple of definitions:
Couple Trip -- short trip involving good food and lodging
Guy Trip -- smelly trips involving dehydrated food and tents

Friday, 4:00 -- We arrive in Cincinnati to have air blasted up our clothes to check for bomb air particles. We pass. The X-ray off my bags look interesting however as I have a row of empty canisters (Nalgene bottles) sitting next to some sort of fuel injected device (camping stove). After a very pleasant conversation, we move on.
Friday. 6:00 -- Ryan sees Tim & Christie and says "See you in a week". He is in.
Friday, 6:05 -- Ryan calls me. He is out. I make plans to sent the now unneeded tent back with Nicole.
Friday, 6:10 -- flight delayed to 6:45. No worries, we have a very long layover in Minneapolis.
Friday, 6:45 -- flight delayed to 7:30. Some nervousness, frustration setting in
Friday, 7:30 -- we get on the plane, but the air conditioner is out. They fix it in 30 minutes, but at this point the pilots have been on duty too long and can no longer fly. Since they didn't call anyone until it was too late, we lose another 1/2 hour for them to get another team here.
Friday, 9:25 -- We miss our connection in Minneapolis and Delta puts us up in a very nice Holiday Inn Select.

Meanwhile in Montana:
After paging Nicole in Minneapolis (apparently there was no concern for me -- after all, she is the cute one), Tim & Christie arrive in Kalispell and check their voicemail to find out what is going on since we were supposed to be on the same flight from Minnesota. I leave directions for the car rental and the reserved hotel.

Note to Kalispell vacationers... Here is some information that my AAA book left out (on accident, I am sure). The "Airport" Super 8 has a few nice features:
1) You don't have to worry about the noise of airplanes as it is nowhere near the airport.
2) If you need a drink, there is a conveniently located biker bar not 30 feet away from your first floor window
3) The rooms will make you appreciate every other place you will stay for the rest of the trip (including the tent in the rain).
4) You will be safe as the police protection seemed to rotate in and out throughout the night.
5) It is well ventilated as the smokers from the next door non-smoking room is easily blown over directly to your non-smoking room.

However, the attendant was very kind in not charging me for my room through the great negotiations of Tim.

I am just sorry that I missed it...

Glacier Trip - Part 1: Casting

This is going to be the first in a series of several posts -- that build from previous entries on planning. Here are the highlights to catch you up.

In December or January (it was chilly, that is all I remember), at a company holiday party I was talking to Tim, the husband of another Project Manager, about hiking trips. As the night wore on, I said we should go. A couple of other colleagues (friends from other trips) signed on as well. We were in.

Fast forward to August and everyone is still verbally confirmed with a couple of slight complications...

Complication 1: Ryan gets promoted to a very very senior position with the company. Our orignal plan of putting this vacation back to back with another vacation is in jeopardy as time off for him gets even more difficult. Ryan thinks that he is 90% sure he is in.

Complication 2: Mike starts his own company with a couple of other guys and it is difficult for him to get away with two young kids and a wife with her own business.

Complication 3: Tim gets promoted and is new in the position.

Complication 4: Matt quits his job (to take a new one) and realizes that everyone else is in much better shape than he is -- and is nervous about about being the slowest and plumpest member of the group.

Mid-August arrives and 3 of 4 have plane tickets... We are getting close.

Packing for three trips

Okay -- so logically I just take one car to one plane and arrive (after one layover) at one destination. However, I don't seem to be packing for *that* trip.

Trip 1
Evenings at a restaurant, all scrubbed clean and shaven, is dinner with friends. Jeans and maybe if I am feeling more preppy than my roots I might add a shirt with a collar. Counting the plane rides, I have six of those nights...

Trip 2
Day hiking with the Mrs... Nicer hiking clothing, maybe even the tennis shoes on days I don't feel like the heavy boots. No shower before we start, but still relatively clean.

Trip 3
Backpacking with the boys. No showers and no change of underwear -- in fact, if the boxers don't hike on their own by the end of the trip I don't think that we did it right.

Trip 3, while it may make you re-taste your breakfast just thinking about it, is still the hardest to pack and prepare as if you forget something here, it is at least a 10 mile hike and then a drive to go get it (and then a drive and 10 mile hike back). Forgetting is forgivable, but not fortuitous. Fortunately, I generally remember everything small, usually leaving out only the minor items like a "tent" or "stove".

Trip 2 is the odd man out. If I pack for trip 1 with extras, it is covered -- but as I am bringing along said "Mrs.", I want to look nice. After all, I do need to eventually talk this woman into the process, or at least the concept and idea of the baby-making enterprise. Sticking with the trip 3 fashion wear would automatically delay this 6-7 months.

A few loose ends...

Next Trip
Friday we leave for Glacier. Nicole is coming with me on Friday to rough it in the lodges with me until Tuesday. The guys are arriving on Friday, Wednesday and Friday which makes for some interesting logistics -- but we are going to have an incredible time.

18 Month Plan
For work, we are working on:
- two weeks to Colombia (Bogata) in September
- two weeks to Switzerland (Geneva) in October
- two weeks to Switzerland (Geneva) in November

which, I found out today, for my new role is practice for the literally 25-30 weeks I will spend next year in Europe. It looks like I will be gone completely January and June - September, with a multitude of two week trips peppered in from February - May. My primary developer is moving to Europe for 9 months.

Job
I have not been really able to talk about it, but I quit my job effective end of the month (45 days notice) to start September 5th with this new gig. I am almost done saying goodbye to all of my mentors, colleagues, and peeps -- but it has not been easy. 9 1/2 years is just a long time.

House Plans
This travel definitely affects when we can get a new house. I am going to scramble to get everything ready for December, but in all likelihood we will try to sell in February on our own -- and if that doesn't work, hire a realtor for March.

You can't go home again

...or at least you can not bring any liquids, gels or relaxation back with you.

We got up Friday morning much too early. Luckily, since I had the only suitcase with an echo -- all of my stuff fit fine. The two glass bottles of tequila were safely wrapped in clothing in the middle of my suitcase. My products of evil (toothpaste, shampoo, sunscreen) were safely left for the hotel staff. We were ready to go.

My manager fared just as well as I did using an interesting approach to package his wine. He pulls the bottles into a (slightly used) sock. Apparently this adds to the bouquet.

Being the designated paranoid travel, the DPT, I was a bit stressed that we did not leave at 10 as I had planned. So, rounding up folks at 10:02 -- we finally left around 10:45. It took a while to get to the border crossing, and since we were locked in line we had to turn off the air conditioning just to guarantee that we could make it. My manager, with his wily ways, had positioned the car so that the sun was beating down on me. However, I don't blame him for the lack of wind. As you would expect, this was the only hot day with no rain.

We made it to the border and the guard was unimpressed with his Frenchness and asked a lot of questions. He asked me a couple of things to verify my KY accent of which I did my best to oblige (Hoo-Wee). He asked if we had cigarettes, drugs or alcohol -- and since we had 6 bottles in the car we were sent to a building with a flashing light. Nervous that they were going to search our entire bags, we drove over (mainly just nervous about flight times, not that someone would be caught with some lotion or other dangerous contraband). However, they just wanted to have us pay a tax.

The guard asked to see the bottles. I asked if he was serious. He said yes, that he was. I asked him what the maximum tax was -- I would just pay that. He said no. I looked pleadingly. He got out a rubber glove and a smile. I dug into my suitcase and produced both bottles. Total charge per bottle $1.25. No cavity search, priceless.

We made it to the airport about an hour prior to the flight just as the gas tank read "Low". Perfect timing as only 1/2 of my face had already melted away.

There was no one in line for security and the detailed check was "Do you have any liquids?" I said "No". They said "Are you sure?" I said "Yes." That will fool them. You can just see it... "Dang, you asked me twice -- I must tell the truth!"

Flights were uneventful. I did nervously watch someone mix a drink, but it turned out to not be explosive.

Sunny Delight

Wednesday in Juarez
Today it did not rain until around 2 -- and then only enough to continue the streak.

Training continued acceptably. We had some executive requirements review -- and then went on to have dinner with the plant manager at a local steakhouse.

At the restaurant, the waiter seated us and then asked us how we liked our salsa. There was a guy that would come to the table with a big mortar & pestle and several bowls of ingredients. My boss said "Medium", which in Spanish is very similar to the English word "Molten". The server actually asked when we said Medium if we would prefer that he go light on the Habenero peppers. There was no sweating with this salsa. There was simply a tingle followed by pain.

Loss of manly points by bursting into tears and begging the "bad man to stop" -- 50.

Thursday
We wrapped up the majority of training today and I was able to get in a bit of programming (which is not something I do more than once or twice a year). The team wanted to take us out to dinner to a local restaurant named "Frida's" after the famous painter.

Dinner was very good. For the appetizers, we had cucumbers & jalepenos in a mild sauce and a wonderful combo platter that included the fried famous Menonite cheese. I had a steak with a wonderful brandied gravy and au gratin potatoes. After the gorging completed, the team generously gave us a huge box of local foods and flavors of Mexico -- and a bottle each of tequila. Way too genorous.

After dinner, three of us (or at least two of them including my ride) decided to go next door to a dance club. There was a great live band (as opposed to a dead band, I guess) and the ratio of women to men was at least 60-40. I am thinking that this isn't so bad afterall. So ignoring the packing challenges that loom ahead between the terrorist limitations and the addition of these wonderful gifts -- we go on.

Now it should have been clear to me that a large ratio of women to men is not a natural occurrence in any culture or country. If there are a lot of women, there is always a lot of men unless there is one determining factor soon to be made appararent.

The band completed and a guy came out into what I thought was an oddly unpopulated area in the middle of the floor. We, I had wrongly thought conveniently, had a great seat next to the dance floor. Please picture the change in facial expressions.
1) Seconds 0-5 Me smiling and enjoying the scenery and live music.
2) Seconds 6-9 Oddly confused at why the women are crowding towards the stage
3) Second 10 Horror as his shirt comes off. I realize I am now experiencing a Mexican strip show

Three dancers later, after couning the number of tiles in the opposite wall -- the show is over. The locals go to dance to the techno Spanish music and we leave around 1 a.m.

Cantinas, Cathedrals and Culture -- Oh, My!

Monday
The morning brings an early day. I met my boss for breakfast and we went on to the plant for the training session. We got through the security checks, etc... and everyone rolled it to get started about 8:30. The day went pretty well and it was a good group of folks. I only get 2 days with this team, so we definitely are going for the highlights (only). For dinner, Armida took us out again. She rocks.

Logistically, it was going to take too long for her to go home to change and then come back across the city to meet us for dinner. So instead, we dropped our stuff off at the hotel -- and since my laundry had not returned (they had my jeans and cargo pants) I went for the overdressed look -- and then went to her house for her to change clothes. It was good to see a real home -- and her parents were very open and generous to us.

We left her house to go see her brother at his liquor store (I had mentioned that I wanted to find a World Cup Mexico hat like hers and her brother sold some). He gave us the hats for free, so I overpaid for some locally made liquor to give as a present. We then went to the cantina that her father owns and her brother bartends during the day. It was incredibly cool. This leads to a story that may divide her family for years... Some background...

Apparently, in Mexico the cantina was a refuge for the men. Some years ago, when women were allowed(?) to work, they were also allowed into the cantinas. (I can somewhat recognize the equation work=need to drink). However, her father had never encouraged this practice in HIS cantina. He is old school.

Armida had been in the cantina once when she was 10 years old when she and some cousins skipped Mass and shot pool. Her father had not spoken to her for a month.

Now fast forward 26 years. Armida is now 36 and for the first time since childhood, steps foot into the cantina and -- wait for it -- orders a drink. The brother hesitates as if looking at the clock and calculating the time it would take for her to drink her tequila and doing some mental calisthenics to factor in the safety zone between finish time and the ETA of said Old School Father. She was like a kid in a candy store. Even if this hadn't been one of the truly coolest bars I have ever seen -- this was fun to watch.

We then went on to have a great dinner out on a patio downtown. Chihuahua is a great city.

Tuesday
Training went as well today as yesterday. We had a good time until the speed of some of the applications in the training room had us end a little early.

The group wanted to take us out to see the city. We had passed a cathedral (apparently famous) of which I wanted to take a few pictures. We drove there and while I rushed on to get a few pictures while the sunlight was on my side -- Herve and Armida waited for the other group to park. In the list of the top 100 decisions I have made in the last month, this somehow would not have made the cut.

So as I wandered the three blocks to the cathedral, a less than sober/sane/wealthy local stumbled past me, muttering and rapping at me in Spanish. (So far, not all that different than a day at the office or in any other city). Then he picked up a brick.

Now imagine that all this passed through my mind in a single flash. Crazy guy. Brick. 10 karate lessons. 1,000 watched karate movies. I literally looked him in the eye and considered doing that little "C'mon" wave from the Matrix. Then, luckily, he dropped his brick and stumbled on.

Now this person was no different than the poor in any American city or any other city in the world. Chihuahua was an amazingly beautiful, clean and pedestrian friendly city. I loved it -- this story was only a typical travel day for me.

The Cathedral was gorgeous. We wandered over to a wedding dress shop to see a local story where the mannequin was famously designed after the owner's daughter (or that was as much as I understood of the story). We then meandered over to a city park where every night they have live music and choreographed lights and fountains for a great Bellagio-esque show. Dinner was in a great Chinese restaurant (I had sweet & sour duck).

Wednesday in Chihuahua
We unfortunately had to leave the beautiful city -- and 350km, a couple of tolls and a military checkpoint later -- arrived back in Juarez for training.

Play that funky music, Gringo

For the drive to Copper Canyon and back, I sat in the back seat so that Armida could give directions. Unforeseen in this decision was the associated impact to music selection for our eight or so hours in the car. Let's just say that it was really odd when (around hour 7) she switched to an English station (it took about 1/2 way through the song before I realized that it wasn't that I suddenly understood Spanish, but that they had not translated Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody").

Our friends were very good though about helping us understand the language, culture and history of what we were seeing throughout the drive --like we passed the area where most of the US/Mexican apples are grown. We drove through towns and villages, each with their own culture. Since it rains so little here (cough), the girls were very excited about a massive and beautiful double rainbow that appeared on our way back.

The Indians at the top of the canyon were interesting. They were weaving baskets there not so much for show, but rather to pass the time and get the work done. For the most part, they kept to themselves. There were some interesting food selections of which I chose not to partake -- but it all smelled very good. The picture does not do it justice, but the tacos here in the open air market smelled wonderful.

Copper Canyon

Surprisingly it rained today.

We drove about 2 hours to Creel and had lunch. Creel is kind of like the touristy shop part of Gatlinburg merged with Mexican culture. I had some chicken tacos and on the request of my sister, had some Mexican hot chocolate (as she had heard it was something different). So, Melinda, Mexican hot chocolate is very good. I watched them open a packet of Nestle Hot Chocolate and pour it and boiling water into the cup. So I can honestly say it is just like Mom used to make.

We then drove another 2 hours to Copper Canyon to see the rain clouds. We stopped in the hotel (picture taken after the rain) and sat in the bar area on a great couch with a big picture window of the canyon (the bar area was the two right most windows).

One of the locals was kind enough to show us the way. She (Armida) had brought one of her friends (Monica) -- their drinks were (1) tequila and grapefruit juice and (2) beer and tomato juice on ice. I am not sure where to start with the second one as it seems wrong on each ingredient level.

More on this trip (funny stories) in the next post.

Caption Contest

This picture deserves its own posting and really should be a contest for the best caption. There are several drive-thru liquor stores that we saw on the way to/from Copper Canyon -- and Armida saw this happening and made us stop to get a picture. Here are my ideas:

"Look officer, the horse hasn't had a thing to drink"
"Um, is there such a thing as RUI?"
"Designated Drivers are sooo over-rated"

Okay, so I was wrong...

Some of the few, the proud, the folks with bigger SUVs -- decided to take us out anyway. We went to a place called "Viva Mexico" where there was a cultural show of dancers, mariachis, lasso twirler guys, and a really funny comedian that dragged one of our American guys on stage and had him dance. He was a great sport -- so much so that since I captured it all on video, I have promised that what happens in Juarez, stays in Juarez. (I could see it coming with the show and hid behind the table.)

We conducted the training on Friday and headed for El Paso. This border crossing took about an hour and a half to get to the border, but once we did it was pretty easy to get across. We have to remember to stop at an extra location to get stamped for our final departure. We had planned to go to one of the most famous Steak houses in the US, but the interstate was closed due to flooding. Our second choice had flooded twice (although according to the only guy at the restaurant -- he was cleaning -- we could make it there, just there would be nothing to serve). Our third choice was a seafood place a mile away -- and it was really good.

The next morning I met my boss at the airport and we headed across the border after grabbing a couple items at the local mall. I found out later that today was a tax free shopping day which explains why we literally had to park over a mile away. The border was relatively easy to cross again. (We saw someone else struggling through the situation where they had not been stamped). We had gotten the right insurance for the Mexican government -- but we had to stop and get a permit, go through 2 tolls and a military checkpoint to get through to Chihuahua.

Since this was the desert, there were only two times that it rained so hard we had to turn on the emergency blinkers and slow to about 30 mph. The rest of the time it just drizzled. I will say that time seems to go faster with kph over mph. The numbers count down much quicker.

We met one of our colleagues for dinner -- I had the best meal so far, a pepper stuffed with meat, potatoes, grapes, and almonds and it had a white gravy with pomegranite seeds. Chihuahua is a really beautiful city.

Here are a couple of images from the weather forecast.

Rain, rain, go away

We are at the end of the training day (Thursday) and our plans to go out to dinner with the complete team have been cancelled. Apparently additional storms and flash flood warnings seem to have "dampened" the spirt of adventure.

The training today went "okay". We got started late today (10:30) because of the floods -- so my 7 hours, down to 6 hours, down to 3.5 hours went relatively quickly. I was averaging a slide a minute -- with a focus tomorrow on doing more hands on to bring it all together.

We are in a training room in the middle of the manufacturing plant. To keep the workers occupied, they blast music throughout the plant. While we are two closed doors away from the plant, you can definitely still hear it. I threatened the other day to start shaking my hips along with Shakira (I was asked by the class "Please don't). It also was interesting to have one of them whistle the main bass line from Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" while I was having application issues. I have always said that my life needs theme music.

Oh the sunburn...

Today was less rain compared to earlier in the week. We actually got to see a spot of sun, which according to local legend is somewhat common in the desert. I am not sure that I believe it. The forecast for Juarez is the following:

August 2 -- Scattered Thunderstorms
August 3 -- Scattered Thunderstorms
August 4 -- Isolated Thunderstorms
August 5 -- Isolated Thunderstorms
August 6 -- Isolated Thunderstorms
August 7 -- Isolated Thunderstorms
August 8 -- Isolated Thunderstorms
August 9 -- Isolated Thunderstorms
August 10 -- Mostly Sunny
August 11 -- Mostly Sunny, and we leave

I attempted to do some training today, but the application we are working on died. It gave an error when I logged in that I have found to be the most truthful of any application ever. It read "Horrible Error" with a undescriptive description of the issue. I have to admit that I agree. I am training folks having traveled across the border and I am embarrased that it doesn't work -- so it is a "Horrible Error". I appreciate the honesty.

I found out later that the company that hosts the tool was having trouble with their internet service provider until about 15 minutes after we finished. I don't know if anyone has ever taken a class where the instructor was basically forced to teach from the user's manual -- but it is somewhat less than captivating. I did get to show off the main features however, so not all is lost.

For lunch we ate at the cafeteria -- and they had chili dogs and fries. It is the simple things in life that make me happy. To top it off -- for our training room snack they served Hostess Twinkies and Ding Dongs. While I did refrain, I was tempted by the twinkie -- since they were out of the fried twinkies at the last Red's game I attended.

For dinner, one of the students/new hires took us to a local mall. We ate in the food court at a local favorite fast food chain. Kathy and I split between two orders of chicken and pork tacos which were served with a baked potato (with real butter, very nice) and a soda. I was all proud of my grasp of Spanish fast food so I approached the counter and had the following exchange:

Me: Buenos Dias
Server: Buenos Dias (she understood me, so far so good)
Me: Taco Tote Pack, Pollo
Server: Ok. Taco Tote Pack Pollo (got my chicken taco combo meal order, so far so good)
Me: Si, Gracias
Server: Long sentence in Spanish (uh oh)
Me: Um, uh, um
Server: (Pointing to Soda Fountain)
Me: Oh (cursing in English) um, "Coke Light" (Diet Coke)
Server: Long Sentence in Spanish (hmmm, this isn't going well)
Me: Here is a $20
Server: Long Sentence in Spanish (apparently she can only give me change in Pesos, which I want -- but our "guide" wouldn't let me pay)
Me: (I step out of the way, humbly)

I will say that I was better prepared when I went back to the counter and got (wonderful) Flan for dessert (go with what works -- point at what you want, hold up the appropriate number of fingers, hand over a sum of money). I got my change (she gave me dollars and pesos) and I repaid our guide. We wandered around the mall for a bit and then left so that Kathy could make her 9:30 call with China.

Hector and I sat at the hotel bar for a couple of hours and talked sports, movies and the other "no no's" for international conversations -- religion and politics. It was a good time and good to bond with a colleague that I probably will not see face to face for a very long time. It rained all night apparently, so we are late getting started on Thursday as some people are flooded in and are being "rescued" by folks in the larger SUVs. Gotta love this desert weather.

Updates

None of us can get connected to the network -- so no email/work is possible. The plant is closed until 9, so we could have slept in or at least I could have if I had answered the phone call that I hazily remember hearing in my Tylenol PM stupor last night.

Here is a picture from our underwater adventures. This is the intersection in front of our hotel.

Desert Rain

So let me remind my dear readers that I am in Juarez, which is located in the middle of the desert. Apparently, every fifty years or so there is a big rain... ...and the last one was, oh, about 50 years ago. So, this week, we have gotten more rain in the area than has ever been measured in Juarez in recorded history (we just surpassed the record set in 1881). I am not making this up. There have been walls of water on the streets and bridges/roads have collapsed... ...and it is not going to stop raining until this weekend.

Today started relatively uneventfully. I got up at 4:30 (6.5 hours of sleep) and got prepped for the day. I had a 6:30 conference call with Lexington/Cincinnati/France that seemed to have happened successfully without me as I could not dial in from Mexico. This same number and approach worked at 5, but not at 6:30 in the morning. Sigh.

We took the shuttle in and got there through the puddles/rivers/streams by 7:30 or so. They had breakfast there for us with fresh papaya. This is how every day should start. We went through the training and broke for lunch (same roughly as yesterday). We then restarted the training on our Spend Analysis tool and were really cranking through it.

At least we were doing well until the stressed out head of HR came in to tell us that the plant was being evacuated due to the rain. Apparently the sewer systems were filling with the sand/water and the plant could potentially flood. We were to leave immediately. So one of the managers had a large SUV and took us back around roadblocks, flooded streets and traffic to get us back to the hotel. For the first time, I had a chance to work out.

Dinner was relatively uneventful. I do think that I could make it a profession though to travel around the world and rewrite the English in menus. I ordered a puff pastry that came out as toast. I like toast almost as well as puff pastry -- but they are a bit tough to confuse.

So a nice end to the day -- and we will see tomorrow if we get to go to work.

Holy Mole

C'mon, you knew that I had to title at least one blog with that.

So it is raining in Mexico. Maybe it doesn't sound that unusual that in the middle of the desert it is raining. Maybe it doesn't seem odd that the streets are flooded and on some of the roads there is standing water almost a foot in depth. I would only assume that if you didn't think it was odd, it was because you had traveled with me before and know that the rainy season follows my travels. Unbelievable. Not that the rain is bad exactly, it is a constant rain that has definitely cooled everything off and cleaned up the air. I think that the high yesterday was 83. Not bad at all.

We needed to be at the office at 7:30 in preparation for the training. To make our commute to the office, we then needed to leave at 7, so breakfast was scheduled 6:15. Of course, breakfast doesn't open until 6:30. So to get up, iron (someone please check on Nicole -- she probably just read that and fell out of her chair), check email, etc... that was a start at 5. Since this is going to be a typical day, I definitely am NOT going to get adjusted to the time zone and go to bed by 9:30. Regardless, I woke up at 4 (even having taken a Tylenol PM) -- so all was fine.

Breakfast was interesting. As we start out each trip we get adventourus and then quickly ease back into our morning stupor and go back to the comfort and simplicity of toast and coffee. I had enchilada casserole?, steamed vegatables and coffee. Without a Spanish/English dictionary that was as far as I would go.

Our ride was a bit late so we were trying to drive faster to the office through the flooded streets. It turned out that it didn't matter as the VP that was kicking us off was stuck in traffic and wasn't able to make it until 9. We adjusted our training to finish on time in the morning with a lot of "We will talk about that later this week".

Lunch at the site is at the cafeteria (free) where I used my exquisite language skills to point and grunt at what I wanted. I got flautas and rice. Everything was good -- just a bit embarrassing as the flautas were spicy enough that my whole head was sweating. Just in case anyone was wondering on this trip -- yes, my sinuses are completely clear.

The afternoon was 1x1 with folks on the tools and strategies. The team is pretty smart and while we are teaching what you should/must do -- there is a lot of push back in what people "really" do. However, I think we made some good connections. The team oddly mainly remembers me as the guy that ordered the frog legs -- and wants to take me to some restaurant later this week that serves them.

We left work about 6:30 and went to dinner. I debated all sorts of menu items -- there is this "Black Bass" that keeps appearing on the menu that I think is interesting. I went exotic and had Tacos. They were good, but they serve you the fillings on a plate with a stack of corn tortillas more like we get fajitas. Cecilia got a vegatarian enchilada with mole that was awesome. For dessert, we had Crepas which is like a unfilled crepe with a cooked milk (kind of like caramel) and minced pecans in the sauce. Very good.

My phone worked for exactly 10 seconds. We were driving and at some point the clouds, roads and signals aligned -- and I got two text messages from Sunday. Any other time I tried the phone, it would simply ring and then I got a recorded message yelling at me in Spanish.