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.