Forecast: Cool and Rain

After meeting cool people in Bendo and the airport in San Francisco, it was time to board and get myself to Mexico City. Talk about a transition. I went from hot and sunny to cool and rainy. Summer months in Mexico City is not what the typical American will be thinking of about Mexico in the summer. Here now, and for the forecastable future, it’s highs in the mid 60s (15-16°C), and cloudy. Rain is also in the forecast for nearly every afternoon & evening.

And that weather made a nearly immediate impact on my travels. First off, we were put into a holding pattern for about twenty or so minutes because of the weather. Cool clouds though.

Then, when it was our turn to get in line to land, the pilot pulled up at the last minute and aborted it. That was a first for me! He came on the speakers and said conditions weren’t there for a good landing. Yikes. We did make it down nice and smoothly on the second go around another ten or so minutes later, though, despite the pounding rain.

Immigration was the easiest I’ve ever had too. I guess there is a benefit to arriving after 1800. I waited maybe two minutes before I was waved to an officer. Two minutes later, and I was through and into the baggage claim area.

The screen showed it would be 27 minutes before the bags were supposed to arrive for our flight. Bummer. I hoped mine wouldn’t be exposed on a cart while the next one in the train was loaded up. If it was, I’ll be finding out just how effective my ScotchGuard treatment would be.

As it turned out it, my wait was less than fifteen minutes, and my backpack wasn’t wet. I think it was buried under others. That’ll do.

Pack on back and I exited, arranging an Uber as I walked. Surge pricing boosted the price to $30. Dang. I’d checked before bags had arrived and it was 30% cheaper then. On the brighter side, I’d arrived at Terminal 1, not Terminal 2 (the usual one for international flights), and the pick up area wasn’t nearly as chaotic. Fifteen minutes and I was in the car and on my way.

Soon to be stopped dead in traffic. Holy gridlock, Batman. It. Was. Horrible. What in the past took maybe thirty minutes resulted in a slog that lasted well over an hour. At one point I tried to convey that I would walk from there (it’d take me about 5 minutes, and the rain had stopped by that point). My Spanish wasn’t good enough, I guess. Maybe he thought I was asking? Dunno. In any event I was stuck in the car for another twenty at that point.

I bailed out, and he started to drive away — with my backpack in the trunk. I slapped the car a couple of times, and he stopped. His trunk didn’t work properly, and he needed to get out and use his key to get it open. Fun stuff.

I got checked in and into the apartment. All good. A quick trip to the nearby 7-11 for a big-ass bottle of water, and I was set for the night. By then it was nearly ten, and I was wiped. The night before I left, I’d awakened after only three hours, and was unable to get back to sleep. I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

A quick hot shower, and into bed.

My brain decided, Hey! Now’s a great time to start grinding! Topics? Well, let’s see…

Money. Sure, why not. It’s not like it’s an actual worry for me at this point (unlike those early days when I questioned big purchasing decisions— read that as “house”, and kid expenses), so what’s up with that?

My language skills. Inadequate, but why think about it now? Stupid brain.

Where to go next? Always on the agenda, even though I’d arrived here a mere four hours earlier.

My conversation with Lorie in the airport. Interestingly, even though it wasn’t a date, it almost felt like one. To me, getting to know someone for the first time under circumstances where one can potentially envision future and more close interaction is always date-like. As I processed our conversation, I came up with kind of a framework of how I see these types of conversations.

• Dull people, unasked, talk about themselves.

• Most people talk about other people.

• Interesting people talk about places, things and activities.

• Fascinating people talk about ideas.

Of course, nobody can be fascinating all the time, but I’m going to strive to spend most of my time in the last two categories.

Be kind and take care of yourselves. If you can, care for someone else, too.

Slang, out.

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