What is it like to be on a business trip in Mexico City
The people I saw in the office are very touchy-feely. Mexicans do the whole European "air kiss" greeting thing. As I walk through the aisles of cubicals I saw people giving each other messages, hugging and touching each other in friendly ways that would be unusual in the US.
It's been hard for me to adjust to the idea that $10 Mexican equals approximately $1 USD. When I see an advertisement on a bus touting a Whopper Jr from Burger King for the bargain price of $15 I continue to do a double-take. It's also strange to be carrying around $500 bills.
There is security everywhere, and not the rent-a-cops you see in the US. These are police officers with large guns. Homes and offices are surrounded by fences, almost always protected by armed guards. When you walk by a home you walk by a fence. You cannot see the house at all.
By far the most valuable Spanish phrase I could have learned was "I already signed in this morning". Security at the location where I was working was so tight. When I would arrive in the morning I would have to provide my ID to a guard behind a heavy door. Then I would go to one building to sign in and register my laptop. Then I would walk to another building and get my laptop scanned.
The process was much more complicated than I care to explain here, but the same thing happened at the end of every day: I would return to the first building where I signed it and try to explain to the guard that I had signed in already.
The security is the main reason I didn't take many pictures on this trip. Cameras were positively not allowed in the office I was working in. I normally carry my camera in my bag, but I mostly left it in the hotel for the week.
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