Return to CDMX

Friday, December 1, 2017:

Here we go again . . .

We were up at 4:00 a.m. in order
to get to LAX in plenty of time for
this flight to EuroBall Adventure XI

The early morning drive to the airport was a breeze as was check-in and security scanning at the airport.

The flight left on time and passed by quickly thanks to having a good book to read.

After landing in Mexico City we
were parked on the tarmac for
a good ten minutes waiting for
our gate to be cleared

On to the Mexican Customs passport check . . .

There were lots of murals
in the Customs area

They welcomed us to
Mexico's wonderful beaches

And yes, Mexico is indeed a land
with lots of cultural heritage

But today it was a land of mostly
incredibly loooooong Customs lines

It took me about one hour to get to the front of this queue!

I did like this sign forbidding hats

to be worn in the Customs area

These delays, combined with the usual insane Mexico City traffic made it impossible logistically to . . .

. . . Get to this game

NUTS!

I really wanted to see this game between West Point's Sprint team and Mexico's Military Academy, the Heroico Colegio Militar.

Final Score

West Point 44 - HCM 0

On to our Venecia Hotel in Texcoco
a suburb of Mexico City, a.k.a., CDMX

It was definitely not the Five Star Radisson Hotel that the Europe Warriors stayed in last August but it was at least clean.

The Venecia Hotel does not have meeting rooms nor a restaurant.

This simply will not do.

Our Head Coach Bart Iaccarino and I went out to get an early street taco or four to discuss the situation.

Taqueria Javy Tacos about three blocks
from the hotel eased our worries

CARNITAS!

Awesome tacos!

The tacos al pastor were
beyond delicious!

The al pastor taco was on the plate on the left at one time.

Between the two of us we ate

eight tacos and slaked our thirst

with four beers

Total cost? About $10 USD for everything . . .

VIVA MEXICO!

Meanwhile, back at the Venezia Hotel . . .

After the tacos, we went back to our rooms before having dinner with Francisco, the Athletic Director of the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo that will be hosting our practices this coming week as well as our U19 Europe Warriors game against the ONEFA U19 all-stars next Saturday.

My room was really cold so I tried to turn on the heater but I couldn't find the switch.

Time to talk to the front desk.

Uh-oh . . .

My first clue was that the four people sitting behind the front desk socializing all wore parkas and heavy wool scarves like the man behind the desk seen here.

When queried, I was told that the Venezia Hotel does not have a central heat/air conditioning system.

WHAT?

The did offer an extra blanket if I wanted one.

We're not at the Radisson anymore Toto. 

Francisco took us to dinner
at this nice Texcoco eatery

We discussed the Venezia Hotel situation with him and by the end of our time with him we had a new hotel lined up with a large meeting room, a restaurant, a better location and, most importantly, a central heating system.

Problem mostly solved except that we can't change hotels until Monday.

It's going to be chilly tonight

I just may ask for that extra blanket . . .