Oaxacabound

Day 2

Trip got off to slow start as I was turned around by border agents for expired registration sticker. Guess it’s to be expected when you park your car for six months. Fortunately took only 15 mins to resolve at local DMV vs typical 3 hours in Dallas, Austin etc.

When Jesus recommended Monterrey, he called his sister, Liza Leticia Gonzalez Zapata, asking her to show me the city. What a joy, schlepping around an old American guy all day. But she graciously volunteered to “be my Uber driver”, and she was terrific…high energy, funny, knowledgeable and full of crazy stories about her many world travels like kissing Clint Eastwood on the cheek and hanging out with Pierce Brosan (photo proof). Couldn’t have worked out better.

We toured several museums, starting with the deceased mayor’s private collection featuring a temporary exhibit of outdoor cube art by Gustavo Velez. Latin America has a reputation for elected officials siphoning off public funds. This museum puts all doubt to rest. As wonderfully eclectic as the items were, the presentation was even better. Even the buildings were works of art with roofs recovered (stolen?) from a half dozen 500+ year old European castles.

After a quick visit to a b&w photography exhibit, the last stop was what I expected to be the highlight, Fundidora (Foundry) Park, a sprawling  entertainment complex on the grounds of an old steelworks…duck feeding lake, shopping, art film cinema, performing arts center, restaurant, museum.

Manufacturing processes are fascinating no matter the industry. The best things we ever did as elementary school kids in Detroit were school outings to the Wonder Bread and Faygo soda pop factories, and this definitely delivered.

After a good not great Thai dinner (my fault, I insisted) and great not good homespun ice cream shop, my day in Monterrey was at an end. On to the next…