Travel mishaps in Mexico ... and Canada

Something strange happened upon my return flight from Mexico City to Toronto this month. Upon arriving on the red eye early AM there were CBSA officers at the end of the jetway way before the normal Customs/passport check. They were stopping each individual passenger and asking for passports and other questions. For me, a Canadian citizen, it was an immediate wave through. But I heard the officer ask the Mexican man behind me, “Why are you coming to Canada?” I’d noticed upon boarding the night before a preponderance of single Mexican men, of varying ages, boarding the aircraft. I immediately concluded they were seasonal farm workers. But were some of them not? There have been reports of Central Americans now using the Canadian northern border to illegally enter the US. That’s in addition to the millions that have flowed in essentially uncontrolled across the southern US border during the Biden Administration. But sometimes what remains of that boarder’s controls may still deter arrivals, so some apparently have been opting in from the Great White North. Was this what CBSA was so scrupulously watching for? Also, even though I wasn’t questioned I was held up after clearing normal Customs when asked where I was coming from. When I replied “Mexico City” there was some alarm and I was directed to a more secure area.

Upon finally leaving Customs at Pearson, I had to again check in through security as if this was my first flight. The inspection process was a little unconventional and that got a fellow passenger into trouble. What happened was he grabbed his laptop from the conveyor belt, probably assuming it had already gone through x-ray. That’s when two security officers freaked and shouted at him, suggesting he’d committed a grave security error. It apparently was a no-no to take anything from the conveyor belt before staff had checked them personally. The unknowing passenger politely argued that he wasn’t trying to violate policies but after some back and forth said he “knew my rights!” One of the security staff continued to taunt and joke, “You’ll be held up a long time now!” which I thought unprofessional. After I was finally given my luggage and walking away for my connecting flight, I saw two well-armed police officers making their way to the unlucky passenger.

This blog is called Expect the Unexpected and not always in the good sense. So, I’ll have to add a couple of mishaps that occurred on my Mexico City trip. The first was upon arrival at Benito Juarez airport and the unfamiliar frenzy of the arrivals hall, where taxi companies’ staff literally shout at you – competing with one another – for business. But I also needed to find an ATM and retrieve Mexican currency, along with a transit smart card, which I’d read were both available from machines in the hall. I never found the transit card machine. But, after asking a couple of people (in bad Spanish) I finally found a generic ATM. I withdrew the Pesos, picked up my bag and walked towards a taxi counter (the woman at the far end calling the loudest got my business!). A half hour later, arriving at my hotel and taking out my wallet to pay, I noticed my debit card was gone. Sure enough, I'd left it in the ATM. Luckily, I had three credit cards which worked, by trial and error, in other ATMs around Mexico City, ensuring I had enough cash for the weeklong visit. But if you thought that was bad the very next day, in the heart of the city (photo) – and using my credit card to withdraw money – I spied a green woman’s wallet sitting on the ATM counter. Wow. I immediately took it to a bank staffer sitting alongside the machines. Hopefully the poor woman reclaimed it.

Finally, upon arriving at the Cadillac Hotel Boutique, a nice contemporary hotel on the edge of Mexico City's central business district, and given my key card, I opened my room door only to find a strange configuration of essentially two bunk beds, separated by a wall and different entrances in an architecturally stylish room. But my bunk (photo) was still cramped, and I felt like I was in a fox hole. After a couple of nights, I upgraded. 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller 

Takeaways from a week in Mexico City

- This city is vast (22 million) and very crowded. Subways during rush hour bring to mind the Tokyo subway’ “oshiya” or people pushers. Yesterday at 5.30 pm my ride was so packed I felt elbowed in three directions. At certain bus stops, crowds can instantly appear, but they are also good at queueing.

- Street sweepers universally use brooms made of branches.

- The transit system is very elaborate with color codes for different subway and bus lines. It’s a very good system and impossibly cheap – 5 pesos for Metrobuses and Trolleybuses which have dedicated street lanes, and 6 pesos for the subway. (13 pesos to one Can dollar). But a smart card pays for everything. The only system I couldn’t figure out was the small purple shuttle buses, many of which had no route numbers and flimsy destination signs. Intercity buses are a marvel, exceptionally clean with plush seats and dual restrooms; staff in uniforms like flight attendants even hand you a bottle of water. 

- Very few people speak English, a surprise given Mexico is part of North America and in some ways influenced by the United States (trade, types of automobiles). As a traveler it’s advisable to have, say,  50-100 Spanish words/phrases. But it's a good place if you want to learn Spanish quickly.

- I was surprised by the paucity of other North American or European tourists. Everyone at my hotel seemed to come from within Mexico or another Spanish speaking country. I noticed at most a couple dozen (one one was a tour group) non-Mexican tourists in the city. I guess most Canucks and Yanks fly to the Yucatan.

- Security is everywhere, from cell phones and luggage to grocery stores. At Chedraui, a sort of Walmart, a guard was even equipped with a long rifle. Cops are omnipresent and always keeping a watchful eye. At more crowded intersections and in subway stations they stand on platforms to better surveil. Many wear flak jackets and some extra skeletal gear with helmets with shields affixed to their belts, as if a riot might break out at any time. (The city was very calm.) Other times Policia pickup trucks can be seen ferrying around a half dozen cops in the payload, reminiscent of a Banana Republic B grade movie. 

- I did not see one Tesla but I did see a lot of Pemex (the government owned oil company) gas stations.

- Mexico is still very much Mexico and influenced by few cultures outside its own. Mexican music plays everywhere, and I mean everywhere, from street stalks to grocery stores. Yes, you will occasionally hear a Western performer like Madonna but it’s the exception.

- A lot of people here are still wearing facemasks post-Covid and in many cases it's the norm for service personnel.

- One of my chief complaints about American cities is their lack of public restrooms. Not so here, where “WC” or “Banos” signs appear frequently on city blocks. They charge only 6 – 8 pesos (in my experience) and seem to be run as private businesses. Why not, if people can make money and provide a public service? 

- Street stalls are everywhere – tens of thousands of them and all over the city, cooking up fresh food and selling small household goods. And, yes, the “street food” is exceptional.

- The museums are excellent, from the National Archeological Museum – with more than a vast array of pre-Hispanic artifacts. The Memory and Tolerance Museum, which focuses on atrocities and genocides from modern worldwide history, is an exceptional multi-media museum. Not to be missed are the Freida Kahlo and Diego Rivera museums (two for the latter) and the Leon Trotsky home, just a few blocks from Kahlo’s Casa Azul.

- In the central city, streets have certain commercial themes. Numerous fragrance stores line blocks along one street, dozens of musical instrument stores on another, small commercial electronic stores on another and some of the best and largest used bookstores I’ve ever seen on yet another. Unfortunately, all the books were in Spanish.

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller