Mexico Medical Student |

Claudia got the last flight from Monterrey to Guadalajara yesterday, getting here at almost 11:00pm. She was supposed to have arrived at 8:00, but she missed her flight because of her flaky transportation, not to mention she was already frustrated and tired at having to fit so much into a short trip. Since I knew she was carrying heavy luggage from everything she was bringing from the States, I expected her to have to pay some overage having exceeded whatever weight limit Aviacsa has. When she checked in her baggage, the lady told her it would be “cinco cada kilo” (5/kilo or 11/pound) for the charge. She was over by about 38kg (83lb) total. I knew it was bad, because she said she couldn’t even lift one of the suitcases by herself, but I was still kinda shocked at how heavy it was. Fine. Monterrey is NOT anywhere near the border, but it’s close enough where dollars are still traded pretty freely, since so many of them come to S. Texas and vice/versa. When the lady said 5 per, she meant 5 dollars, not 5 pesos! (which would have been $0.50 per) This is absolutely wrong, since this is the interior of Mexico, what the hell else are you going to think? Trapped, frustrated at having missed her original flight and already at her wits end, she just said OK.

She called frustrated from the terminal told me the news, and I about blew a gasket. It came to about $200, and for that she could have bought another ticket with no overage fees for less than that amount. I knew there were other shipping options, like cargo, etc. but the ticket person said nothing. As she was calling me, relaxing slightly from finally being checked in/etc., she too was beginning to see what a rip that was. I complained to the airline when I got the airport to get her (while waiting), and like usual, the worker comes over to talk to me already annoyed that I interrupted his social hour (at 10:30pm, there’s not much business) and said there was nothing they could have done; 16 Sep is a holiday and cargo doesn’t run. I said, well, there’s always tomorrow–what happens to all the goods in cargo today? It waits, Einstein! He shrugged and said made a gesture like, “is there anything else now that that’s settled?”

We’ll see where this goes. All I know is that I’m f*cking sick of this disease of Mexican laziness and tardiness–you find it everywhere. It’s not even true ignorance (as in the ticket lady); it’s the laziness of not wanting to think or to bother to take that one extra step. That whole subject deserves a book-sized post, but I won’t even start on that or I’d get nothing more done. Right now, I just want to unpack the goodies, enjoy Claudia being home, study, and deal with this crap on Monday.