One More Day in Paradise City

OK, to call Torreon a paradise city is a stretch, but it has been a pleasant stay, nonetheless.

Today was the last full day here. We visited 2 sister plants in the city. The visiting party consists of 3 different experts: Manufacturing (Mr. Okura), Quality Control (Mr. Hayashi) and Production Control (myself). Once we were in the plants, we were on our own agendas to discuss, investigate and learn 'stuff'. These plants being our sister plants, we were pretty much free to roam around anywhere.

We were asked to comment our perspectives on their operations. I thanked them for the opportunity to observe their operations again and also commented on some opportunities for improvement. I was not comfortable being critical of those who have been nothing but hospitable, but it was all good when Mr. Okura seconded my comments and Mr. Hino, the plant manager also told his staff to take the comments to their hearts.

We then headed to the golf course. Yeah, yeah, so this was, after all, a boondogle. Hey, it's once a year thing, with approval of the vice president, Mr. Okura :-). The golf game wasn't pretty, though... :-(

The dinner was at "Pampas do Brasil Restaurante", a Brazilian restaurant. You sit down and they would keep bringing all kinds of meat on 'swords' and ask you if you want it. If you want it, they would shave a piece of meat on your plate. There were many kinds of meat, and if you don't pace yourself, you may not be able to taste evrything, and you do want to taste everything, because everything tastes so GOOD!

We stuffed ourselves pretty full before we left. This is always a good finale for a wonderful memorable trip. Tomorrow morning, we have to leave the hotel at 5:50AM... Yikes!

Another Beautiful Day in Mexico

Today's agenda included visiting 2 other plants near by, but both of them declined from being visited at the last minute, so we ended up having a whole day to kill.

While we were still in Monterrey, we decided to visit "Cola de Caballo" - Horse Tail Waterfall. This turned out to be a extraordinary place:

The morning temperature was really comfortable in this mountain region. Although this is a tourist attraction, we were the only group there, and the quietness added to the serene atmosphere created by the cascading water. Water seemed to be very clean and clear. The amount of water is amazingly voluminous considering that we just had driven through a desert to arrive there. Seriously, where is the water coming from?

We left the place. After walking around the souvenir shop area (I didn't buy anything) and eating lunch, we headed back to Torreon. I slept through most of the way, it felt as if it was a short trip.

We then had a dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Although some stuff is unbearably hot to me, most of the stuff was really good.

The girls are Yuko and Mieko (from left to right). They are the interpreters for our Mexico plants. I wish I could speak Spanish like them. It just sounds so fun to be able to speak it.

We, then, headed toward the mountain where the giant Jesus statue is looking over the city of Torreon (like in Rio de Janeiro). The view of the city lights was a gorgeous. OK, so I may be an atheist, but I can appreciate that the citizens of Torreon feel a little more secure with their supreme figure watching over them 24/7.

Mr. Hayashi is being ecstatic about Mexico. This is his first visit, and he just can't hide his excitement. This is my 3rd trip, but every one of them has been a new discovery and new excitement. Obviously, having a gracious host is one reason that we get a such good impression of this country, but I think Mexico has something that makes you happy. The difference will be so apparent when I arrive in an airport in US. People just aren't happy as Mexicans. Anyway, this country does people GOOD.

Hola! once again

This post is sent from Monterrey, Mexico. I'm once again on a business trip to Mexico, and as always, I've been enjoying my time here.

I arrived in Torreon, Mexico last night via Dallas-Fort Worth. The whole trip took only 5 hours, thanks to the new American Airlines newly established route from Evansville, IN to Dallas. My travel companions are Mr. Okura and Mr. Hayashi. It's Mr. Hayashi's first trip to Mexico.

Today's agenda included transit from Torreon to Monterrey and visiting 2 affiliated plants. The scenery along the way was really dynamic:

We drove through a desert between mountains. Joshua Trees, cacti and other vegetation really make you feel that you ARE in a desert. The mountains shoot up to the sky from the seemingly forever flat surface of the ground. Mieko, our interpreter told us that the region used to be the ocean bottom. I guess this is what the ocean bottom looks like with trees and cacti.

We visited the 2 plants both of which I found very interesting and educational. I took some pictures, but I can't show them for the confidentiality reasons.

We dined at a Japanese restaurant in Monterrey. We stuffed ourselves with all kinds of stuff. Yeah, I'm a happy guy.

And tomorrow, I will wake up feeling really smart, because I'm staying at Holiday Inn Express!