Alarm at 4am, at the airport at 5.
A good start, but it didn’t last.
At Bogota airport the Aeromexico check-in did not go well. For some reason they were suspicious about tickets being bought from their own web site. They demanded to see the credit card I had purchased them with. Duly shown…but…”sir the tickets are blocked until we can get Aeromexico headquarters to release them.”
For some reason one booking for three people had been (arbitrarily?) split into two separate bookings with two separate codes. That needed sorting too.
It took a few supervisors, some hang-time phone calls and a good hour; by then we were the last passengers checked in and did not get three seats together.
We dashed to immigration and although I sailed through the e-gate with my Australian passport, poor brothers-in-law Diego and Miguel came up against a brick wall.
They then had to queue for manual passport screening. Apparently their new passports, despite being equipped with a microchip, needed to be ‘registered’ before using the e-gates. Exactly why that doesn’t happen when you purchase a new passport in Colombia I have no idea. Exactly why Immigracion Colombia doesn’t inform new passport holders of same, I have no idea.
Need a football handbag from the airport duty free? Of course you do.
But we made the flight and had a smooth run to Mexico City. It’s a big airport these days as it acts as something of link-bridge between North and South America. There were lots of football fans of all stripes there, heading in many directions.
Rather than being welcomed to the country for the World Cup, the reception was the frostiest I have experienced with immigration officials anywhere.
Why are you here? You have match tickets? A return flight? Where do you work? Why are you really here? Where do you really work? How much to you earn?
Are you married? Why isn’t your wife here? Where do you live? Why come such a long way to Mexico? What date were you married? Etc, etc.
Finally he couldn’t think of any more stupid sh*te to ask us and reluctantly stamped our passports and off we went. Dictionary definition of grumpy stamping, honest. Maybe he needs a gazpacho and a good lie down.
After a spell at MEX we caught the short-ish flight to Monterrey, just a tad longer than a Hobart to Melbourne hop. At least the welcome was warmer there, literally, with the temperature hovering around 40C when we landed at 3 in the afternoon. I also very much liked the giant mural adorning the wall high above the baggage claim area. No FIFA branding, no sponsor logos, just art. See featured image above.
As we headed from the airport into the city centre the road ran alongside a less-than-half-constructed elevated light rail line.
“Well the intention was to build this for the World Cup,” explained our driver. “And for various problems, including embezzlement of necessary funds, it is nowhere being completed.”
I guess it’s the thought that counts.
In the evening we watched Mexico defeat a plucky Korea 1-0 (highlights here), from the relative comfort of our hotel. Later we went out and enjoyed the party with the streets crowded with horn-honkers, random dancers, trumpet blowers and just anyone and everyone out enjoying the occasion.
Even at 11 at night it was a balmy 34C. Kudos to Monterrey for excellent security and traffic management in the city centre to facilitate the huge numbers of people flooding the streets.
Mexico’s victory guarantees them top spot in the group regardless of third round results, which also means we will seem them in the round of 32 game in Mexico City. Sorry Korea, but this was a dream result for us.
In the earlier games Czechia drew 1-1 with South Africa, highlights here.
Canada smacked Qatar 6-0 partly thanks to two red cards, in a game in which the Qataris only entered the opposition’s penalty area once. Ouch. Highlights here.
Another late show saw a flurry of five goals after the 74th minutes as Switzerland ran over the top of Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-1. Highlights here.
Friday’s matches feature Australia v USA, Scotland v Morocco, Brazil v Haiti and Turkiye v Paraguay, all taking place in the USA. Go Socceroos!
As for us we’ll be taking it easy in Monterrey: The Art of Sightseeing Without Being Burned To A Crisp.
Enjoy the football and have fun!
Alan Whykes is a Tasmania-based writer and an ex- too many things to list.
This blog is the start of a new section called Tas At Large which showcases stories of Tasmanian diaspora let loose upon the world.
References may be made in this blog to various other publications, bloggers, columns, services, businesses, government departments and so on. Tasmanian Times has no commercial relationship with these entities; links if included are there on merit and relevance.
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