View From Casita Colibrí

En route to the U.S. for a 6-week visit with family and friends… sitting in the Houston airport and reflecting on traveling to and from Mexico.  As I’ve mentioned before, Oaxaca is a place of contradictions and this morning was a case in point:  The highly efficient airport shuttle service picked me up promptly at 6:45 am and we arrived at Oaxaca’s little airport 15 minutes later.  To take the shuttle, two days ago I’d walked down to their office just off the Zócalo, showed my flight departure time, paid my money, (48 pesos, approx. $3.75 U.S.), and they informed me what time the driver would pick me up.  It worked like… clockwork!

However, once at the airport, Continental had only 2 clerks working the check-in counter and the line moved excruciatingly slowly.  Apparently, there isn’t a supervisor to call in the event of a problem, and so the clerks patiently explain, check, explain, recheck, and explain again… as long as it takes, while the line gets longer and longer and time gets shorter and shorter.  And then there was my online boarding pass… all was fine with the Continental clerk but the gal at the security gate was thrown for a loop by the look of it and by my explanation that it really was valid and that I printed it at home on my computer.  Come to think of it, that sounds pretty bogus to me, too!   Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in Mexico and owning a personal computer is definitely not a given, let alone the wizardry of internet access.  She sought and received verification from two other security workers that my boarding pass was indeed valid.  But, it didn’t end there, when it came time to board, the Continental ticket taker was also perplexed and got on his walkie talkie to ask, where does one tear a pass without perforations?

I had to stand in line anyway, so I think next time I’ll skip printing my boarding pass!