For all I know, every culture might have a saying akin to
“When in Rome.” In Chinese it’s 入乡随俗
In Japanese it’s 郷に入れば郷に従え.
This past weekend, that multicultural proverb certainly
applied to me. Went to Cabo San Lucas for a weekend trip and got more than my
taste of Mexico.
First of all, my trip was fine. I got to hang out with
friends in a foreign country at a fine resort right by the beach with
spectacular views of the ocean and very luxurious rooms, and I learned that
snorkeling is my cup of tea. I also had 2 celebrity sightings in the short 48
hours I was in Mexico, Aaron Brooks newly of the Chicago Bulls and Matthew
Perry, of the TV show Friends fame. The weekend definitely could have gone a
lot worse.
Now comes the ranting part and where the “You gotta play
by the home court’s rules” comes in.
1.)
Probably my own fault, but who’s to know that you’re
supposed to keep your immigration card with you’re in Mexico? Nobody bothered
to tell me, and in other countries you don’t need to keep anything. Therefore,
I apparently looked very stupid when arriving for my flight back to the U.S.
without the card, and after some surprisingly unfriendly help by the airline
workers, I was directed to a rough, just-got-out-of-bed and
woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-bed fellow at the immigration center who
dismissively told me I had to pay $30 dollars for one. When I went to the ATM
to get said money because I had run out of cash during the trip and the ATM
spit out only pesos, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that the price was
actually 400 pesos, despite the exchange rate being 12-to-1 and it
theoretically needing to be only 360 pesos if at a pure 12-to-1 rate. No, $30
is not make or break for me (nor is $33 or whatever I ended up paying), but it’s
just the concept of having to pay $30 for a piece of paper that no one told me
to keep on me.
2.) Supposed to call your
credit card company to tell them that you’ll be in Mexico or else your charges
will get rejected. How am I supposed to know?
3.) Try not to pay any “tour
guides” or “people helping you out” until the end, or until you absolutely have
to. Especially when said tour guide leaves you on an island and promises that “someone
will be here to help you out in two hours.
4.) There are no pens in
the airport to fill out immigration cards/entry cards upon arrival. I mean,
seriously? There were about 30 people just getting off the plan at Mexico airport
looking around for a pen to fill out their forms. You can’t provide one of
those chained pens at a table and let people use them? Really? No wifi in the airport
neither. Excuse me if I’m sounding like a stuck-up first world tourist here,
but I’m sure the airports are taking money from my airfare, so try to provide
the bare minimum of amenities, please!
5.) Negotiate prices,
especially cash transactions. Pretty much standard anywhere, but prices as
first reported have been jacked up to accommodate for possible negotiation, so
they’re taking money out of your pocket if you don’t.
6.) Everyone’s working
for a tip. This applies probably in a lot of tourist areas, but the sheer
transparency of the people here in trying to get a tip is a bit nauseating.
Luckily for American tourists, the American dollar goes a LONG way.
7.) Don’t even bother exchanging
money at the airport, especially in Cabo San Lucas. Everyone excepts American
dollars and PREFERS American dollars, and Pesos will be accepted with disdain
and a lower proportional rate. If you pay with American dollars, places will
try to give you Pesos back, or they will charge a higher rate if you pay with
pesos, or some other arrangement where they end up with American dollars instead
of pesos. Hotels, 4-star resorts even! Will not give you change in American
dollars for leftover pesos that you didn’t spend at the end and don’t want to
waste. Really don’t value your own currency much, eh?
8.) There are mosquitoes. I got bit.
9.) Anyway, I will
probably never be going to Mexico again short of my family being taken hostage
there or connecting on a flight somewhere else. Not to sound like a bitter
tourist, but this is one place that I don’t want to “Be in Rome” or “Do as the
Romans do.”
Anyway, this week I’m gonna keep a “Week in the Life of a
fantasy baseball manager” blog, which if you followed the “A Day in the Life of
the Fantasy Playoffs” series and liked, you should like this. A preview:
My second baseman this season is the Laser Show, aka
Dustin Pedroia. A universally accepted top 40 fantasy player at the beginning
of the season, he is acclaimed as a gritty player who outplayed his potential
(he’s a short guy) to become one of the best in the MLB. Basically my kind of
player……who’s genuinely sucked this season. Caught stealing more times than he’s
hit, a lower than normal BA, very littler power (4 HRs all year despite having
20-HR power) and saddled on an unexpectedly bad Red Sox offense (especially
since they play home games in a bandbox and you know, they won the World Series
last year). Needless to say, I’ve been trying to find better options for Pedey,
and as a testament to his lack of production replacements I’ve contemplated are
Daniel Murphy, Dustin Ackely, Aaron Hill, etc. But on Saturday, I was reminded
of the value of a Dustin Pedroia in one of the more brilliant plays of the
seaosn. Playing in Anaheim against the Angels, Pedroia got on with a one-out
single (what else is new, an empty single) bringing up Big Papi Ortiz, for whom
the Angels (like most teams) shift so that their 3rd baseman goes
over to the right side to cover more ground in the likely event of Ortiz
pulling the ball. This, however, forces Erick Aybar, the Angels SS, to be the
only player on the left side of the infield between 2nd and 3rd.
Pedroia realizes this and on the first pitch takes off for 2nd,
drawing a throw from Angels catcher Hank Conger, with Aybar covering. Conger’s
throw is a little late and Aybar’s tag comes after Pedroia slips into 2nd
base (YAY! SB!) But inexplicably, Pedroia then gets up quickly, and in true “steal-the-bacon”
fashion (middle school kids game) runs away from Aybar towards 3rd
base. As my mind struggles to comprehend what is happening, realization slowly
sets in that NO ONE IS COVERING THIRD! Pedroia darts in without a throw, as
Conger was supposed to cover 3rd base since the 3rd
baseman had gone over to the right side for the shift. Ortiz later in the AB
hits a sac fly to left that gets caught but scores Pedroia, resulting in a
well-earned run. Just a heady, heady, play by Pedroia that nets TWO stolen
bases and a run. This, fantasy owners, is why you invest in all-grit and
determination players.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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