Doing Business Internationally: Mexico

2011-03-23T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hard work, Redefined. Cut & Sew Factory, Campeche.

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pictures to remember our experiences by, so that we may carry them forth into our daily lives.

Fresh Fruit, Progresso Port

Ancient Colonial Streets, Campeche

Delegates preparing for another bus ride, coffee in hand.

Cathedral in Campeche

Sunrise on the Crows Nest, Chichen Itza

March 11 - The last day...

2011-03-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe the trip is almost over! Today we had to wake up at 5am in order to be on the bus at 6am and back in Merida for a 9am meeting with the Economic Development group, Secretaria de Fomento Economico.

We had a great meeting and learned a lot about the Yucatan. For the last 3 years the Yucatan has had the lowest violence rate in all of Mexico as well as, the best education level in the South of Mexico. We then got back on the bus and traveled 30 minutes to the Port of Progreso.

The Port of Progreso is the main cargo port in SE Mexico, as well as the longest port in the world, measuring 10 Kilometers long. It provides Mexico with a direct connection to the U.S. 5 days a week. There are several different terminals in the port; including: a containers terminal, cruise ship terminal, agricultural bulk terminal, general cargo terminal and a fuel terminal.

As the afternoon comes to an end we head out to our Farewell Dinner at the Hacienda Teya. The dinner was amazing with lots of laughter and tons of food. Outside the dinning room there was an open area where a male and female peacock resided...they were absolutely beautiful.

We concluded the evening with farewell drinks on the roof of our hotel. It was a great way to end our adventure!

Adiós,
Erin

March 9 - Ash Wed...

2011-03-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

After carnival, the people of Merida disappeared and the street cleaners came out. The street went from the site of parades, vendors, people dancing, music playing, sol girls shaking, trash covered.. back to a clean, quaint street of Merida, Mexico. Today is the first day of lent, the season lasting approximately forty days leading up to Easter. It is a season of penitence and self-examination, self denial and mourning.

We started our day, greeted by Salvador, our pleasant bus driver, by getting on the bus (whats new) and driving to Campeche. We checked into a nice hotel, owned by Groupo Karim, where we quickly mapped out the pool and the spa... aaahhh. Too bad we didn't have enough time to engage. (one can only dream)

Out front of our hotel is a nice boardwalk town, were people run and walk, or just sit and breath the ocean air. The town has a nice relaxed feel and we decide to go to a restaurant on the water for some fresh seafood.

After lunch we go to the Factory of groupo Karim, and see the people working, as fast as possible in order to make the best efficiency level for better pay. Here they make medical gowns, and sportswear. This factory is one of the biggest employers of the area, employing over 700 people.

We then met with the VP of the factory, who told us about the presence of Karim group throughout the world and the developments they are working on at the moment. All in all a very informative and interesting visit.

Halfway through the trip and all is well, no Montezuma's revenge yet and everyone is going strong...

Ciao,
Claire!

March 8 - Ikea All The Way

2011-03-11T03:54:00.000-08:00

We started our day with a visit to Ureblock, a mattress cover producer who sources

their yarns from American & Effird. Felipe, from A&E, joined us on the trip as well as Luis.

Ureblock makes about 2,000 mattress covers and about 20,000 pillow covers per day. Ureblock

only makes mattress covers for Ikea: both foam and spring mattresses. The thread they use

is A&E textured polyester and filament polyester. Their fabric is from Turkey or Europe and

some of their chemicals are from China. They also source wool from New Zealand. If

polyester fibers are used, Ureblock makes it from recycled coke bottles. They also use fiber pads from North Carolina from Innofa, with wires (for their spring mattresses) coming from Germany and latex coming from France. There was a huge emphasis on flame retardant mattress covers and mattresses since most of the mattress covers made in Mexico are sent to the United States.

Ureblock also makes their own foam and any left over foam is compacted together to be used

in upholstery. The foam has to be laid for 24 hours to reach a cooled temperature before they can start using it in the mattress production process.

Due to the fire hazard, there are no fans, no sprinklers, but they have hoses to control

anything that may occur within the factory. They do not allow smoking and the water

fountains are unplugged when the workers go home for the day. They ship out two containers

a day via trucks. The trucks go to the border where the products are switched to another truck

that stays in the United States for distribution to Ikea stores. They are operating from 7am to

2am, with weekend work as an option if they are behind. They also put the packs of mattress

covers in a roll, it is then vacuum shrink wrapped to save space in the trucks.

Then we drove on over to Uxmal, more pyramids from the Mayans. This is the one

place of the Mayans where their only source of water was rain water. As a result, they became

obsessed with the rainy season and truly predicting exactly when it came. The main temple is

called the Magicians Temple, the legend says that it was build by a dwarf throughout one

night. The terrain was a little rough for the crippled: I have an AirCast boot on due to a little

accidente in January. So after about 30 minutes of me attempting to walk around these ruins, I

had to call it quits and had 4 lovely escorts to take me back to the entrance where we sat

in the restaurant and I was able to ice my swollen feet. After everyone came back we took the

bus to a restaurant in Ticul where we were also able to see the last celebration of Carnaval in

the town square. After dinner, we hitched it on back to the hotel in Merida, where we were

able to enjoy the very end of Carnaval celebrations and just have a nice relaxing day before our

trip to Campeche in the morning.

March 7 - Cloudy with a Chance of Terrorism

2011-03-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Today was our first real day on the job. We began our day with a meeting to the US Consulate where we met with Maureen and Travis and learned a little about what an American Consulate does when located in other countries. They talked to us a little about the security issues currently with Mexico and informed us that most of the issues are currently around the border.

After our meeting with the Consulate, we had a short meeting with American and Efird and learned about their current manufacturing and distribution centers throughout the world. A&E is the largest American supplier of industrial thread, embroidery thread, and technical textile yarns and cords.

We were able to squeeze in a lunch at Sandborn’s and a quick shopping trip to the local mall in Merida.

On the way to the local University, I saw a little boy digging through the trash to pull out aluminum cans. I have quickly learned that this isn’t some rare occurrence and that the people here collect cans to turn them in for extra money. It really made me appreciate home and everything we have.

We also had a three hour meeting with the local University and learned about what they are doing and about the educational system here in Mexico. The University has recently developed a Fashion Development Program so we learned a little about what they are doing with that.

Tonight is another Carnival night. There are tons of street vendors and amazing food such as Churros, Margistas, Kabobs, fried hot dogs (they look like chicken feet), and French fries. It reminds me of the State Fair and it’s amazing to see all the locals come out for a night of fun!

Adios!

Jess

March 6 - Chicken Pizza, I Mean Chichen Itza

2011-03-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

We woke up bright and early, but were met by rain. Apparently the first time since this program started 14 years ago and for the first time in the area in the past eight months. On the agenda today, we had a visit to Chichen Itza and then a drive to Mérida. Everyone was worried that it would be too rainy and wet to go to the pyramids but we were fortunate enough to arrive at the pyramids right when it stopped raining. Perfect timing!

Chichen Itza means “Inside the well of the magical water” or something very close to that, but our tour guide spoke at a speed that which was hard to keep up with. At Chichen Itza, we learned about the Mayans. They were phenomenal astronomers and learned how to make acoustics. According to our tour guide, the Mayans designed the calendar based completely on the alignment of the stars. They pyramids were based on how the calendar operates. The numbers 52, 20, 13, 91 were mentioned a lot. I cannot exactly remember what all of them mean. They ended up mixing up in my head after the tour guide finished explaining. I do know that 52 represents the weeks of the year and the 91 steps on each four sides of the pyramid equals 364, the amount of days in the year minus one.

To the Mayans, serpents were very important and they considered them a God. Through the serpents, Mayans learned a lot about the world and how it worked. Kakuc is the word for the Mayans the represented the Serpent God. The area of Chichen Itza was also abandoned three times before it was completely a ghost town for years until someone discovered it in 1841. The Mayans constantly built up their structures to reach further into the sky so they could be closer to the gods.

Unlike all the myths which infer that the Mayans sacrificed humans to the Gods, they were in reality most likely untrue. At Chichen Itza, there is a sink hole where it was thought that Mayans sacrificed humans, but archeologist found only 43 bodies. It is said that these are the bodies of the rich who were cremated when professed dead. It was a privilege to be thrown into the sink hole. In the sink hole, they also found lots of jade jewelry which was thought to be the true gift to the Gods. Also, the Mayans built wall sculptures of skulls to scare off the Aztec.

One bit of information I found the most interesting was the theory of how numbers came into existence. It was all based on the angles in each number. One = 1, two = 2.etc The tour ended after the observatory and we all slowly walked back to the bus to head towards lunch.

After lunch, at a great local Mexican buffet, we took a three hour drive to Mérida. I was asleep the whole ride, as were most of the other student delegates. Once we arrived we were greeted with the celebrations of CARNAVAL! Carnaval is a time to celebrate the commencement of Lent in the Catholic Church. Lent starts Ash Wednesday (March 9, 2011) and goes until Easter Sunday. It’s a period of time during the years to remember what Jesus, according to the New Testament, has done for Catholics. This would be his sacrifice to the people on the cross and the forty days and nights he survived in the desert without food and water. The Celebration reminded me of the fair at home. Lots of energy, music, and fatty fried food (just Mexican).

~Kasia

March 5 - Planes, Trains & Automobiles

2011-03-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

We met up at RDU in the morning and after an easy 3.5 flight we landed in Cancun, Mexico. Later in the afternoon, we met up with the rest of our group; a total of 16. We then got a bus and traveled 3 more hours to Chichen-Itza.

As darkness fell, we approached a dirt road and wondered aloud if we had possibly made a wrong turn somewhere. Luckily, to our surprise we pulled up to the beautiful Hotel Okaan and were greeted with a traditional Mexican drink called a Horchata.

We then had a wonderful, grilled fish dinner and enjoyed a relaxing evening as we anticipated the adventures to come...

Buenas noches,
Erin

March 4 - Hasta Manana Mexico!

2011-03-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

As we pack and prepare, gitters and excitement quickly turn into frantic, last minute rushes to the supermarket, department store, or favorite local pedicure hub (the necessities, of course). In deep thought as I strolled the isles of TjMaxx, I reflected on my travel habits, experiences, and memories.

Packing was (and is) always a sore subject. A vivid memory comes to mind, me, a 12 year old, in the darkness of early dawn before heading to a week at the beach with my family. Dragging one bag, then another, down the stairs to be shoved into the back of our station wagon, I strategically exited the house through the front door where my dad couldn't see me. I snuck out to the car where I waited patiently for our voyage to begin. To make a short story long, my dad found the calf-high, platform, black boots, along with 7 other pair of outrageous foot adornments, that I was attempting to take to the beach in June. Since then, I have acquired a notoriety for being a bad packer and I've not been on a family trip that he hasn't asked if I packed my black boots.

When traveling, we sometimes forget that the importance lies not in the material items, rather the immaterial/untouchable/irreplaceable experiences and relationships we build. Most of the best memories emerge from situations that could NEVER be planned...and you were most likely NOT wearing your new, designer shoes, that you got for a really great price.

And yet, we still pack them anyways...

2011-02-23T07:22:00.000-08:00

THE DELEGATES.

Nicole Machado-Alvarez. Erin Frey. Caroline Cockerham. Katherine Gracz. Jessica Leslie. Claire Stanhope.