Jim Naaf in Mexico

Ruins, Beaches, Swine Flu and More

2009-07-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I, along with another Bosch employee and fellow American trainee, Nick, was fortunate enough to be able to take a six day trip to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and explore a lot of Mexican history. The majority of the history that comes from the Yucatan lies with the ancient Mayas. The Mayas were the indigenous group that occupied the Yucatan's extremely hot climate (over 100 degrees daily, when I went) and extremely flat (like Illinois) landscape. The Mayas were the tribes portrayed in Mel Gibson's movie "Apocalypto" and were most well known for their advanced views on astronomy, time, and human sacrifice. Above, I'm standing atop the Yucatan Penisula's tallest pyramid (about 140ft) in the ruined Mayan city of Coba.

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Above is the view from my hotel room in Tulum, MX, where I spent one night of my Yucatan trip. Tulum is just south of Cancun by about a 45 minute car drive. Although Tulum is close to Cancun, it is nothing like it. Tulum would be the place to go for the best beach in Mexico, extremely remote hotels and restaurants, and a relaxing atmosphere. Went there for a day and a night to take a break from the ruins.

Upon entering Chichen Itza, probably the most famous of all Mayan ruins where an estimated over 50,000 people once lived, this is the spectacular sight that you see. The above pyramid was the most monumental, well kept pyramid that I saw. To the Mayans, pyramids served as the gathering places when religous ceremonies, including human sacrifices took place. Boring? Just picture bloody, beating hearts and freshly decapitated skulls flying down the face of this thing. That'll liven it up a bit for ya.

Speaking of human sacrifice, there exists physical evidence of human sacrifice in the Mayan world (aside from hieroglyphics) in only two locations. Chichen Itza is one of those locations. Above, I'm standing in front of a cenote, the small pond/dungeon where the remains of those who had been sacrificed were disposed in Chichen Itza. Yet, the small stick that I've got wasn't quite enough to sacrifice myself, much to the dismay of my father who has long awaited the death benefit of the insurance policy he's been paying into my entire life.

Still at Chichen Itza, above is the largest ball field in the Mayan world (460 by 115 ft). The Mayans used to have ball games as religious ceremonies to please the gods. After putting around a 5 pound rubber ball through the stone ring that you can see on the wall above, the game ended. This would usually take some time though because no hand usage was allowed. However, after the game was over, a celebration and feast were given to the winning team and the losing captain was sacrificed.

Stone phallic symbols ... Thanks Mayans!

Here I am in front of the main pyramid at Uxmal, another large ruined Mayan city where about 50,000 people lived.

Night in Cancun. Another break from the ruins. This is the view from my hotel room balcony.

We flew in to the capital city of the Yucatan, Merida to start our journey. Francisco de Montejo conquered the Yucatan and founded Merida in 1542. The cathedral in the picture, above, was begun in 1561 and is the oldest cathedral on the continent. It took hundreds of Mayan laborers, working with stones from the ravaged Mayan city, 36 years to finish this cathedral.

Another weekend, I made the trip to Cabo San Lucas, now probably the most americanized tourist location in Mexico (ahead of Cancun). Above is the famous stone arch, called El Arco, which is a really cool natural rock formation that looks like it's at "Land’s End." Cabo San Lucas is also the most expensive spot in Mexico so it was a good thing that I was able to take advantage of the super low prices during the down season and the swine flu scare.

Speaking of the swine flu scare, for awhile it was a pretty big deal. There were only a handful of deaths because of it, but all the precautions that the Mexican government took cost the Mexican economy billions and billions of dollars. It was a rule at work for several weeks that we had to wear surgical masks to avoid catching the swine flu. Here I am with my morning coffee thinking of how I'm gonna drink it with 3 masks on.

This is downtown Toluca, the city where I live. Downtown is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment.

My parents and Uncle Don came down to visit for a week in late April. Here is my Uncle Don getting cleansed of all his bad spirits. Now I'm really not sure how that actually works, but Uncle Don sure enjoyed it, along with the rest of Mexican culture.

Above, your guess is as good as mine. It's the "Dia de los Locos," or "Day of the Crazies" celebration in San Miguel de Allende....But still. Your guess is as good as mine.

I've only got a month and a half left. It's really hard to believe. Time has just flown by. I feel like I got here just last week.

Believe It or Not, I Do Actually Work

2009-04-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a view of endless agave fields in Tequila, Mexico, where a group of Bosch employees and myself traveled to one weekend. Agave fields are all over the place in Mexico. They're kind of like corn in the Midwest. If you didn't know, the Agave is the type of cactus that is used to make tequila. The avg agave matures in 7-8 years.

Chopping down the agave

Here is a pile of the core of the agave that grows underground. To make tequila, this core would be cooked to sweeten the nectar and then smashed to extract the nectar. From there, the nectar would be left to ferment for about a month, cooked at an extremely high temperature in large tanks, and then aged in barrels for quite some time. The longer in the barrel, usually the better.

Here I am at the Jose Cuervo Tequila factory in the cellar where all the tequila is being aged.

Well let's just not learn about the agave plant and the tequila making process, let's make some bad decisions and start ripping tequila shots at 11am. Shall we? You'd think that all these Bosch analysts that you see would be smart. Well, I ran my cost analysis and figured that, since it was free, I'd be economical about it.

Another benefit of being in Mexico is that you have an endless supply of cheap Cuban cigars.

I spent 3 days one weekend in Guadalara, Mexico's second biggest city in terms of people with about 4 million. Mariachi bands, sombreros, lots of Mexican food, and the popularity of tequila among a slew of other Mexican traditions are said to have started in Guadalajara. Believe me, you'd appreciate the uniquely bad smell of tequila, the feeling like your lips are on fire and an extreme over usage of horns and accordians in every song a lot more if you spent some time in Guadalajara.

Here I am with a colleague of mine, Anne, atop "El Nevado de Toluca," a volcano that is right in Toluca, the town where I live and work. Toluca is about 8,000 ft above sea level and the top of this volcano is about 15,000. It's the 4th highest point in Mexico.

Read em and weep. Snow in Mexico. No joke.

Acapulco Bay. Almost as nice at night as it is during the day. Also very convenient to get to. Only about a 4 hour drive from Toluca so it's possible to do for a weekend without having to take any days off.

Acapulco is know for its seafood. Makes sense because it's on the Pacific Coast. That's a 2.5 lb lobster that I took down one night. Just dominated that thing.

My buddy Nick and I went to a Mexican national team soccer game vs Costa Rica in Mexico City one day. To describe what that was like I can use Wrigley Field as a point of reference. If you've been to Wrigley you know what 40,000 drunk diehard fans is like. Just imagine 3 times that many with probably about 3 times the blood alcohol level as well. I'm just glad I didn't go when Mexico was playing the U.S. becasue, if that were the case, I may not be around to talk about it.

I actually found a golf range along the way to Mexico City from Toluca. Take note of how big this range is. They don't make these for young strapping gringos like myself. Getting balls over the net was really not problem at all. If you look closely you can see that there is a highway right on the other side of the net. I probably should have taken it easy but I had Mexicans huddled around me watching the show. Let's just hope I didn't shatter someone's windshield.

And last but not least, I thought I'd let you guys in on a little distgusting Mexican secret... Beer, chilli, a ton of hot sauce, lime and salt and pepper is what they call a "Michelada." This horrid face is what ya get if you indulge, or try to. There's no reason a beer, a perfectly good invention as it is, should ever look like a cherry slurpee. I'll stick with only the lime in my corona from now on.

Some Cool Stuff

2009-03-08T19:42:00.001-07:00

To the left is the entrance to the Bosch Toluca finance building. This is where I go to work everyday.

Here you get a look down "Calle Robert Bosch" or "Robert Bosch Street" in english. The administrative buildings are the first couple building you see and the actual plant is about a 2-3 min walk a bit off into the distance. The Toluca plant is Bosch's 2nd biggest plant in terms of parts produced in North America and the oldest and most efficient Bosch plant in Mexico.

Here I'm standing atop a mountain in Morelia, Mexico, where millions of monarch butterflies come to mate every year because of the warmth.

Here is a view of what the trees atop the mountain that I climbed look like. Each tree was literally covered in thousands of butterflies.

Below, I stand atop the "Mirador" building in downtown Mexico City. Not a bad little view of the world's second largest city.

the other Trainee, Nick, and myself are standing in front of one of the most famous pieces of Mayan art at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. This piece of art represents ideas such as fire, calendar, and the sun.