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I spent Christmas at home in San Francisco, and wanted to come back to Chile to ring in 2012. So I booked a one-way ticket on Aeromexico, which happened to be the cheapest one-way flight I could find, and included a 16-hour layover in Mexico City (roughly 7am-11pm).
Despite the fact that I couldn’t get much sleep on the 1am flight from San Francisco to Mexico City, I enjoyed my layover adventure.
Before I left home, I downloaded Jim Johnston’s Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler onto the Kindle app on my iPod Touch. Very helpful!
After exchanging $100 in cash for Mexican pesos and grabbing a much-appreciated cup of coffee, I got a city map and found the official taxi stalls. I had heard horror stories about unlicensed cabs in Mexico City and chose to play it safe.
I asked the driver to take me to the Zócalo.
Zócalo, early morning with Christmas decorations.
Flags adorn a gorgeous church, not far from the Zócalo
Huevos divorciados, a classic Mexican breakfast. Two fried eggs, one with red sauce, one with green. Served up with chilaquiles and a much-needed café con leche.
I strolled in and out of several pretty churches.
Such pretty light!
I then walked to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where there was a special four-gallery exhibit of sculptures by Gustavo Perez. Each piece juxtaposed the whiteness of porcelain with the blackness and unequaled plasticity of black mud from Oaxaca. So striking.
I then followed my guidebook’s advice and took the subway to Colonia Condesa, an upscale residential neighborhood. I got slightly confused on the subway and needed to backtrack more than once, but I was glad to have plenty of time and no one following my directions. I think the subway was much less crowded than usual, since I was there during a holiday week.
Pretty house in Colonia Condesa
Dogwash-Mobile! What a brilliant idea!
"To sustain this park demands great expenses. Cooperate with us by not permitting its mistreatment." A different rhetorical tactic than I've seen at parks in other places.
My main goal during my long layover was to find the authentic Mexican food that I was spoiled with as a child. Though it did not equal Nana Petra's famous cauliflower casserole, this gordita was tasty.
Not long after that gordita, I got caught in the rain. In the dark. Exhausted. Umbrella-less, I scurried through the rain until I finally found an open restaurant (a lot of places were closed since most of the city was on vacation.) There I ate a decent strawberry and goat cheese salad and asked the waitress to call me a cab to the airport.
I arrived at the airport with ample time to browse through Duty Free’s selection of fine tequila. I chose a brand called Suave.
Overall, I enjoyed my layover in Mexico City, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to save money and enjoy some nice art, architecture, and tacos.
If you have a long layover in Mexico City, you should also read this post: Mexico City – All the Fun You Can Have in 10 Hours by Jack and Jill Travel the World
Working abroad can make you taller!? Figuratively, yes. I took this photo in Bahia Inglesa, in the north of Chile. I have definitely held higher positions and done more interesting work while abroad! And you can do it too!
Today Brazen Careerist published my article, “How to Launch Your Career Overseas.”
Have you ever dreamed of working in China? India? Brazil?
The new landscape of work transcends national boundaries, which creates unprecedented opportunities to work worldwide.
Here’s how you can get started.
Study abroad
“Overseas stints have launched many a career because of the inherent curiosity, flexibility and interest in the world they indicate to an employer,” says Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, author of the new eBook GO GLOBAL! Launching an International Career Here or Abroad.
Even if you’re no longer in school, study abroad is still an option. Consider a graduate degree or language program. The Rotary Foundation offers Ambassadorial Scholarships. ESADE and IE have international MBAs in Spain. According to Ben Apple, the Chinese government is giving out scholarships for masters’ and PhD programs “like candy.” [more]
This is the second time I’ve been featured on Brazen Careerist. The first was this interview I did with Jaclyn Schiff.
If you’re interested in starting your career overseas, you might especially like Hilary Corna’s book One White Face, about her experiences training Toyota dealerships to implement Kaizen all over Asia. Hilary is offering a special discount code for readers of Beyond Chile’s Single Story. Go to https://www.createspace.com/
Here are some other posts I’ve written about international careers.
- How to Launch Your International Career, a review of Stacie Berdan’s eBook GoGlobal!
- “Sometimes, I find myself set in a puzzlement about meanings of life and jobs.”
- Foreign Young Professionals in China Mini Series #3: “Why China? Because I could.”
- Adventure + Failure + Grit = Success?
If you’re interested in chatting more about working abroad, feel free to contact me by leaving a comment or emailing me. Cheers!
Hilary Corna
I just read One White Face, a memoir by Hilary Corna, a young American woman who moved to Singapore right out of college and spent three years traveling the the Asia-Pacific region training Toyota dealerships in Kaizen. I enjoyed it, especially her descriptions of Toyota’s business culture and the reverse culture shock she felt when she went home to America.
Hilary’s experience as a young American woman working in Asia was so different from mine, because she was a leader within a company everyone has heard of, whereas I job-hopped between several industries, consulting assignments, multinationals and startups. The book inspired me brainstorm the arc of the story I could tell if I were to write my own memoir about working abroad.
Here are some of my favorite parts of Hilary’s story.
She had always loved Asia and had studied abroad in Japan. She writes:
Friends and family kept advising me, “Accept any job out of college, no matter what. You can‘t be picky,” but that thought process always stupefied me. On the cusp of graduation—that is when a young adult should be picky. You‘re uncommitted, unencumbered, and have little to lose. It‘s one of the best times to pursue your passions. (5)
So she sold her ‘95 Sahara Jeep Wrangler and moved to Singapore, where a friend let her crash until she found a job.
Following a chance encounter with a cute kid in a hotel pool, she found a great job with Toyota, training dealerships throughout the Asia-Pacific region to implement Kaizen. She explains her job like this:
Kaizen involves consistently working together to identify problems and develop solutions to them. My new job would be collaborating with each distributor to work in one dealership at a time to conduct a new kaizen activity. These projects would typically last one year. First, the team spends several months studying the dealership operations, and then we identify problem areas, prioritize one, and select a theme. After improving the problem through standardizing the process and achieving good results, we share the best practices with other dealerships and establish a standard for the country operation. (29)
Kaizen had almost nothing to do with the tool or solution, but how you nurtured people to create an environment cohesive to change—an environment that empowered them to develop the answer on their own. (95)
Throughout the book, I could tell that kaizen shaped the way Hilary approached her life as an expat, continuously adjusting to a changing, challenging environment. I could particularly identify with her descriptions of coming home to America.
When I saw someone for the first time, the conversation usually went like this:
―Hi, Hilary! How is Singapore?
―It‘s wonderful.
―Do you like it?
―Yes, I love it— but before I could finish, they‘d cut me off.
―So, when are you coming home?
This question depicted the common thread of the conversation. It seemed everyone just wanted to know when it was going to end. I realized much later that they asked the question not out of disinterest, but because they struggled to relate to me, just as I did to them. (77)
Yes, so true! My trips home have been filled with exactly the same conversation!
Eventually Hilary decided to leave Toyota and return to the United States. She writes, “I was beginning to miss the Western world. I still loved Asia, and my heart would always have a place there, but I felt a gap that I couldn’t explain” (200). I can definitely identify with this sentiment. I wrote about it in my letter, “Dear China: It’s Not You, It’s Me. Let’s Be Friends Forever.”
These days Hilary has been driving a 2012 Prius Plug-In across America, speaking about One White Face on high school and college campuses, bookstores, and special events.
I hope Hilary’s story inspires a new generation to move across the world to launch an exciting, empowering international career!
Added December 13, 2011: Hilary is offering a special discount code for readers of Beyond Chile’s Single Story. Go to https://www.createspace.com/
3648642/ and enter the discount code “P554X5B4″Thanks Hilary!
I visited Iquique a few weeks ago to speak at Start-Up Chile’s World Entrepreneurship Day Meetup, which simultaneously took place in 15 regions of Chile, all the way from Arica to Punta Arenas. The event was a smashing success.
Iquique is a city of about 350,000 in Chile’s far north. It’s a port city with a free trade zone (la Zofri) and a colorful history. The word Iquique means “place of rest” in Aymara.
About 70 people attended the Iquique Meetup next to the pool at the Hotel Terrado. Though I only spent about 24 hours in Iquique (busy, busy week also included trips to Concepcion and La Serena to speak at entrepreneurship events… good times!) I have a few enthusiastic recommendations for any other visitors to Iquique, especially explorers that share the entrepreneurial spirit.
1. Stay at Hostel 1920 La Casona.
This gorgeous hostel is in an old house in Iquique’s historic city center. The owner, Isabel Bussenius, is the most wonderful hostess. She has poured so much love into building and running this hostel. She seems to know absolutely everyone in Iquique, she speaks excellent English, and she will make sure to show you a good time.
After the Start-Up Chile Meetup, Isabel hosted an impromptu barbecue for about 20 people at the hostel. She served us maracuya sours (the region’s signature cocktail) and an abundance of chicken wings and choripan with all the fixins. Everyone had so much fun!
The hostel has a wide variety of gorgeous rooms, including singles, doubles, and shared 4 and 6-bed dorms.
If and when you visit Iquique, be sure to stay at Hostel 1920 La Casona. And say hi to Isabel for me!
2. Go Llama Trekking
At the Meetup, I met Matías Pinto Duk, founder of Llamatrekking. This is a unique opportunity to experience the ancient traditions of Aymara culture. Trips range in length from 1 day to 7 and full details are here on the Llamatrekking site.
Matías and his business partner, an older Aymara gentleman, explained to me that they had earned seed capital from Corfo (Chile’s economic development agency) to research all the trip routes, following traditional maps and legends.
I was really sad that I couldn’t stay in Iquique for long enough to experience one of their tours. Maybe next time.
3. Sample Gourmet Peruvian Food at Kiru
I traveled to Iquique with Francesca from the Start-Up Chile team, as well as Norwegian Start-Up Chile entrepreneurs Halvard and Sveinung, who are building Pick a Student.
The four of us enjoyed a delicious meal at Kiru, a gorgeous Peruvian restaurant located in a reed-covered courtyard, down a hidden pathway, not far from the beach. I had a pisco sour perked up with spicy green pepper, and an orange-flavored Asian-style fried fish dish with several tasty side dishes (sorry, I forgot the names of the dishes, and my camera was out of batteries. But trust me… it was good!)
Fran found this restaurant on TripAdvisor, where it’s rated #1 in Iquique.
4. Enjoy the beach and sand dune views.
Here’s my postcard shot, taken early in the morning, from the roof of the place where we stayed (edited with BeFunky, an app that I’m currently somewhat obsessed with. It’s better and easier to use than the other free photo apps I’ve downloaded.) Behind me are sand dunes as tall as hills.
And here I am with the Norwegians and two of the directors of the local Corfo. I bet you can guess who is who…
This photo is from El Boyaldia, a local news website that covered the event.
P.S. I wasn’t convinced or compensated in any way to write this post. The first three images come from the websites of the respective businesses. I hope this is useful for anyone dreaming of a trip to Iquique!
Following an enthusiastic recommendation from professional photographer Matt Wilson, we enjoyed a very special meal at Rapa Nui’s Kotaro Japanese Bistro.
The restaurant is on the same street as the airport. I’m not sure of the name of the street, but Hanga Roa, the only town on the island, has only one airport and only one Japanese restaurant, so it’s not hard to find.
The light inside the restaurant was absolutely gorgeous, so I snapped this photo of my mama.
The decor: so beautiful! Francisco, the owner, does all the construction himself. He says that none of the island’s carpenters meet his high standards for craftsmanship. He is Chilean but spent many years working in Japan. His mannerisms seemed more Japanese than Chilean, and he spoke flawless English, as well as several other languages.
The restaurant has just three tables, and first night we tried to eat there, they were full. So we came back the following night.
We all ordered the set meal. First came sashimi and noodle soup, followed by white fish with ginger sauce, sauteed vegetables, and rice.
Our meals were 12.000 RMB per person (excluding drinks and tip) which is about on par with an entree at another restaurant on the island. I thought was a great value, considering the quality of the food and experience. Easter Island is expensive! It’s far from everything, and all supplies arrive via boat or a single daily LAN flight. But it’s absolutely breathtaking, in every sense of the word, and worth the splurge!
If and when you go to Rapa Nui, after seeing the moai, be sure to check out Kotaro Japanese Bistro.
I'm Leslie and I connect entrepreneurs in Chile, China, California, and beyond — especially through translation, training, and trade. More about me.
