Technologically Naked

Last Wednesday I started a trip to Aguascalientes to work with the Instituto Technológico de Aguascalientes.   My wife dropped me at the airport and after she had left I realized I had neither my cellphone nor my wallet (they are connected).    I tried to call her but the pay phone in the airport (which now costs 50¢ for a local call) but could not connect.   I had gotten there early so then pulled out my iPad and texted her.   I got her too late to go home and return the stuff.   So I made the decision to go - my Passport (and only ID) was in my briefcase.  I also had a stash of pesos and some dollars.  I had a very quick connection in IAH so if I missed it I might have some real issues but this was important so I decided to try my luck.   As luck did have it, I made the connection and arrived in AGU on Wednesday night.  

I figured out a couple of things.  I could call home using Skype.  Most of the things I was going to be doing were going to be paid for by my clients (hotel) - those that were not (for example I went to the Reileros baseball game last night) could be paid for out of pocket change.  The only hitch would be that on the return I could not visit the United Club.   But as I said connections were close.  So all in all I got along well with this break which I calculated was the longest period without a cellphone for me in the last 15 years.

There was one major consequence of this experience.   Yesterday afternoon I visited with the rector of the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, who is an old friend.   We met in his downtown office and I found a pretty courtyard.   Like many of you I use my phone for a lot of pictures - but I did not realize that it is a bit harder to snap a photo with your iPad - even a mini.