The Changing Role of the CIO

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The Changing Role of the CIO

Major shifts in technology, customer demands, and employee expectations are substantially reshaping the scope and role of CIOs.

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How an Outpouring of Resilience and Innovation...

Quoting Thomas Bamberger, President of Customer Engagement and Experience at SAP: "Fears are conquered where innovation flourishes". Read more customer stories where "hope shines through complicated times".

How an Outpouring of Resilience and Innovation...

This year, SAP Services customers navigated extreme conditions for successful transformation efforts.

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Join #RISEwithSAP to explore the latest...

Join #RISEwithSAP to explore the cutting-edge technologies, insights, and deep process experiences that you need to move your business forward smarter, faster, and more nimbly.

Join #RISEwithSAP to explore the latest...

Join RISE with SAP: The Introduction on January 27. This virtual SAP event explores cutting-edge technologies, insights, and deep process experiences.

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SAP Get Social

Arbitrage 101 explained...with Marijuana

Ok, so as a recent MBA grad I certainly learned a LOT of new concepts over the past two years. Some of them made me financially smarter, some made me "look" smarter when I actually talk to smart people, and at a lesser degree, some made me a bit annoying (ask my wife when I go on and on explaining how I would fix the markets in 5 minutes).

Anyways, among the hundreds of new and exciting (NOT) things I learned, there is this one concept that for some reason stuck with me.  Arbitrage.

I have always enjoyed learning new things, but very few concepts have for some reason the impact this particular one had. For the first time I realized what Arbitrage (in Financial terms) was, and I realized what a powerful situation to be in. Finding a "legal" Arbitrage situation in today's financial interconnected world is almost impossible, but there is an industry where Arbitrage is there, open, exposed. And although not legal, the legality of it is what is dictating this situation that some dealers are taking advantage of. Economics 101

Let's get to the concept first. The idea is as simple as logic can imagine, Arbitrage is when a situation arises that someone can take advantage of the price difference between two markets. Not necessarily the same as finding a price difference between two identical products at your two local supermarkets. But think about the Canadian Dollar, US Dollar and Mexican Peso.

Imagine that 1 CAD buys you 10 Mexican Pesos or 1 USD in Canada, but in the United States, 1 USD buys you 1 CAD or 11 Mexican Pesos.  Exchanging CAD for USD is the same regardless the country, but if we are planning a trip to Mexico and we have 1 CAD or 1 USD (which is the same), exchanging that in the US will give us 1 extra Mexican Peso:

1 USD = 1 CAD = 10 MXN  (if the transaction is done on Canadian soil)
1 USD = 1 CAD = 11 MXN  (if the transaction is done on US soil).

By driving to the border and exchanging the money at the first US bank, we got a profit of $1 Mexican Peso. That is called arbitrage. Lets say we do it, and we post it on twitter and we tell our friends, not long after that becomes public & obvious, the markets will correct and the price will be the same, the Arbitrage is gone.

Now that we all understand the basic concept of Arbitrage, I just recently heard a podcast of an Arbitrage situation happening in the US today. With 18 states having legalized marijuana and having created a legal market for it, a pound of Marijuana goes for $45 or less on dispensaries in California according to NPR. The exact same bag of marijuana retails for $60 on the ilegal market in NY.  That creates an arbitrage situation that drug dealers are taking advantage of. Buy in the west coast, sell in the East Coast.

Of course, the main challenge for these dealers is how to move the merchandise. We all now that possessing and moving marijuana for selling purposes is ilegal across the land and the end result is jail. Not an easy task eh?

To fully understand this complicated but yet interesting story, take 25 mins of your busy day and listen to this great NPR's Planet Money Podcast...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/05/07/182010027/episode-456-marijuana-arbitrage

Until next time!!

Life Post MBA... armando.ca v2.0... reloaded

Dear reader(s) (if there's still any out there):

At some point during 2011, my last post stated that "I was back". Two years later I see back and I realize I should have re-phrased that to "I have the intention to be back....". Reality is, I truly wanted to do what I am about to start, shift this blog from a personal travel diary to an opinionated space where I could express my views on the economy, politics and international current affairs. 

But like with so many things in life I totally underestimated the reality of the moment. For some reason I thought that I would have some extra time that I could dedicate to this space in addition to my full time job, being a part time masters student, planning a wedding and live. So after months of ambition and now that the MBA is over, I finally have time to do all those things I have been putting on hold for the last 26 months, this blog included.

With that said, this is the official welcome to armando.ca v2. Let the econo-nerdism start :D

I'm back....

And this time is for real, welcome to Armando's reloaded v2.0 :)

More to come, sooon.....

Political Animals… (“the fur war”)

For decades now, countries and animal right groups around the globe have put Canada in the top the “animal rights” perpetrators list. Most of these accusations come from Canada’s Seal hunting regulations and some videos / pictures  that came out to the light on how hunters kill these animals to satisfy a (mostly European) fur demand.

In last week’s edition of  The Economist, an article was published related to the endorsement of a European ban to any trade on seal products, these are some facts and fragments of such a great piece of objective journalism: 

“On May 5th MEPs (Members of the European Parliament), suddenly disgusted  by the cruelty of people far away hunting seals, voted to endorse a ban on the trade of seal products, most of which come from Canada. Their hypocritical recommendation, which still has to be approved by the European Commission and Council, isn’t even much good for the seals.”

The estimated number of seals that die per year (not by mauling from a polar bear but by a gun shot) is estimated to be in the 300 000 figure. Environmental organizations (such as WWF) argue that the Canadian hunt is professional and regulated, but the debate here is not whether is right or not to kill animals by pleasure, which I TOTALLY oppose and condemn, it is the hypocrisy of  some European politicians.

The article mention that a few seals are killed to protect fish (isn’t that mother’s nature job?), other as a source of blubber or food but most are indeed killed for their fur.

Some facts:

- Europe’s fur farms produce over 30 million Mink and fox pelts a year
- Every four or five days, Europe kills more animals for their fur than the entire annual Canadian hunt does in a year

“… Seal hunting sounds unfair; but Europeans politicians are reluctant to ban the hunting of similarly defenseless game birds, deer or wild board”  

The main question they post is: “Why did the European Parliament overlook all this?” the answer is simple, elections are around the corner and it is easier to attack seal-murdering foreigners to gain sympathy among European animal-welfare groups than  propose measures to eliminate, for real, the hunting problem as a whole in order to protect animals everywhere, including their backyard.

How Risky Is Flying?

Ok, as some of you may know, I’m what airlines consider a “serious” frequent travel, sometimes I complain that I don’t have the miles or the status that some people I know have, but if I compare myself with the statistics, I do fly a lot. Now, when we think about flying and the risks involved on it, the first thing we think is all the accidents and fatalities we’ve seen on TV in the last year, 2 years, then, the following, statistics comes to our head:

We all know that the probabilities to die in an airplane accident are minimum, some people have said that it is more likely to die of a Thunder strike than an air accident. One day a question came to my mind, if we know that the chances to die are so low, why MOST people (including me) are more afraid to flight than taking the road / train? As soon as we hit the smallest turbulence, ALL the people react in one way or another (except the flight attendants). So, what’s the difference between hitting some turbulence and experience a bumpy bus ride in the middle of the rain? why are we less afraid in the second scenario ? Well, according to David Ropeik  (Instructor in Risk Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health), the fact that we are NOT in control of the aircraft and that 99.99% of the population is clueless on how to operate a plane, we feel way more insecure that driving, which is actually more dangerous. Another interesting factor is: what denominator are we using when calculating the risk of flying? Here are some options:

1. Dividing the number of people who die into the total number of people, which gives you the risk for the average person?
2. Dividing the number of victims into the number of total flights all passengers took, which gives the risk per flight?
3. Dividing the number of victims into the total number of miles all of them flew, which gives you the risk per mile?

In case you don’t know, 2007 and 2008 reported ZERO (as of 0) deaths caused by Airplanes accidents in the US, do you want to see the number of casualties by bus or car? I don’t think so…
Going back to Mr Ropeik’s argument, and I quote:
“These 3 options produce accurate numbers, but which one is most relevant to you depends on your personal flying patterns. Some fliers take lots of short flights and some take longer ones, for example. Since the overwhelming majority of the few plane crashes that do occur take place in connection with takeoffs and landings, the risk is less a matter of how far you fly and more a matter of how often. If you're a frequent flier, then the risk per flight means more. For occasional long-distance fliers, the risk per mile means more. A frequent, long-distance flier would want to consider both.
Here's another number problem with the risk of flying: do you calculate the risk on the basis of one year, or an average of five years, or 10, or 20? Most years no plane crashes occur, or at least very few. So the number of victims per year goes up radically in years when there are crashes. Just look at the spikes in the number of deaths from plane crashes by year in the graph at right.
Risk perception is not just a matter of the facts”
Another "feelings factor" that informs our perception of risk is awareness. The more aware of a risk we are, the more concerned about it we are. Which explains why, when there is a plane crash in the news, flying seems scarier to many of us, even though that one crash hasn't changed the overall statistical risk much.
I haven’t figured out yet what is my exact risk factor, what I can tell is that I drove the other day to Edmonton and I found myself in the middle of a snow blizzard… Not funny, so, while I live in Canada, Air Canada will be my best and loyal friend…
If you want to read Mr Ropeik’s article, go here:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/planecrash/risky.html
If you want to read the List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_on_commercial_aircraft
Safe flights!!!

Travel blog vs Facebook vs New Blog!

Ok, question of the day, What the heck happened to my blog?

Fact #1: I think the number of readers of this blog went down from few hundreds per month to maybe one per quarter, me.
Fact #2: And you know? it is all my fault,  when I started this blog I had the idea of sharing my experiences related to my constant travels and adventures as a consultant with friends and family. Everything was going fine, I used to post on a frequent basis, (not like lychees, but enough to consider myself a blogger) and I loved it until Facebook became part of my daily life.

Fact #3: Facebook

But, Why Facebook? Why some people claim that Facebook as the worst thing in the world? Well, I’m not there yet for sure, I certainly love the thing, but what happened is that at the beginning Facebook was the novelty for me & my friends, I gave it 2 months of my attention before “something else” showed up, but almost 2 years after the day that Rafa forced me to join and left my blog floating in the internet, I decided that it was time for me to go back into the blogger world, so here I am.

Most of you have been tracking the changes in my life through Facebook, but for those of you that have no idea where I am, I live in Canada now, the land of the Maple and the noble Beaver, the second biggest land on earth and the 130th less populated, Calgary to be more exact.

So, why am I writing again if I surrender to the power of the Facebook status, well, I’ve been thinking about the hundreds of things I want to share based on what i see, think, read and hear and I guess Fbook is not enough for some reasons:

- My Status can change several times a day
- If you missed 2 days of facebook, you maybe missed stupid things I post like the fact that “I was looking for 4 Mexicans to create the first Mexican Curling team to compete in the Winter Olympics”
- Most companies have facebook blocked
- People add & add & add friends, so, it is hard for me to share what I want to share and make sure the people I care read it

So, what’s going to be new here? Well, I’ll stop talking about my travels, well., I still travel a lot, pretty much every week (I’ve been on a plane 65 of the last 75 weeks) but now I’ll concentrate my efforts on places, day to day things, news, opinion and Global affairs. And the most important change, it will be 100% in English, why? because I need to improve my writing communication skills before 2011 that I will do my MBA.

Said that, welcome to my new blog, and thanks for reading this :)

Roma, Italia!!!! La bella roma :)

Cuando planée este viaje por primera vez hace dos o tres años, Roma era una de las 3 ciudades que iban estar en mi viaje pasara lo que pasara. Cuando era niño me prometí una vez que iría a Roma en mi primer viaje a Europa, no se bien porqué pero siempre había querido ir, la cultura italiana siempre me ha llamado, su comida, vinos, películas (alguna vez vieron Malena?), idioma, música y tantas fotos que había visto. Finalmente, he llegado,Roma, La ciudad que me dió mucho más de lo que esperaba. El Coliseo, es enoooooooorme, no como el castillito de Disney (alguna ves les conté mi trauma de lo pequeño que es el castillo de disney?). En fin, todo empezó la tarde de un 6 de Mayo, al empezar a caminar hacia la Fontana de Trevi sentí por primera vez el poder imperial de esta ciudad, impactante al momento de solo pensarlo y avallasador al vivirlo. Por alguna razón, moría de ganas de ir ahí, la primera vez que ubiqué la Fontana fue en un video de Bon Jovi (si si, ya se,, jaja), y simplemente dije WOOW, y ya estando ahí repetí mi admiración... La siguiente parada fue el Coliseo originalmente llamado Anfiteatro Flavio, su nombre de Colosseo vino cuando el emperador Neron puso una estatua "colosal" en frente. Caminé y caminé por Roma, me perdí varias veces, quería descubrir aquellos lugares que no estaban en las guías de turistas, entender que hizo de esa ciudad la capital del mundo antiguo, y lo logré... Caminar por el foro romano, sus calles sin sentido del orden, las motos, todo,... fue maravilloso. Me tocó ver al Papa, fui al Vaticano el día que estaba dando misa y estaba dentro justo cuando la misa empezaba.. El museo de la Capilla Sixtina es igualmente sorporendente, los frescos de Rafael me impactaron al igual que la bóveda de Miguel Angel... Walking tour recomendado: Tremini - Piazza de la Republica - Via Nazionale - Gov Building - Fontana di trevi - Piazza Sppagna - Via de Corso - Gelattini - Caffe Tazza Oro - Panteon - Piazza Navona - Blvd Vittoriano Emmanuel - Campo di Fiori. Cuando lleguen a Campo di Fiori busquen un lugar pequeño de piezzas a una cuadra de Restaurante Montecarlo.. sabrán cual es el cuanto lo vean, el dueño aparece en una de las fotos, un tipo bigoton... En fin, Roma acabó, fueron 4 dias increibles... definitivamente voy a regresar a esta ciudad, necesito regresar, tiene muchas cosas que ofrecer y nunca es tiempo de acabar de conocer....

When I 1st planned this trip like 2 or 3 years ago, Roma was one of the 3 cities that had to be part of this adventure whatever it took. Everything started when I was a kid, I promised myself that the first time I go to Europe I was going to go to Rome, I don't really know why but I have always felt attracted to the Italian culture, the food, wines, movies (did you ever watch Malena?), the language, music and countless pictures I've seen. Finally, here I am, Rome, and the city gave way more of what I was expecting. The Coliseum, OMG it is soooooo big, not like the Disney Castle (did I ever tell you my kid trauma when I realized how small the actual Disney castle is?) Everything started one evening, May the 6th to be more precise, when I started walking through Fontana di Trevi I felt for the 1st time the imperial power of this city, amazing just to think about it, breathtaking and overwhelming at the moment of living it. For some reason, I wanted that to be my 1st stop, the 1st time I saw it and visualize its beauty was in a Bon Jovi video (yeah I know, I know what u may be thinking), anyway, I saw it and thought WOOW, and once there I just enjoyed the moment. The next stop was the Coliseum, the original name was "Anfiteatro Flavio" but it took today's name (Coliseum) when the emperor Neron put his statue in the front of colossal proportions and people referred to it as "Coloseo". I walked and walked, got lost countless times, I wanted to discover those places not listed in my tourist guide, understand what made of this city the capital of the ancient world, and I think I found it. Walking through the Roman forum, the streets without sense of logic, the motorcycles, everything.... just wonderful. The day I went to the Vatican I was lucky, I was inside the St Peter church when a mass offered by the pope was about to start, I saw him a few feet away without expecting it, AMAZING. The museum of the Sistine Chapel is amazingly surprising, Rafael's frescos wondered me same as the well know Michealangelo masterpiece... Recommended walking tour: Tremini - Piazza de la Republica - Via Nazionale - Gov Building - Fontana di trevi - Piazza Sppagna - Via de Corso - Gelattini - Caffe Tazza Oro - Panteon - Piazza Navona - Blvd Vittoriano Emmanuel - Campo di Fiori. Once in Campo di Fiori, look for a smapp pizza place one block north from Ristorante Montecarlo, you'll spot it once you are there, the owner is in one of the pictures, a guy like "The godfather", best pizza in town. The dream is over, time to move on... 4 amazing days, I will go back, sooner that later, Roma has countless things to offer and I think you will never have the enough time to enjoy all of the thins the city has to offer.

Barcelona, Gaudi and my 4 days in España

Barcelona fue la ciudad que visité después de Paris. Para ser honesto, no tenía la más mínima intención de ir, pero después de que Kamila, Naoli, Aneta, Pere e innumerable cantidad de personas me metieran la ciudad en la cabeza, decidí comprar un billete de Paris a Barcelona. Cuando llegué lo primero que me agradó fue el español, ya extrañaba ser yo el que dominara la lengua y no el que tenía que entender costumbres, frases y formas de comunicarse. Me quedé en el departamento que mi compañía tiene para consultores, Aneta fue mi host y aunque ella tuvo que irse al día siguiente, la pasamos super esa noche. Fuimos a cenar a Las Ramblas y caminé por Parc Gueil y la Sagrada Familia. Los demás días no fueron lo mejor, me enfermé espantosamente, igual el agua europea o que se yo… Me dio todo lo dable (calentura, panza, mareos, insomnio, fiebre, todo) y además llovió para acabarla de amolar, horrible…. Pero a pesar de todo el viernes vi a Majo, una muy buena amiga de la prepa y me llevo a cenar unos “pinchos” que son como las tapas españolas, pero ya ven que a los catalanes todo lo que suena a España les da roña, entonces crearon su propia versión de las tapas. La vdd es una ciudad muy bonita, vale mucho la pena, la arquitectura en ciertos momentos me recordaba a las colonias antiguas de la ciudad de México. Definitivamente la recomiendo peor desafortunadamente no fue la mejor parte de mi viaje… Habrá que regresar a la patria madre para agarrar ese sabor que no encontré en 3 días.

Barcelona was the city I visited after Paris. To be honest, I wasn't planning to go but after Kamila, Naoli, Aneta and few other people insisted I must add it to my trip and put the city in my thoughts, I agreed to buy a plane ticket from Paris to here and I don't regret it. When I arrived, the 1st thing I liked was that I could speak spanish again, I missed being me the one who could speak without worrying about slang, idioms and different languages. I stayed in MicroStrategy's apartment, the one the company has for consultants in Barcelona with my dear friend Aneta, what a great host, she took me for dinner that night to Ramblas and we had terrific times. During the day I toured Parc Gueil and Sagrada Familia, AWESOME The following days were not the best ones ever, I got super sick of every known sickness (fever, headache, stomachache, everything...) and if that wasn't enough it rained horrible, it was pouring and even with that I saw Majo, a very good friend from Highschool, she took me for some Pinchos, the Catalan version of the tapas (they refuse to have anything to do with Spain and they created their own version of tapas he he) It is a very beautiful city, a trip very well deserved and highly recommended, some of the streets reminded me Mexico City, the architecture its awesome but I definitely need to go back there and to Spain (madre patria) to get that "something" that I missed and I didn't get in 3 days.

Paris, "la ciudad de las luces" Paris, "City of lights!" Paris, "ville de lumières"!!!

París París París... Que decir acerca de la belleza de una de las ciudades mas características de la raza humana. Para mi, París marcó el inicio de mi viaje, el principio del descubrimiento del viejo mundo, un sueño anhelado por dos décadas hecho realidad, la concepción de muchas horas de escuela, trabajo y largas noches... Por fin llegue. París..

Cuando venía en el avión, me costaba trabajo pensar lo que estaba por experimentar, como la mayoría de ustedes saben, este viaje que hice fue el primero a Europa, y un grupo más selecto sabe que es la 3era vez que lo intentaba, las otras dos por X Y Z o W, estando a dos de subirme al avión, simplemente NO se pudo, pero esta vez nada se interpuso en el camino.

Definitivamente Paris está en un empate junto con Londres y Roma como una de las 3 grandes ciudades de Europa y de la historia de la humanidad, pero, que significó para Armando?

Bueno, antes que nada ya sabía a lo que iba, tantos y tantos amigos que conocía que habían ido, fotografías que había visto, películas y tantas cosas vistas y escuchadas y efectivamente, verlo con tus propios ojos es una experiencia de vida. Por el otro lado, Paris no fue la ciudad que mas me gustó, pero momento, no estoy diciendo que no sea una de las mas bellas de Europa, no no, pero sabía a lo que iba, vi lo sabía que iba ver, no mas no menos, quizás me faltó vivir ahí unos meses como varios de mis amigos para encontrarle esa “magia” que la haga estar en mi top 1 de ciudad no creen? En fin, cosas que recordar de Paris (Relacionadas a mis notas anteriores)

- Insisto, la orangina rockea

- Los parisinos, no los conocí… jajajaja solo conocí gente de todas partes, será que se esconden, o será que no se mueven por las zonas turísticas, que se yo, o será que son todos aquellos franceses mal fibrosos que no querían tomarme fotos?? Mejor me quedo con la idea que no los conocí no?

- Mis momentos favoritos de Paris fueron: Atardecer en Pont Neuf, cenar con Gabriel y Gerardo, encontrarme a Abraham, la comida (cara hasta la madre), las crepas callejeras y sus cafesitos donde vas y te tomas un espresso y no te paran jeta si te quedas horas a contemplar la nada, I loved it.

Paris por otro lado es definitivamente una ciudad que cuando uno va solo, es decir, sin novia, amiga cariñosa, pareja, esposa, conyugue, amante o alguien relacionado sentimentalmente, no está tan coool, jajaja veia todas esas parejas en el río y yo asi de “bueno, ya estuvo no?? Basta con tanta miel”, unos atascotes que se daban estos parisinos en el río, jaja envidiables… Así que me prometí NO VOLVER a ir a Paris solo, next time, será con una niña, I promise.

Respecto al arte, lo siento, soy naco, solo entré a 1 museo y básicamente entré el día que era gratis, 2 horas antes de que cerraran y solo vi la Mona lisa y la Venus de Milo (si adivinaron, es el Louvre), ah y por supuesto, la foto afuera de la pirámide, básica.

Respecto a la vida nocturna, se las debo, lo más que hice fue cenar con Abraham, tots, Gerardo y Gabriel e ir a un lugar de falafels, pero se veia buena..

Les dejo algunas fotitos, enjoy!!! Next chapter…. Barcelona

espanol.......

Hola.......

Estare actualizando en ingles hasta que llegue a Seattle de nuevo porque a veces solo tengo unos minutos y asi todos me entienden, los gabachos y los no gabachos... cuando llegue a SEA escribire los blogs buenos en los dos idiomas...

Saludos

Notes from Krakow, Poland

When you arrive to your hostel at 4 am drunk and the geek I have inside connects to write some notes about it there is only one thing you can say about a city...

IT ROCKS!!!!

Krakow's night life is almost as good as in Budapest....
When you go out to a club with 5 other backpackers from you hostel and the first thing you see in the club is a bar (1 out of 6 that club had) where there are only girls and they outnumber by 3 the number of guys (in other words, there were 15 girls and NO MEN in that bar...) that only mean one thing...

You are in the right place

McDonalds is open LATEEEEEEEEEEEE

By the way... the city was nice, but Ill talk about that in a future post...

Adios

Notes from Czeska Republica (Czesky Krumlov & Praha)

- Krumlov is.... (do I need to say more?)


Prague:
- Awesome city
- It is really one of ther most beautiful places in the world (it was the only city in Central Europe that escaped to last centuries bombs)
- Czech food is good, but Prague is infested with tourists (like me) which makes the food expensive, it is hard to find a decent local pub with good food.
- Czech souveniers are the most expensive ones accross Europe. A guy tried to sell me a small Prague magnet in 7 Euros.... I saw the same in Paris in 3.
- Prague is expensive, same prices as the US or even more expensive
- It rained the 3 days I was here :(
- The castle is awesome and the Charles Bridge has a lot of mosquitoes after 8 pm
- Service in Prague sucks, is as bad as in Paris (or even worst) with the difference that here they do expect tip....
- The "Pilsner" beer, some sort of national pride is as bad as any average american beer.
- Yumi Fujii


Once Im back Ill write a more detailed blog on my adventures... Ciao

Notes from BUDAPEST!!

- My best experience so far (the hostel, the hostel's owner, the people I met, the city, EVERYTHING)
- Whatever you've heard about the beauty of the women in Hungary and eastern europe..... IT IS TRUE!!!!
- I loved the city, it is clean, nice, pretty, NO turists (like Rome) and full of history, museums and good looking girls (I think I already mentioned this part... he he)
- The castle is awesome (similar to Mexico's Chapultepec but way bigger and awesome)
- there are 2 cities> Buda is cool, Pest is even better...
- They have Roma Baths with wave pools, I went, it was awesome...
- The 14 Hungarian wine producer companies have a cellar under a cave with 30 KM of cellars.......... AWESOME
- Budapest has the coolest Catholic Church I've ever been, even cooler (no bigger) than San Pietro in Rome, it is inside a CAVE........ AWESOME (pictures once I'm back)
- Hungarian food is super good and super cheap (the best so far in this trip outside of Italy)
- I loved the city so much that I decided to stay 4 instead of 2 days
- They have the coolest lake I've ever seen
- Hungarian is sooooooooooo hard, that everybody speaks english
- Best coffee in Europa so far (even better than Roma)
- Gulash Comunism (later post)

Ok, Thats all, I'll write more once I'm back since time is limited....

Konosom!!!!

Roma & La Bella Italia!!!!

After I left Barcelona and enjoyed Gaudi's art (Pedrera, parque Gueil, etc...), I headed to Rome in my 47 euro flight with Clickair (better than the average US airline...) and found myself in the base of the modern civilization.

There's no way to describe my sensation when I first walked on the streets trying to find "Fontana di Trevi" but I can only tell you that every brick, every street, every step I did was "THE" experience. The simple idea to think that some romans or why not, maybe a Emperor walked the same streets 2K years ago made my mind blow away.

I don't want to fall in the typical comparison between Rome and Paris but I can tell you that both made me feel things I've never felt before (well, only once, the 1st time I walked on Times Square 8 years ago), but if I have to declare a winner between these 2, even with the dirty and not that safe streets, homeless people and the criticism of most of my friends, I'd go for Roma, LA GRANDE ROMA!

Maybe is that I have always been in love with the italian culture, who haven't (the food, music, soccer team and the women) but exploring Rome was a nice experience, and also, I don't understand why I have this trauma with Trevi's Fountain, but I have been there like 6 times and I have taken countless pictures....

Anyway... time to go... Ill upload some pics as soon as I can... meanwhile..

Arrivederci


PS... the italian version of the Orangina (aranciata) is even better, but I will keep my comments for me this time... he he

Paris & Barcelona

Finally I have some minutes to share with you about my feelings about Paris.. After 4 entire days walking and walking and doing nothing else but walking, I found the "magic" of the city of love, it is really magic. Getting lost on it's streets was the best thing ever, climbing the eiffel tower, walking in the night, having dinner with friends, night tour on the Sena and what for me was the best, the gardens of Versailles; everything, absolutely everything made those four days the best.

After 4 magical days in Paris, I flew to Barcelona, another of the greatest cities in Europe. My trip there wasnt that fun,
A) It rained 2 days (worst than Seattle)
B) I got sick, got everything (fever, flu symptoms and some stomach infection).

Once I left Barcelona, I left better, maybe the city played a bad game on me since I didnt want to go at the begining.

Now Im in Rome.... Bu dont think this is the only post I put about Paris, its just that I have to leave this PC in 3 minutes since internet is free and there's people waiting...

Mas notas de Paris...

- Los franceses tienen muchas cosas buenas (monumentos, el idioma, las mujeres, la comida, bla bla bla), pero de todo con lo que me quedo es con la Orangina !! I love it
- Es cierto que los franceses se enojan si les hablas en ingles
- El atardecer en los puentes de Paris es la onda
- No hay que dar propina... Coooool
- El metro es la onda.. (creo que eso ya lo dije)
- Sigo encontrando similitudes con la colonia Roma, Condesa y Polanco
- Les encanta como pronuncio en frances "Disculpe, me puede tomar una foto silvuple", jaja y luego de mi mal frances me sonrien y me la toman
- Ya fui al Moulin Rouge...
- Las crepas son mucho mejores aqui que en Mexico, jajaja
- Los jardines de versalles estan de pelos, se me puso la piel chinita, esos reyes franceses sabian de la buena vida
- Todas las comidas vienen con papas fritas... pero todos los franceses estan re flacos, chale..
- La Catsup sabe diferente, como que mas light y a tomate...
- Los panesitos son la neta, la reposteria es lo cool aqui...
- Tome el barquito del rio y vi la Tour Eiffel de noche
- Me quede jeton donde Luis XIV paseaba a sus invitados.. jajaja
- La Mona Lisa esta cool....
- He tomado mucho cafe.. (por eso es la 1 am y no puedo dormir y estoy en el internet del hostal)
- Mi hostal es la onda.. ademas dos de mis roomates son de Seattle, jajajaja, kgdo no??
- Las ninas andan en moto... vaya los hombres tambien, pero lo otro me llamo la atencion

Bueno es todo, si me acuerdo de mas cosas luego las pongo En unas horas coy a Barcelona, ahi les cuento como me va...

Au revoir...

Paris Je t'aime....

Breves notas de Paris....

- La ciudad no es hermosa...... Lo que le sigue (bueno supongo que eso todos ya lo saben, pero tiene un encanto UNICO)
- Los francese si huelen feo.... (sin ofensas)
- Polanco, la roma y la condesa son una copia de paris... con sus respectivas diferencias
- Pense que entendia in poco de frances... error, no entiendo NADA
- La comida es cara y demasdiado buena
- Tienen una coca cola de naranja buenisima
- Ser mexicano es coool (a diferencia de USA)
- El metro es la onda... Bueno bonito y barato
- Por 4 euros, subi la Tour Eiffel caminando y me ahorre las colas y los infames 11 euros que cuesta subir en elevador (Nota, son 669 escalones :) )
- Ya dije que me recordo a la parte bonita de mexico??? ah pero nice, con clase y limpia
- Viendo la Mona Lisa me encontre a Abraham (un viejo amigo de la carrera) y termine cenando con el y su amigo, una tarde excelente
- Vi a Gerry y a Gabriel

Todo marcha muy bien, la ciudad me recibio con un sol monumental que espero no se esconda de aqui al martes....

Bueno, ya los mantendre al tanto con mas updates... Au revoir