T.I.A. THIS IS AFRICA

I would be lying if I were to say that my stay has been pleasant. I don't want to appear negative and the last thing I want to do is compare the organizational efforts of the South Africans to that of the Germans, when they hosted the 2006 World Cup. Without getting into a historical socio-political discussion, it is hard to escape it and not mention that the organizational efforts may be attributed to a group of people that have known equality for a very short period of time. Rome was not built in a day, it took centuries and it will take South Africa many more generations for its people to reach its potential.

Murphy's Law has been very consistent in my very short stay here. Since my arrival, nothing has gone as planned. I spent weeks researching public transportion websites, looking at googlemaps, emailing FIFA delegates, and I honestly felt that I was a bit more prepared than my trip to Germany in 2006. I was a complete noob in Germany, but it only took me one day to get my bearings straight and rolling. SO far that has not been the case.

The first thing I attemped to do was get my accreditation pass. After I arrived from the airport, i took a cab to Soccer City to get my accredidation. I knew that the office would close at 7 pm. I thouht I had sufficient time considering I got to Soccer City stadium at 5pm. None of the stadium officials, volunteers, or security could direct me in the right way. They must have sent me to at least 4 different places. It was not until I saw other Mexican reporters who showed me where to go.

When we arrived, the center was closed and I was fuming. I just could not believe how unorganized evertything and everyone were. So, after a few short minutes I asked the media center official about the media shuttle services to the airport and I went where I was told. Again, I was told the wrong information and I was upset. To my luck, I ran into the same reporters and they too could not believe how unorganized the event was. They asked if I knew how to get to my guest house and when I told them that I had no clue, they offered to take me to their hotel. Not knowing the city and which taxi services were legitimate, I accepted their offer.

The ride to their hotel was an adventure to say the least. We left Soccer City around 8 pm and got to their hotel around midnight. We spent 3 hours circling around trying to find the entrance to the Holiday Inn Express. The motorways in Johannesburg are not very well lit and the signs are not the best. The GPS machine was throwing us off and after an hour of trying to find an entrance the the hotel, we asked patrolmen, security officials and to no avail, we could not get to the hotel. It is hard to describe because for 3 hours, we could see the hotel from the motor way, but we just could not get to it. By the time we finally were able to decipher the roads, we got into the hotel expecting to get dinner. We were all starving. I offered to pay for their meals. Low and behold, the hotel had not food. It was just one of those days that eventually we just laughed it off. There was nothing else to do than laugh. Everything that went wrong, went wrong--murphy's law.