“I got off to a rough start in Monterrey, where I was going for dental implants at a much more affordable price than I could get in the US. My T-Mobile hotspot had failed me a couple of miles across the border (yes, I had called from home to ensure I'd have service, but some miscommunication occurred), and thus I had no GPS entering Monterrey at rush hour. All I had to guide me were four words, 'Lazaro Cardenas," a street, and 'Fiesta Inn" (my hotel on that street), four little words to hold onto in ferocious traffic traversing from north to south that whole huge metropolis jammed into valleys between the Sierra Madre mountains. It was only luck, sheer luck, that I finally saw a freeway sign that said 'Lazaro Cardenas' and I gunned it and made the transition onto another hurtling freeway, and then only the grace of God that I glanced up from the mad rush around me and saw, surely a miracle, the sign 'Fiesta Inn' on an attractive building on the other side of the freeway. I exited and made my way back. I abandoned my car in the drop off and stumbled through the door. Two young women at the desk took me in with wide eyes, this elderly lady with her hair standing straight up, gasping 'bano!' (one word of the few I know in Spanish.) And Elena (said her nametag) took me by the hand and gently guided me to the lobby restroom, the first one I had seen since I crossed the border four hours back, there being no services whatsoever on that miserable toll road between Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey known as 85D. Then she sent someone for my luggage, walked with me to my car, guided me into the parking area. and got me to my lovely room, smiling and murmuring reassurances the while. My heart finally stopped pounding. I had made it! This same young woman over the next four days made sure that I knew how to get to my dentist and back to the hotel without GPS, how to order soft foods from their kitchen after the implant surgery, and made sure I was comfortable as I recovered. The entire staff in fact was enormously kind in the most natural way. The cleaning service, the luxe linens (especially the selection of pillows!), the restaurant, all were above standard. The Fiesta Inn Monterrey Valle is simply wonderful. You will be blessed if Elena is still there and not promoted up the company ranks, because she's a gifted manager who clearly inspires her staff, and that's so rare. It's all about the people, and these particular people are first class.”

“Todo. OK”