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[edit] Wiki for all CEMS and international students at EGADE del Technologico de Monterrey
=== wtf happened here? who changed this? why did you delete the sections on CEMS, Guanajuato, shopping and El Torito?
===
Please contribute to this and fill in your recommendations, warnings and experiences. The following students will highly appreciate it!
[edit] Living
Housing in Monterrey is cheap and plentiful. A very helpful website if you're looking for a room mate is www.compartodepa.com.mx, you'll need the premium membership to check people's contacts but it's cheap enough (100 pesos for 30 gays). Price-wise, houses are nice at between 2700-4000 pesos, and at 5000 there is quite a jump in quality, you can find very nice, well decorated and fully equipped houses. If anyone asks for more than 5000 pesos, the house better be really, really good, if not walk away as there are many better deals. Better than restricting your scope to the online offers, have a walk through popular neighbourhoods like the Colonias Estadio, Primavera and Tec, to name a few. In August and Jan./Feb. every other house is offering a room for rent.
[edit] Housing: Tips and general information
- Always make sure there are fans/air conditioning in the house. It can get ridiculously hot, even at night, and you will have trouble sleeping if you have neither
- Not all houses have laundry equipment, but there are laundry shops that will do it for you and deliver it back home for less than 100 pesos
- Most student life is northeast of the Garza Sada road, although there are plenty of students also in Rio Panuco, Del Estado and the neighbourhood with the professions (Fisicos, Filosofos, Agronomos...); Del Estado is full of bars and restaurants
- Even if you're attending EGADE chances are you'll spend some time at the Tec main campus, as there is a library (open 24h) and free gym there, as well as sports facilities (including tennis courts, running track and football pitches) close to the Tec and the stadium
- The area surrounding the Tec, and particularly the part northeast of Garza Sada, is heavily policed
- Beware of messing up the house too much, you will get cockroaches
- Generally, southwest of Rio Panuco is where the town starts to look a bit dodgy. Rio Panuco itself is a major road and most of it is usually well-travelled throughout the day and pretty safe, though.
- Rule of thumb: the closer to the hills a place is, the less time you should spend there
- A good way to check out many places that are close by is to get a bicycle and cruise around. The main roads around Tec like Del Estado, Junco de la Vega are a bit dangerous for bike-riders, but inner roads don't have that much car traffic and easy to navigate by bicycle.
What a neat article. I had no ilnikng.
[edit]
Handling the police
- The cops will always get you for something if they have the chance, don't expect to be let go with just a slap on the wrist.
- Peeing in the streets, making a nuisance of yourself while drunk and drinking in the streets will get you in trouble with the cops
- Often all they want is a bribe. If they take you back to the police station, try to have a Mexican friend come and get you out, it can help lower the penalty/bribe and generally speed up the process. Expect to pay between 500 and 600 pesos if you're caught drinking in the streets
- Most cops don't speak English, and some would say they also only barely speak Spanish
- When leaving house parties or clubs, be careful with cops patrolling. They're hunting for drunks to get bribes
- Don't provoke the cops by standing right on the line of private property and drinking - they will wait for you
- Don't carry an open container of alcohol while drunk, like taking a bottle from one party to another. If you're accused of drinking in the streets it'll be hard to prove otherwise
- Cops will have no qualms about taking you in, foreigner or not. Several students got arrested in the April-July trimester.
- Whatever you do, DON'T DRINK IN THE STREETS, DON'T DRINK IN THE STREETS, DON'T DRINK IN THE STREETS! Also, DON'T run away on foot from policemen in a car. They're gonna get you.
[edit] Immigration
You'll have to get the FM3 form to graduate from EGADE. You have to switch your tourist visa to a student visa, and then register your student visa - you can save around 800MXN if you get a student visa via the Mexican consulate in your country beforehand. Either way, in EGADE's welcoming session they'll give you detailed instructions to take care of immigration business, it takes an afternoon to get the documents ready and two visits to the immigration authority (one to drop off your stuff and one to pick up the form), so no trouble. Also, the Tec will advise you to use a legal firm to take care of this stuff for you - don't! As we say above, it won't take more than 2 days altogether, and the legal firm will charge you around 700MXN (and you still have to gather the documents yourself to hand over to the legal firm), so there really is no point.
Dude, right on there borhter.
Always the best ctonent from these prodigious writers.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] In and around Monterrey
Taxis
You'll find yourself in a taxi very often. There are green taxis which are cheaper and more common, and white taxis, nicer cars that charge almost twice the rates. A ride from Tec to EGADE should cost no more than 50 pesos, usually 40. Taxis are generally safe, the biggest worry is them ripping you off. If the taximeter is not on, either ask the driver to turn it on or agree on a price at the start of the trip. Taxis are supposedly for 4 passengers max, but most drivers will let you squeeze in one more person, maybe for 15 pesos on top of the fare. Taxis leaving the airport, central bus station or clubs often have fixed fares.
Buses (urban)
The bus system is a bit confusing in Monterrey. Stops are unmarked, ask around to find them. Route 1 is the one that connects the Tec area to the Macroplaza/Barrio Antiguo area. Tickets cost 7,5 or 8,5MXN, buses are clean and well-kept (Route 1, anyway). There doesn't seem to be a regular bus connecting Tec to EGADE, although Tec itself has its own bus service, with higher prices and only a few departures per day. More info will be given on that in the welcome session.
Metro
It's unlikely that you'll use the Metro in Monterrey - only the centre is connected, with no links to Tec or the EGADE area.
Your anwser was just what I needed. It's made my day!
[edit] Boat
(This section must be read to the sound of The Lonely Island's "I'm On a Boat")
There are two companies providing ferry services from between Los Cabos/La Paz and Mazatlán/Topolobampo, Baja Ferries and Transportación Marítima de California (TMC). To La Paz, it's 12 hours from Mazatlán and 6 from Topolobampo, tickets cost 750-800MXN, including dinner and breakfast. Besides passenger ferries, you can also go on TMC's cargo ferries as an "operador" or "ayudante", allowing you to catch a boat on days when there are no passenger trips. Like this, you can for example catch a boat on a Sunday from Mazatlán to La Paz instead of having to go all the way to Topolobampo.
During Summer, the trip is enjoyable enough, as even though the seat inside can be pretty uncomfortable you can sleep outside, with the ocean breeze, under the stars and shit.
[edit] Viva Aerobus
www.vivaaerobus.com
Mexican low cost airline, serves many cities from Monterrey, frequent promotions. Be warned: many unpleasant incidents:
- Changes of flight dates in advance, no money back even if flight on next day was cheaper
- Online check in closes 4h before flight, if you don´t register on time you need to pay a fee. You also have to pay if you have inappropriate luggage (eg. 2 suitcases to check in, or no paid-in-advance checked luggage)
- Flights may be cancelled on the same day, without any compensation, without any way to get where you have to go except paying a fortune yourself for another Airlines tickets
- Every issue has to be dealt with on the phone via call center, it´s an expensive phone line, so charge your mobile before calling, they are letting you wait on purpose and hang up after 30min sharp
- Frequent delays, up to 9h
- For no issue that occurred during the frequent flights, we were able to get any money back
This information is off the hzoiol!
[edit] Restaurants
[edit] A Tu Mesa
Not a restaurant, but a popular home-delivery service linked to many of the most popular places in Monterrey, both traditional restaurants and franchises like McDonald's and Burger King, and including some places listed here. Delivery costs 15 pesos and service can be slow (up to 45 minutes). www.atumesa.com
Ya learn soemithng new everyday. It's true I guess!
[edit] Cabo Grill
Located on the plaza commercial space between Garza Sada and Alfonso Reyes. Excellent fish and seafood tacos for 19-25MXN, they also have meat tacos, burritos, enchiladas and flautas. The Lobampo taco is a masterpiece, shrimp wrapped in bacon. Beer is more expensive than El Torito (25MXN each), they also serve many tasty cocktails, with and without alcohol. Complimentary totopos with a large and very nice selection of toppings. Great service, all in all this is a very good restaurant. Basically El Torito's fancy, sober cousin.
What a joy to find such clear thinking. Thanks for ptoisng!
[edit]
The Blue Place On Nantes and The Place Behind Oxxo
A large stand on calle Nantes, close to Ricardo Covarrubias, serves very good tacos and piratas (try the campechana, pirata and gringa). Tacos are 8MXN, piratitas 9MXN and piratas 45MXN, they also have very tasty aguas for 8MXN (try the mango). There is also a smaller branch located on calle Jabatos, just behind the Oxxo on the intersection of Ricardo Covarrubias and Jesus Cantu Leal, with the same prices and with one of the guys from the blue place cooking. The smaller branch has great hamburgers for less than 30MXN, but for 38 you can get a monster burger with Trompo and Carne Asada meats (enough for a taco of each), a burger patty and a slice of ham to top it off. It's called the Arrachera burger or something, but be sure to ask. Some say that the place behind Oxxo is better, as the service is better, the place is cleaner (no oil dripping from the roof, for one thing) and the kid who makes it is more skilled.
[edit] Pirata Chacho
Very good Piratas (large Tacos with cheese and avocado). This place is opposite of Romario´s Pizza. Its an pure outdoor restaurant which opens only at around 1930. Its considered as one of the best places around TEC for Piratas. My recommendation is Priata Aranchera Especial. The best thing is that they have a buffet for extra pirata toppings ( salsas, onions, cucumber, salad, guacamole, pice de gailo etc.). The price for the Pirata Especial is 70 MXN. More expensive than other places near Tec but you do get what you pay for. Others would prefer the place behind Oxxo or the mothership at Nantes.
That's more than senbsile! That's a great post!
[edit] La Barca
Located on Garza Sada, just a minute on foot from the roundabout, La Barca is a nice bar that's perfect for watching football games. Deals include 20 beers, 2 pizzas, a dose of fries and one of nachos for 400MXN.
Shoot, so that's that one suppoess.
[edit] Jan's House
Internationally-renowned Slovak chef Jan Klimo, set to appear in Summer 2010 at the first International Guacamole Tournament, in Paris, produces some of the finest guacamole in the world out of his house at Tepic+Castelar. His work was featured in Benfica's 32nd Portuguese title celebrations and at the legendary Tigres Metal Party, where he was said to have produced his magnum opus, an awe-inspiring quadruple-dose of guacamole.
[edit] Carl's Jr.
A fast food franchise but a very good one. With several branches around town, Carl's Jr. serves the classic burgers and fries with better quality than McDonald's or Burger King. Fries, crisc-cut or classic, come with some skin on them, and the burgers are excellent. There are the classic burgers and the Six Dollar Burger variations, made with Angus beef. Menus are between 80 and 90MXN for regular burgers, add 10-15MXN for Six Dollar Burger version. The Portobello Mushroom Six Dollar Burger, 96.5MXN for the combo, is superb.
[edit]
Tacos Felix
A favourite post-bender taco joint, close to Del Estado and the roundabout, open until at least 4AM and with decent, cheap tacos (6-9MXN).
What I find so interetsnig is you could never find this anywhere else.
[edit]
El Gaucho
Located on Garza Sada, you'll find mouth-watering steaks here for a hefty price (around 300MXN for a steak and two beers), and you get what you pay for: Doses are huge, the meat is top-quality and the service is excellent. Guys will have to struggle to finish their plates, and girls can probably share a dose. The Nacional is a very good (relatively) cheap option for steak. Dress up!
[edit] El Diego
This Argentinean steak-house has great cuts of meat at a lower price than El Gaucho, and also features good empanadas.Located on Paseo Tec.
[edit] Shopping
[edit] Trips
[edit] University
Well, someone had to write this section!
Way to use the inertnet to help people solve problems!
[edit] Difficulty
While content-wise courses haven't proved to be very tough, professors like to pile on work for work's sake. Expect several assignments. Final grades will very likely be 90+, and 100's aren't unheard of. But grading is rather intransparent and therefore appears random sometimes. Note that you have to get 100 to get a CEMS A, one point below is already a B.
Also, the school seems to distinguish between Mexican and international students, as English-language courses are said to be considerably easier than their Spanish counterparts.
Super inofmaritve writing; keep it up.
[edit] Some Courses
Cross-Cultural Management: A bullshit course taught by the world's most humble and talkative professor. Kidding, she's not really humble. On the positive, she is very open to criticism and actually listens to students (when she's not talking herself), so expect more discussion-based classes in the future. Some BS projects, including a cooperation with a student from ESADE to do the Egg-drop thing, and a poster about a country's culture. Grades: 90+, there were several 100's.
Applied Management Science: An interesting (if you like numbers) course, you may have heard of the subject matter as Operations Research. Workload isn't heavy, with a weekly homework assignment that takes maybe half an hour to complete, a final project, a midterm and a final exam. Content-wise it's very light and taught very slowly, so no problems there, and the tests themselves are easy and the professor seems more than eager to help you out (midterm: points add up to 105 to make it easier to hit 100; final exam: no time limit). One to ace, even if you've never had OR before.
[edit] Security
[edit] TEC Security Guards
Always friendly but be aware! They do their job. Don´t drink alcohol on TEC properties. Even the tennis courts are watched by them! An open can of beer counts already as offending to TEC regulations. What then happens is not clear. We still wait to get expelled:)
[edit]
TEC Police
They do what they want. Opinions about them vary. Sometimes they are friendly and bring you home and sometimes they want your money. Well, experience is saying that last point is more common.
Be careful at parties! When you are standing on the street in front of the house where the party takes place then they can take you. When they see you drinking on the street (open beer is already enough) then they take you. When you look like a criminal altough you didn´t do anything, then they take you.
If so then don´t discuss!!! They are stupid people, they really are. If you try to talk to them they won´t answer. If you are talking with your hands because you have a south european background then they make use of their handcuffs even when you are looked in the back of the car already. At the police station you will see why they are stupid. Unorganized low educated people are trying to judge you for things you may never did. If you get in such a situation never sign anything!!! Only sign the paper for your personal belongings. Never sign the paper when they show you your rights.
The whole fun cost you 500 to 620 peso. Prices range related to individual motivation of the police. You can also speed the whole process up (in car already) by bribing them. Officially they would never do so, but they will!!!
Rumours are saying that a CEMS student had to get naked there in front of a fat police man. Thats just an example how stupid authority people try to play with their power.That poor guy is still struggling with mental problems these days.
[edit] Travelling
[edit] Mexico City
[edit] Matacanes
Well, can't really call this travelling unless you stay at the nearby hotel. Matacanes offers an amazing nature and canyoning experience. We went with IBO, a certified tour company, for 750MXN per person. It's a steep price, but it included transportation (from and to La Rambla), guides, a meagre lunch and a good dinner, besides of course the excellent Matacanes experience. Catch your ride at 3AM at La Rambla, reach base camp at 5:30, hike to the starting point and reach it at 7AM. What follows is 8+ hours of jaw-dropping natural beauty, 2 rappels (one 35m high) and 27+ cliff jumps (two 12m high), making for an unforgettable day. Definitely recommended to anyone visiting Monterrey.
The Spring 2010 group went with IBO, a certified (whatever that means) tour company. They'll provide the wetsuits; bring a change of underwear and comfortable shoes that you don't mind ruining in the water and rocks.
[edit] Morelia
Nice-enough city (and another World Heritage site), clean, well-preserved, pleasant and with great food and active nightlife. Not as pretty as Guanajuato or Zacatecas, but comes alive at night, with several bars and clubs with a view of the cathedral (mind you, drinks will cost as much as in Monterrey). We didn't see the nearby butterfly reserve as it was out of season. For eating, the LP guide actually nailed it for once, we'll just point out that Onyx has a great Tarasca soup with a twist and a friendly price. Be sure to try Tarasca soup when visiting this region, it's awesome. The taco place near the aqueduct mentioned in the guide is also incredible.
We did a day trip to the friendly, pretty and lively town of Patzcuaro, about half an hour from Morelia. Once there, don't miss Isla Janitzio. On the way back, you can share a cab for the same price as the bus - ask drivers near the bus station, they'll drop you near Morelia's bus station.
For the love of God, keep wiritng these articles.
[edit] Guadalajara
[edit] Cabo San Lucas
Absolutely insane town. Great for partying and chasing drunk girls (or guys, I guess), and with some nice beaches to boot. Despite what Lonely Planet says there are affordable places to stay, in July a big, clean room for 4 cost some 150MXN per night.
Beware of the characters in the street, though, there are some very dodgy people in Cabo, and they will approach you. We managed to get a gun pointed at us after some asshole found out we had Germans in the group and decided that they should suffer for the Holocaust (seriously, he said that). He just asked "De onde eres?" and less than 15 minutes later we were being chased by him on foot plus two gun-wielding thugs in a car. In the end it was OK, no one got hurt, but damn.
Also the jello shots in Squid Roe aren't free, and the "Refill for 120" deal literally means you pay 120MXN for each refill. Haha.
Geez, that's uenblievable. Kudos and such.
[edit] Mazatlán
Awesome city. We visited in the low season, mid-July, and still loved it. We stayed at the Hotel Centro/Central/Del Centro (can't remember, it's the one on Belisario), a nice hotel with large, clean rooms and a 150MXN per person price-tag (2 people). Nature, beaches, party, cheap food and cheap booze abound here. From the LP guide, Mariscos Toño has good, cheap seafood (the Camarón dishes, like the Ranchero, are great, the tacos not so much). Sakana, near the hotel and the Machado square, has good, affordable sushi with a crative touch, including bacon-wrapped shrimp and "empanizado" and oven-baked rolls. For drinking there is an excellent hole-in-the wall place, you will find it if you walk along the Malecón from the Oxxo near the centre and keep to the right. It's on a beige building, with no sign and a Tecate poster inside (you'll have to peek inside every door). Walk along the corridor inside and there you are! 18MXN for 1.2L of Tecate is probably the best beer deal we saw in Mexico. Very friendly staff and a jukebox to boot. Party at Valentino's - when we went (Saturday night) they had a live mariachi band, but apparently they usually have karaoke! The club was bursting with punani.
[edit] Chiapas
Yeah that's what I'm tlaknig about baby--nice work!
[edit] San Blás
This small town is a must-stop for anyone wishing to learn surfing. Waves get a bit more intense (and the town much fuller) in Winter, but late Spring and Summer brings gentle but easily surfable waves that you can literally walk to. Board rentals on the beach, including longboards. The town itself has very little else to see or do. We checked out Australia and it's a fun enough place to chill out at night with a game of pool. To eat, try the taco restaurant next door to the Corcodrilo bar, very good tacos and quesadillas with a nice toppings selection and friendly service.
The hill mentioned in the LP guide is best forgotten - the view is nothing special, the buildings are empty except for a crappy snack store and there is a fucking army of mosquitoes that will harass you all the way up and down.
[edit] Zacatecas
This former silver town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and still retains much of its colonial charm. Definitely worth a visit if you like your culture spiced up with quirky nightlife. Attractions include the mine that is open for visitors, Latin America's largest zipline (800 metres) and cable cars that give you great views of the surroundings. Be sure to take a look and grab a bite at the two markets.
At night there are re-enactments of events from the colonial era and from Thursday to Saturday the town livens up when they open the nightclub inside the mine. Timing is very important when visiting Zacatecas, near or on the weekends you might be lucky enough to run into a callejoneada, large groups of people that walk around town with a band, inviting passers-by to join them and sometimes even giving away alcohol (the stuff in the 5L bottle of mezcal isn't toxic, don't worry). Sometimes they play a strange game of hockey with a flaming ball (yes, awesome), and usually end in the square near the cathedral for a nice dance. Great times can be had here, but again, timing is important if you want a really crazy night.
