Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

One of the things that has shocked me is how many unfinished buildings there are here in Monterrey. Not just ones under construction, but ones that appear to have been abandoned before completion.

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

As Mexico continues to do well through group play, there seem to be more and more sidewalk vendors hawking shirts and merch.

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

A quieter day, I went and saw a few museums in the early afternoon before some meetings with students about the last matches and overall progress.

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Guadalupe, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Today was the day I was dreading – all three of my teams were covering matches. An early afternoon one in Vancouver, and then two 7:00 p.m. matches in Mexico City and Monterrey.

It was a lot to process, but the kids did great. I made an error or two I regret, but they were caught and didn’t cause problems for the Associated Press.

After shuttling back to town, just after midnight, Mexico fans were out in force offering tequila shots from cars.

We passed.

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Guadalupe, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Estadio Monterrey is one of the most amazing structures I’ve been in and today I got to hike up to the cheap seats to see why – an open roof that dips down on the eastern end so you can see Saddle Mountain.

Stunningly cool.

We were early to the stadium so the kids had to wait. They are 12 days in to this adventure, I think it’s starting to wear on them.

Guadalupe, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Guadalupe, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Guadalupe, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Timing is critical as a photojournalist. I tell the kids to be the bad party guest – show up early and stay late. Sometimes, it doesn’t work.

Korea scheduled a news conference, we packed up a team and got to the location 30 minutes before the start. To learn they started even earlier, but only notified their national media. We got about four minutes of access from the back of a packed room.

Lessons taught and learned.

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

I’m trying to get out for a little walk each day when I can, see some places and faces. Sometimes it’s mornings, sometimes midday and sometimes evenings.

One of the challenges with the scheduling here is losing track of the days, so I built myself a calendar out of Post-It Notes.

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico

Monterrey, Nuevo Leone, Mexico