Peanuts and Mexicans

I got back yesterday afternoon from a three day trip to San Antonio for our annual Mexican manufacturer peanut tour. Mexican food manufacturers are very important buyers of Texas peanuts, so the tour is mainly a relationship maintenance venture.

Honestly, the Mexican group was 8 million times more fun than the Japanese group we had a few weeks ago. It's interesting to see how each culture and nation interacts in these international business meetings. The Japanese were all business, all the time, while the Mexicans really just like to come up here to party, reconnect with business friends, and strike a deal or two over dinner and margaritas.


This tour was also a lot more laid back than the Japanese tour. We made one trip out in the bus and were back in time to do a little shopping at the River Center Mall in downtown San Antonio before meeting for dinner at Zuni's on the River Walk.

San Antonio is one of my favorite places on earth. The downtown River Walk area is hard to beat. The weather was perfect - about 70 degrees and low humidity, which is rare down there...or at least it's never been like that when I've been down there before. It's usually hot, muggy and sweat inducing.

Our hotel was right on the River Walk and just across from the Alamo. Every time I see the Alamo, I think of two things: 1) Wow, it's hard to imagine everything that happened here, and 2) The reason it's hard to imagine what happened here is because there's a Ripley's Believe It or Not across the street from the Alamo. It's somewhat of a historical buzz killer.

So, I heel clicked in front of it.


The River Walk is so picturesque. It's nearly impossible not to enjoy yourself, especially when your co-worker buys you a light saber (yet another Star Wars reference - that's two in a row). Throw in a few successful Mexican businessmen, a couple receptions on the river's edge, good food and an atmosphere unlike any other, and you're destined for a great business relationship.

This is me and Hector. This was Hector's fifth Texas peanut tour, and I think he's wonderful. He brought us all my favorite type of peanut snack from his company: Japanese style peanuts, manufactured in Mexico with Texas peanuts. Yea for Bokados!


Here's the group in front of a giant pile of peanuts at the Wilco shelling facility in Pleasanton. That's a lot of nuts.


We made a stop to watch some peanuts being dug, which is always fun, because I like to eat me a good raw peanut every once in a while.

The Mexican manufacturers are a cool group of people. They love coming up to Texas for this tour and they like to have us down to their facilities in Monterrey, Mexico. I haven't been on that trip, but I did tell them I'd like to swim the river and come down there someday.