Good for you, Forsythian. Any time you can pull off a trip like that and call it "work" - go for it.

Under "little-known facts and who cares" - I think it's kinda fun how the Messicans learned to brew beer.

Several years prior to WWI, around 1914 or so, the Messicans were secret buddies with the Germans. The war was just starting and the Krauts figured the U.S. would get into it, so they made some plans in advance. A note called the Zimmerman Letter was finally intercepted and made public, in which Kaiser Wilhelm promised Mexico the southwestern states back in return for invading the U.S. when war came. They kinda backed off on that deal after the note got published.

Anyway, in those years Germany built up Mexico's factories including designing and building a bunch of breweries. German brewmasters came over to teach the Messicans to run 'em, so they learned to brew beer German style. Those recipes and brewing methods still linger in beers like Dos Equis Amber, Pacifico, Bohemia, and others. Interesting, I think.