Ta-ta, TSA

Sitting in the Mexico City airport tonight, waiting for my flight to be called, it was announced that the flight to Tapachula was leaving from Gate T, at the end of the terminal. As I soon discovered, Gate T is not actually a gate but a bus stop.

We were told to go outside and board bus 86, which would take us to our plane. We got on the bus -- no tickets needed -- and in a few minutes an airport employee ducked his head into the cabin and asked, "Tapachula?" The passengers yelled back, "Si!"

The bus soon backed out of the station and appeared to leave the airport. We drove for about 10 minutes and I thought maybe they just decided to bus us to Tapachula. It's only a 20-hour ride. But at last we came to an area with some actual planes. We deboarded the bus, walked across the tarmac and climbed into one of them.

Again, I expected some kind of ID or ticket check. Instead, they gave us mints. After we landed in Tapachula, I took this photo of the plane. When I tried to take a tighter shot, to provide a full view of the playful smile painted on the nose of the jet, a man with a gun told me not to. I thought it best to obey.