Collaboration Meeting in San Luis Potosi

Collaboration Meeting in San Luis Potosi, Mexico (Feb 21-23, 1999)

There will be a collaboration meeting in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on February 21, 22, and 23, 1999. On this page we will post information concerning this meeting.

List of Participants (last update Feb.15)

Meeting Agenda (last update Jan.25)

Mail sent on January 7

Mail sent on February 15

The meeting in the press (last update September 24)

General Information

If you plan to attend the meeting, please let us know by email. Please tell us your travel plans (and also notify us if something changed) so we can organize your stay. Also tell us if your spouse plans to accompany you.

Money

The currency in Mexico is the "Peso". At this moment, the exchange rate is about ten Pesos for one US-Dollar. All prices mentioned here are in Pesos. You can change money at banks and at currency exchanges everywhere, including San Luis. Traveller checks are accepted as well. You can pay in better restaurants and hotels with your credit card. There are a lot of ATM machines everywhere, they accept the cash cards from all over the world.

Travel Information

All major airlines serve Mexico City. Several smaller airlines offer commuter service several times a day from Mexico City to San Luis Potosi. If you book your ticket, make sure to select a local carrier which has a cooporation agreement with your airline. This will significantly reduce the price. In any case, a return ticket from Mexico City to San Luis Potosi is at most about 100 US-Dollar. If you would have a layover of more than a couple of hours, you should consider using the bus (see below).

San Luis has also its own international airport. There are direct flights two times a week from/to Chicago O'Hare with Mexicana. The flight from San Luis to Chicago is a night flight! There is also sometimes a flight to/from San Antonio, Texas.

Instead of flying to Mexico City, you can also fly to some other close cities. Mexicana, Continental, and American Airlines offer flights from Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas/Fort Worth (list probably not complete) to Leon, Guadalajara, Durango. From there you can take a commuter flight or a bus. If several people will arrive with the same flight, we will organize a transport.

For the more adventures persons, after flying into Mexico City (or some other city), it is very nice to take a bus to San Luis. The busses are very comfortable, with seats close to first class airplane. Only take the most expensive busses (companies "ETN" and "Primera Plus") since the others tent to be very slow and not as comfortable. There are about 18 connection per day by "ETN" from/to Mexico City, and it takes about 5 hours. When you arrive at the Airport in Mexico City, take either the Metro (direct line, but only when you do not have a big suitcase, they are not allowed in the Metro), or a Taxi to "Terminal del Norte" (there are 4 big bus terminals in Mexico City, only the one in the north has busses to San Luis). Before leaving the terminal, you have to buy a ticket for your taxi (costs $66 for up to 3 persons, counter located to your immediate left after leaving the costums area). When you enter the bus terminal, go to the far right, where you will find the counters for "ETN" and "Primera Plus". The price with "ETN" is $210 one way. If you plan to arrive in another city, please contact us for more info.

It is also possible to rent a car at any airport. Advanced reservation is necessary at any place other than Mexico City. We advice you NOT to drive a car within the metropolitan area of Mexico City. Outside Mexico City you have to be carefull too.

Custom and Visa

Following nationals do NOT need a visa to enter Mexico: Andorra, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Bermudas, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechteinstein, Louxembourg, Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Singapur, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela. All other need a visa. If you are in dought, you should call a Mexican Consulate or Embassy near the place where you live. You can check for yourself at the Mexican Embassy in Washington. Most people have just to fill out a tourist visa form, which they will obtain either just before boarding a plane to Mexico, or during the flight. If you need some kind of invitation to obtain a visa, please let us know.

For people who are concerned if they will get back into the US, here is link to the US Embassy in Mexico City.

You also have to fill out a custom declaration. After retrieving all your luggage, you will be asked to press a button on a light. When you get "green", you can pass; when you get red, your luggage will be checked.

Hotel Information

There is a large number of Hotels in San Luis, from luxury to very cheap. Here a list with prices. We got offers from 4 hotels for 15 rooms (20 people, some sharing a room). Antonio and Jurgen also visited these hotels and had a look at the rooms. We recommend that you will stay in the Real Plaza. The prices are per room. There are rooms with large beds (to accomodate couples) and rooms with two seperate beds.

	Single	Double	Triple
Real Plaza	$310.25	$335.75	-
Maria Cristina	$255	$295	$335
Panorama	$310	$310	-
Napoles	$221	$244	$276

We have 15 rooms reserved in Real Plaza. As early has we receive the travel plans from enough people, we will make reservations. The phone number there is (52)(48) 146055 or 146969, Fax (52)(48) 146639.

If you have any questions or problems, send a mail to Jurgen or Antonio.

last change Mon Jan 25 10:47:26 CST 1999 by

Jurgen Engelfried (jurgen@fnal.gov)