[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Oaxtepec news: Formal quote / menus



Ok, I just talked with the people at Oaxtepec - I couldn't find
Beatriz yesterday nor today, but I talked with Gregorio Rico. The
interaction was approximately:

1- About Andreas' question regarding payments (suggesting 30-30-30-10,
   with one payment after the end of the conference): 

They cannot accept payment after the conference - It's the place's
policy, and they always work like that.

2- How can we do the bank transfer from outside Mexico? A special
   bank account number or anything?

It's like a regular in-country money transfer. There will be a
relatively small charge by the banks to do the international transfer
(in my experience, ~US$50, but it might be different).

3- Andreas' other question: Can we organize food on their premises
   outside what they give us at the restaurant?

Sure. We cannot have any real food (cookies and such are OK) in the
working rooms, but in the hotel, we can do as we please.

4- Having one of the work rooms open 24 hours?

We can do it, no problem. They usually give the keys to somebody who
signs for the responsability, and charge MX$195 (US$17, EUR14) per
hour. Working hours are 8AM to 9PM - I don't think it's worth it to
pay to have it open 24h (this would increase the cost of each of the
modules [we have two modules] from MX$3032 to MX$5177 a day (a 70%
increase, that would increase the total price for this module for 14
days from MX$42448 to MX$72478 - a MX$30030 (US$2730, EUR2145). I
think we can have the work room (that will work as a hacklab) open
until 12AM, paying only three hours, which means a premium of MX$585 a
day, MX$8190 (less than US$800) in total. After midnight, people can
still hack comfortably by the swimming pool, in the hotel, or
wherever. 

5- About food: Can we incorporate our suggestions in the supplied
   menus? 

Absolutely. Of course, prices might change if we make many changes
(I'd mostly worry about vegans - we must make sure they don't have the
same meal every day!) Now, I misunderstood here: It's not an
a-la-carte offering as I originally told you. We will have one regular
and one vegetarian dish per day, as in HEL. Of course, we will sit
down with them to go over the dishes, to make sure we don't kill
anybody (i.e. making sure there is not-too-spicy food and the hot
sauce is just reachable for whoever wants to use it). We should define
quantites of each kind of menu at least one month in advance. I think
in the end we should take a menu offering for regular and vegetarians,
and work out something closer to a-la-carte for vegans. I also didn't
think of this, but anyway: I understand the restaurant will still
function as a regular restaurant, so we should allow for the
possibility of ordering a-la-carte if somebody does not like the
provided food (providing it's not more than a certain % of people) by
trading in the ticket and paying for the difference. This might get
tricky, though, for the chefs.

6- They mention an internal rules document, they mention that __I__ am
   responsible for you all not breaking it. I don't have the
   document. What am I signing?

It's a generic hotel rules sheet - they will mail it to me next week
anyway, but it says basically "thou shalt not break our property". We
can have a good time, we can sleep late or skip sleeping, there is no
problem with alcohol use in their premises, as long as we don't get
_too_ loud (i.e., if other guests complain). Note that we will have at
least a complete building for ourselves, so I doubt that even the
Merry Ubuntu Choir will bother non-debconfers.

I have to talk with Beatriz so she gives me the final green light, and
as soon as I have that, I suggest we do the bank transfer _RIGHT_ away
- There are some high-level political changes, and the Health Minister
has been replaced. Oaxtepec depends from this Ministery, so
potentially we could face changes - I doubt, but still.

Greetings!

-- 
Gunnar Wolf - gwolf@gwolf.org - (+52-55)1451-2244 / 5623-0154
PGP key 1024D/8BB527AF 2001-10-23
Fingerprint: 0C79 D2D1 2C4E 9CE4 5973  F800 D80E F35A 8BB5 27AF

Reply to: