Regardless of whether Veruca would have even used a Great Glass Elevator had she been given one, she was still panicking over being this high up in what amounted to being a glass box. So, as a gesture of good will, Charlie told Veruca that he would begin to decent the elevator sooner than he would have, and while they were still far from land, just seeing the device begin to descent from the heavens helped lower Veruca's anxiety just enough to get her to comport herself. After about half an hour, the nightmare journey on the Great Glass Elevator came to an end, both Charlie and Veruca spotted the North American continent in the distance and as time passed, they got closer to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and thus closer to their destination. After trekking across the sea, the two reached the town of Ojoshal in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco, the home of Wonka and Charlie's business partner, Arturo Villareal, and the home state of Charlie's restauranteur friend, Doña Rosita. Off to the side of the remote town lied many large fields with agricultural workers tending to the crops and beyond that a large, red-roofed white compound, the Villareal family's home, La Hacienda Villareal.
The front yard of the hacienda had been cleared for Charlie's arrival and as the Great Glass Elevator began its decent on the makeshift helipad, the servants rushed inside the home to alert Mr. Villareal of his guest's arrival. Charlie and Veruca had left London sometime around 5 PM and because of the time change they were now in a place where the time was somewhere after 11:30 AM. The one upside of plane travel was that it allotted enough time for the travelers to rest so that they could have some energy when they landed, but near-instant arrivals via the Great Glass Elevator left the travelers naturally unprepared for the change in time. They would have to resort to means used by people trying to make up for lost sleep if they wanted to stay up until the other's went to sleep, hence why Charlie brought Veruca a cup of coffee before departing for Mexico. The coffee would not keep them energized for that long, but the point was to give the two enough energy to make it through the inspection of the new cocoa beans and the dinner the Villareal family planned for their guests later in the evening.
Two people were standing on the edge of the yard by the time the elevator's doors opened and the two former Golden Ticket winners stepped out, Veruca being the most exited as she was finally back on solid ground. Charlie instead approached the host waiting for him, stuck his hand out to shake it, and asked, looking for clarification on the local time, "Buenos dias, Arturo. ¿Si son 'dias,' no?"
(Good morning, Arturo. It's still 'morning,' right?)
The host, a man with tanned skin and narrow eyes, reciprocated Charlie's gesture by shaking his hand and responded in a serious, means-business like tone, "Correcto, todavia no dan las doce de la tarde. Bienvenidos, Señor Bucket…"
(Correct, it hasn't struck twelve in the afternoon yet. Welcome, Señor Bucket…)
"...how have you been?" The host, Mr. Arturo Villareal, a cocoa bean plantation owner, cheerfully asked in English, breaking his serious character, and pulling Charlie in closer for a pat on the back.
Just like his mentor, Charlie had a mini-freakout when Villareal got physical with him, but unlike Wonka, he was able to not react outlandishly and pushed through as if nothing had happened, and replied, "I've been doing really well, how about you?"
"Oh, you know, the cocoa business is really cutthroat. That, and you and Wonka do not actually buy beans from me," Mr. Villareal snapped back, only half-joking as he sniped back at one of his biggest client's business practices.
While it made sense for an operation as large as Wonka's to function in such a way, Charlie knew he had to defend Wonka's paranoia when it came to being too reliant on the outside world if he wanted to continue standing in his good graces, and so he reminded his business partner, "You know our policy, we grow our own beans but we pay bean prices for the seeds."
Mr. Villareal had gotten to know many of the other competitors in the Cocoa Bean business and he learned that Charlie was in fact telling the truth, Wonka never bought the bean, he only bought the seeds and grew the beans himself, thus limiting his business' reliance on the outside world to keep operating. Nevertheless, he still needed the business, so he decided to push away the critique of his customer's business practices, and then asked, " I know, I know, so, change of topic. Tell me, how's Rosita doing? Is her business successful?"
"She's doing just fine, and from what I can tell, the restaurant is doing fine, as well."
"Good, good, she was a good chef when she worked here. Now, the world can get to know her delicious cooking!"
Charlie very much agreed with Mr. Villareal on that statement, they all did, especially Arturo's wife, Mrs. Emelina Villareal, a slender brunet who was less tanned than her husband, but also in her fifties. When Doña Rosita informed the Villareal family, whom she had worked for for years as their cook, that she would be moving to London after Charlie offered to help her immigrate and open a restaurant, they were all devastated to have her leave, but they understood she had to do what was best for her family. Nevertheless, the Villareal family had gotten to know Charlie over the years, and they knew Doña Rosita was in good hands. They liked him and they were always glad to host him, as demonstrated when Mrs. Villareal greeted him, saying, "Hello, Charlie, it's an honor to have you back."
"Thank you, Emelina," Charlie replied, extending his thanks to his host's wife.
The three of them then stood in awkward silence for a bit after that, and eventually the Villareal's attention turned over to the woman who had accompanied their client on this trip, leading Mrs. Villareal to ask Charlie, "Are you going to introduce us to your guest?"
It was that question that made Charlie's face light up, with a smile on his face he walked behind his guest and pushed her towards the host family, where he proclaimed, "Oh, yes, of course. Arturo, Emelina, I'd like to introduce you to Veruca. She's...a friend I've invited to accompany me during my stay here."
Mr. Villareal stuck his hand out to greet the little brute with a handshake, and declared, "It's a pleasure, Señorita Veruca. Welcome to La Hacienda Villareal."
"Likewise. This is a rustic country home you have; I am under the impression that your family has lived on this land for many decades, correct?" Veruca responded, pointing at the white brick walls with the occasional red brick archway denoting an entryway of some sort to make her point.
Mr. Villareal took a glance at his family's home, taking in the aged architecture that his business partner's guest referenced to determine how long his roots were tied to the land they found themselves on, and then confirmed what that guest assumed, saying, "Yes, it's over two hundred years old, we've grown a variety of crops here over the centuries. Cacao is just my family's most recent venture."
That particular wording caught the attention of Charlie, it reminded him of the entire reason he came all the way to Mexico in the first place, and even though they had just arrived, he jumped straight into business, and asked, "Speaking of your most recent venture, tell me, where is this new strain of cocoa bean you want to show me?"
Some customers, like Charlie, just wanted to jump headfirst into the business deal, and Mr. Villareal was there with him in just wanting to make a sale, countering, "Why don't I take you and your friend out to the fields and show you. Get on the back of my truck and we can head over there right now."
"Sure, lead the way. Come on, Veruca," the heir replied as he later gestured his plus one to follow him into this strange new world.
As a wealthy man, Mr. Villareal was always able to afford a new vehicle every year, and as a man who made his money from working the land, only a pick-up truck would do, and in this case a brand new 2019 Ford F-350 was his current mode of transportation. The plantation owner had done some work on his truck and installed a rack on the bed for both carrying equipment and, when potential buyers who would not mind a show came, securing a guest from falling off while standing on the bed during a drive. Charlie hopped onto the bed of the truck and then turned back to pull Veruca up and help her get onto the back of the truck so that the two could live out some kind of drive down Tiananmen Square like a Chinese dictator fantasy as their host drove the truck away from his home and into the fields of cocoa trees. It was not long before the truck got off the paved driveway and road and drove onto a dirt road that also served as a divider between the different sections of farmland and the ride became rather dangerous, but that was why the rack was installed, to the passengers riding on the bed wouldn't fall off during the rickety drive.