First week in Mexico! Travel day way crazy. We left our show facility Sunday night straight to the airport where we slept/hung out on the floor from 12-3. Michael and I watched more Game of Thrones instead of sleeping like everyone else. Then it was time to start checking in. Checking in half of the cast was such a hassle and took an unusually long amount of time. The first plane ride most of us knocked out before we even left the ground at 5:15am. We laid over in Phoenix for an hour or so where the temperature was already drastically different. My flight buddies for the first were Miles and Cammie, both from CO and then for the second flight we sat on a super tiny plane where we filled up the whole plane, plus one random guy. When we stepped off the plane in Mexico, it was obvious that we were no longer in Washington! It was about 95 degrees out and sunny. We arrived to our location and were immediately taken to a new one where there was a beautiful Viva la Gente float that was meant for us for a parade we would be a part of. So many of us hit our walls smack in the face that walking in a parade did not sound appealing, but once we saw our little guests that were kids dressed in international costumes from around the world we already began to perk up. Half of us were on the float with the kids and the others were walking ahead waving flags. I was in the walking group which turned out to be a ton of fun and my cheeks hurt from smiling so big! We ended on a pier where the mayor of the town and his wife had each of us introduce ourselves in Spanish and then gave each of us a white balloon (that I took and handled quite well!) and handed over a real dove to Kanami (Japan) as a symbol of something and we all released our (biodegradable) balloons. Then we met our host families. I am living with Veronika from Sweden who is our Business Manager. Our host mom speaks zero to little English, but Veronika speaks Spanish fluently and I speak a little so that’s all we spoke for the week. We went home to a giant house that could over look the sea. Yes, we get to see the ocean! I am so excited about that! I get the feeling that this is going to be a great first week.
hangin out in the airport
Our itty bitty last plane!
Our amazing float for the parade!
Just a few of the adorable kids! (guess where this is from)
Traditional dance costume of a tribe here in Northern Mexico
Tuesday was a fantastic day that didn’t even feel like a “work” day! The morning we got dropped off at cute kids park but it was more than a park. We luckily had the day in an AC room where we rehearsed for the BTS tomorrow and then after we went to the beach! Well first for lunch we went to the local Rotary Club house where the Rotarians made us lunch and let us use their pool. So many of them were American and when we would ask them why they chose to come down here, all they said was to look around and they were right. The area we were in was breathtaking. Then after a great lunch, we departed to the beach! It was overwhelming and beautiful and everyone was in such a relaxed happy state of mind that it made it even better. I spent most of my time in the water because it was warm like a shower, but there was also a staff v. student volleyball game going on. That evening our host mom Pati made a fantastic meal, but it was very light which was nice. That was one big thing I remembered I didn’t like in Mexico was how rich the foods could be.
We had so much fun!
The whole half of the cast!
Just taking some more fun photos :)
My awesome "Mushu" Josiah (OH)
We were pretty sure we discovered paradise. Only people on the beach :)
Wednesday was a not so easy day. The BTS was crazy because we didn’t get to practice on the stage and literally got there already dressed, preset our costumes and hopped on stage. There were probably three or four hundred kids there and their screams were crazy. I could see right away that the first semesters were taken aback by it but it was so fun to see them soaking it all up at the same time. After we signed autographs and took many photos for probably 30 minutes. It will probably never cease to amaze me that people want my autograph, but I can now understand that we might be the most culture or most famous people these kids ever meet. After we changed into working clothes and went to a rehab center for drug abuse. It was a serious eye opener and pretty shocking. The grounds were in the middle of nowhere in the desert and the facilities were sad and very run down but it had such a great reason for being there. There had been some students there all day interacting and those of us who came later got the great job of digging a 10 foot hole for their new septic tank. We were surrounded by run off sewage and garbage and dogs. The girls of our group had to transfer, I kid you not, millions of small seashells to the whole. They apparently clean the waste that’s dumped onto them in the whole so that by the time it reaches the ocean it’s clean. It was the hardest work I’ve ever done in UWP. There were some girls who had volunteered their time to work with us and I spent a significant time with both of them working alongside with them. Catch was they didn’t speak English so I was stretching my Spanish skills to a far as I could. The second half of the cast got here today which was exciting and it felt good to be whole again. That night I definitely went to bed exhausted!
Saturday was interesting. As our first Mexican show, we added a new medley as well as emcee and the theme song Up with People became Viva la Gente for the next 6 weeks. It was also my first full show day as an intern so me and Emelie (Swed) the vocal intern and Erin S the dance intern got to learn how show days work which are crazy! But a good crazy. We even sold out our first Mexican show which was awesome!
Sunday we went to our beach house with our Pati, our host dad Eduardo and sister Pati. We spent pretty much the whole day just relaxing on the beach with another family that was hosting Paul (SD) and Thomas(Netherlands). Then we all went out to dinner. Luckily the 2 boys spoke Spanish! I’m excited to see what the rest of the Mexican tour brings, along with my internship that is quickly picking up speed!
Paul, host sister Pati, Veronika and Thomas
Host family
Host family at a lookout point
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