Thursday, December 12, 2013

Beautiful Beaches Galore! Mazatlan, Mexico

This week after a hard goodbye we headed to the beautiful beach city, Mazatlan.  When we rolled in, we knew we had arrived because we were driving along a beautiful coastline.  When we got there we dropped out suitcases off at a beach-side hotel and walked down to the sand where we got to release around 200 baby sea turtles!  We had a dress code for the day of a nice white outfit, or light colored.  At first we all made jokes about why that would be, but the photos turned out beautiful on the beach at sunset in white-like colors.  My roommate for the week because of some hosting issues ended up being Cammie from Colorado! We weren't the most diverse pair, but we had a great family and I am so happy I got the chance to room with her, because we had 14 coloradoans last semester and I didn't get to live with one! Our host mom Karina is very nice and she has a son Fernando who is 16.  She drove us around the city a bit and told us about the city.  Then we went out for tacos for dinner. 

Adorable baby turtles!


the cliff jumping rock

The cast on the beach


This was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done and I was super excited about it!


Tuesday was a full internal day that was a ton of fun!   In the morning we did this thing called Cast University where cast mates led different workshops.  Hugh and I did one on self defense that turned out a lot better than we expected and everyone seemed to really like it.  I also went to one that Cammie did about color personality tests.  Turns out I'm an orange, in case you were wondering.  Then in the afternoon we had Hometeam Olympics on the beach!  There were many relays and team stuff and there was also a sand sculpture contest that we should have won with our Ursula sculpture! We ended up coming in third which still wasn't bad.  Then after we just got some free time on the beach.

Our sand sculpture

Hometeam 3!

The whole group

Wednesday was a BTS on this strange outdoor area in a park.  I got to run most of rehearsal and the didn't perform but got to watch and record it instead.  That evening we went out to dinner with Karina and Fernando and Cammie and I tried to practice our Spanish.

Thursday was our show day #1.  We were in this huge convention center and it was definitely one of our nicer venues except that they didn't turn on the AC until 1pm which was hard but the cast pushed through.  For the morning I was with the costume crew helping them find a routine for their setup.  Then I helped the stage crew set it  up more which was something new for me!  I got to sit out of all rehearsal which was really exciting! I love seeing it and being able to take notes.  During the show we lost power towards the end, but it didn't even phase the cast.  We've had so much practice with that by now.  

Friday was my first CI in a while here in Mexico! I was at the Orphanage that our sponsor owned.  We were painting and weeding but then we ran out of paint so we started sweeping.  We didn't even complain because we knew that then the girls wouldn't have to.  It was a really beautiful and well kept building that felt like a home and not an institution and it’s amazing what they are doing for those girls.  That evening we went out to dinner in the middle of this beautiful square with the sponsor and her kids because she is super close with Karina.  She was hosting Beyah so we got to spend some time with him.  The whole evening was beautiful and calm and so much like what you would expect mexico to be like!

Saturday was our second show day and it was a hard one! We were outdoors with no coverage so we decided to do rehearsal in the morning to try and dodge some of the midday heat.  But that didn't stop all of us from sweating buckets.  I was still super proud of how hard everyone worked.

Sunday was a dream.  We went on a boat of our sponsors with a few other families and all the staff over to an island where we just hung out the whole day.  It felt like such an escape and I got to talk to so many people in the cast that I don't always get the chance to.  We even got to sit and watch the sunset on the boat in the middle of the ocean.  This week there were so many times that I was in awe of the beauty of the Earth and I felt extra blessed to be where I was (even if I was sweating more than I ever had).

All the Uppies who were on the boat and the island

Hanging on the boat

The breathtaking sunset.  This photo doesn't even do it justice

Lazy day 

We were the only students of the group so of course we had to take a photo

Host family!


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