YAY! I found internet! I don't have internet at home this week, again, but we came to the mall and I'm pirating internet. This is my new haircut, I really love it! These past two weeks have been unbelievably hot, temps upwards of 100 every day, and working out in the sun a lot. Its so beautiful here in Cabo, with picturesque beaches, beautiful sunsets, and lots of shopping!(Though i haven't bought anything, yet)
We had two shows here in Los Cabos, so I had two nights in a row of reeeeeaaalllly late host pick ups, aka not much sleep. Both shows went really awesome, and between them I think that we had around 3000 people see the show. We perform in baseball stadiums in most of our Mexican venues, so "backstage" is really in full view of the audience. The shows in Mexico are about 30 minutes longer than in the US, but are really fun. The audiences here love the show and get so excited when we perform.
Its been a while since I updated so I'll give you a quick breakdown of La Paz and Cabo....
La Paz...
My host dad was Julio, a hairdresser that did a wonderful job with my hair. He and his mom live together in a little house and neither spoke any english. This was really difficult because I speak no spanish, but we communicated just fine throughout the week. It was a wonderful experience. The La Paz show went a little shaky, but in the end everyone really enjoyed the show. On show day it rained throughout all of rehearsal, so the technical side of the show was hard because they can't run sound or light checks in the rain. I had a lot of fun and loved the beaches there.
Cabo...
This week was interesting, the first day was a RL(regional learning) day, and was really hard for me. We started in the morning in a shantytown in San Jose del Cabo, a place where people are struggling to live because they are so poor. After spending about two hours with the families there we went to a mango ranch about an hour and a half out of Cabo. This place had some of the best mango I've ever had!! After the ranch we drove back to Cabo San Lucas for a dinner ferry ride, an extravagant affair with an open bar and lots of tourists. I really would have loved the boat if I hadn't been so preoccupied with the idea of those families we had met that morning. Here we were, on this fabulous boat, with more food than we could ever eat, and across town there are people who won't even get dinner. The worst part of this was that we saw the awful living conditions of these people, and weren't given a chance to help them at all, only a few hours to talk with them, and I couldn't even do that because I don't speak Spanish. This was one of the hardest days that I’ve had in UWP, because I felt so helpless to do anything. The entire day had been planned for us, and I had no way to change any part of it. Looking back, this day gave me an important new perspective that I didn’t have before, an awareness of those so much less fortunate than myself that I think will help me as I continue this journey.
Wednesday I had CI, I went to Casa Hogar, an orphanage here in Cabo San Lucas that has about twenty boys living there. At the orphanage we cleaned the walls, scrubbing years of dirt from the white paint. Our team finished early, so we had a chance to play with the boys when they got home from school. I played soccer for the first time in years, and had a blast. Even though we couldn’t speak the same language, a game helped to bring us together, to create a bond that lets them know that others do care for them, and want them to be happy. I had a amazing experience there, and hope that what I did will make things a little better for those boys.
Thursday I had promotions, blech, I hate doing this because it consists of handing out flyers to people for five hours straight. I know how much I hate getting flyers outside of stores, so I hate having to give them out. I am really glad I got to do this in Mexico though, because the people here are actually interested in what you’re giving out, unlike Americans who generally ignore you...
Friday was our first show day and I had explorations in the morning. This means that I was dropped off with a group in a little marketplace, and set loose to explore, or shop, or eat, or whatever. I shopped, and bought a new dress that is in the Mexican style, its green and has some flowers embroidered by hand around the waist. Its really pretty, and I was very happy to find it.
This was my week here in Cabo, I'll try to be better about updating this, but its hard to do that without any internet...
Love you all!!!
