Week #34 - Guaymas, Mexico

            Well this week was definitely full of new culture, new people and new experiences! I left off from my last writing with our last show in the states. It was a great show and the auditorium that we performed in was incredible!  It was maybe the most beautiful and elaborate theatre I have ever performed in and many of the staff in UWP felt the same. I got lost more than once in the gigantic facility!  After the show, the first flight group (half the cast), which included me, showered at the facility and got ready to leave for the airport. We slept at the airport for about 3 hours before checking in and going through security at 3am. Our first flight left at 5 am from Seattle to Phoenix. We made it safely and then left to Mexico around 9am. From there we had a 2-hour bus ride to Guaymas - our first stop in Mexico! It was a very long travel day and when we arrived we still had many welcoming activities that the town had prepared for us. We were the center of a parade and had a very cool ceremony where we all released white balloons into the night sky while a representative from the cast released a white dove. It was meant as a sign of peace and coming together to bring our message to Mexico and it was very powerful. Finally we met our host families and went our separate ways to get rested up for the busy week ahead.

            My host family consisted of mom and dad and 4 kids (ages 4, 7, 11 and 16) and were very sweet to welcome me into there small home. The weather in this part of Mexico right now is super hot and super humid so you are constantly sweating. I think I will lose pounds just because we sweat so much. My host family took me to all the cultural places to eat dinner and the kids and I played games at night and found lizards as well. On host family day we went to church and a typical market of Guaymas before I went to the beach and met up with a bunch of other host families and uppies. Then with the blink of an eye it was time to go. One week sure does go fast in UWP.

            In UWP this week I was super busy and the cast also had a very full week of things to do. I am the Cast Manager Intern right now and it just so happened that this week our Cast Manager had a week off to go on a family vacation so I was given a great deal of responsibilities during our transition to (and then during our first week) in Mexico. So I barely had a second to think, but I had a lot of fun standing in for Leslie all week. It really helped me see how much the cast manager really does and why she is so busy as well. On Tuesday we had some housekeeping things to do like practice for a BTS the following day, and Ed workshop and a lunch with our sponsoring rotary clubs. Then we all headed to the beach for a fun, free and relaxing time with each other soaking up the sun and vitamin D and enjoying the cool waves as we floated about in the calm water. We played volleyball, took gorgeous pictures and just had time to fall in love with the beautiful west coast of Mexico that we would be touring through for the next 6 weeks. On Wednesday we had our first BTS in Mexico and everyone had their minds blown when they realized the sort of fame we have in Mexico as “Viva la Gente”. We signed a ton of autographs and took a million pictures with the excited kids. I stayed with a small group at that same school to create a mural of a Tree of Hope. Trying to lead 200 plus kids to put handprints on the wall for the mural (and me with little Spanish speaking ability) was a very cool experience as well. That afternoon the rest of the cast arrived and we all were reunited once again. On Thursday, I had study abroad and then we had home team time, which turned into an epic water fight in the hot humid climate so it was actually wonderful! On Friday we all went to a Native American/Mexican town where we did a culture fair for the people and a very hot and sweaty BTS! That afternoon we got to know our staff a little better by doing something we call “Staff Round Tables”. On Saturday we had our first show day in Mexico and we also had the honor of being visited by Mr. Belk, the founder of UWP who spoke to us all and gave us a ton of inspiration to change the world in some way or another – hopefully positively of course J Our show went well and then we all headed home to enjoy a day with our host families!

            This first week in Mexico will be hard to top since we did so many crazy awesome things but the tour we have ahead is going to be wonderful!  I would challenge to say it will be very hot and sweaty and essentially probably smelly, but also superb!