small but important

Pepe - the host dude

On to another Mexican city – Queretaro. This city is famous for a lot of its Mexican history. I cant remember much of it, but I do remember that the city had something involving the independence of the country. Kind of a big deal. My host family, or should I say, Host Dude, is really cool. His name is Jose, but goes by Pepe. Pepe is an awesome and interesting individual. He speaks great English, is in his mid-forties with no kids or wife and has worked for 25 years at his outdoor advertising company. After I got picked up by Pepe, I learned that I was only a short 15 minute walk to our facility, so I walked almost every morning and evening when possible. It reminded me a lot of my time in Rome – walking around, adventuring the city streets, soaking up the sites and culture. Ahh those were those days. He lives in a very nice home, big for mexican standards, especially for one person. Pepe has all the modern amenities of America except for a dryer... but thats ok. I'm glad I caught one of the sunny days when it came to do my laundry.

Community Impact slash Drew Impact

Today was an interesting day. We had CI today and our site was called Alvida. It is a place that does food distribution in all of Queretaro. They package and distribute donated food for many families all throughout the state for poor and needy families. About 9 of us went to this site and we were split up into guys and girls. The girls stayed at the original site and sorted the dry food goods; us guys went to another site - some sort of massive food market - where we collected crates of donated, unwanted or discarded fruit or vegetables.

Anyways, much of the food we picked up from these market vendors was really, really gross. The food was beginning, if not already, rotting and had flies circling and landing on every inch of it. If we got lucky, a few vendors would give us some produce that looked fresh - perhaps because they had made their sales quota, i'm not sure. Breton and I carried the crates of this rotting, dripping, awful-smelling stuff to our dolly where we stacked them high and then rolled it to the Alvida truck. This truck was loaded to the brim with crates and other bags. The truck would then be unloaded at another site where the "edible" food was separated from the inedible and then sent out to families. We worked with a local who volunteered for the organization every tuesday and thursday. I can't remember his name but he was really nice and spoke some English - imagine a Mexican version of Mario (yes, from the video game - mustache, curly hair, hat, and all!)

This was quite the experience: we saw a full spectrum of wealth and poverty in a very small area (relatively). There were wealthy people who owned and operated their individual markets. There were the many workers unloading, sorting and selling the goods. There was those who bought them, too. But most shocking, there were those who picked up all the trashed or rotten produce directly from the street. It was an eye-opening experience.

Also - what was ironic about our CI site was that we never received a proper lunch. we each were handed a small bag with a muffin and a box of chocolate or strawberry milk. lunch was going to be provided later. well, "later" never came. so we starved at the food distribution site! hah. it's like you get locked in a grocery store and starve to death. but thank goodness, UWP bought our group some chinese food after we finished working.

when I grow up, I want to be a Luchador

then, our cast went to what we thought was going to be the theater. it turned out that this theater was the Arena Queretaro - one of the homes of LUCHO LIBRE! Think WWF wrestling - mexi-style. AWESOME SAUCE! The Luchadors, the wrestlers as they are called, fight in a boxing like ring and put on a show similar to that of WWF. It was really entertaining actually. UWP had a near private show of 3 different matches. (there's me in the bottom with the Denver shirt and mask!)

unbelievable energy

Wow. Where to start with the show day? I will just begin with how amazing the audience was. I could feel their energy and presence from over 100 feet away. It was truly amazing. I say this because our show stage was at least 50 feet from the first row. Many people sat further back to get an even better view of the distant stage. The beginning half of the show went really well, but the latter half went even better. Since we entered Mexico, we changed the show a bit: the first half is more or less the same and the second half contains a full version of "De Que Color es la Piel de Dios" and a full Mexican medley.

And of course the Mexicans go wild for those pieces. I was assigned to one of the mariachi charro parts and a Noa Noa dancer. The charro part involves putting on a full traditional suit complete with red bow-tie and giant black sombrero. The Noa Noa dance includes white jeans topped by a shiny gold shirt. Sexy-kinda. Not. These pieces are very simple to dance. Thank you God! I would not want to mess it up. Again, it’s like the show flashes before your eyes and its over. Even though we did not fill the entire 3000 seat venue, the 1300 or so people there proved to be the best and biggest audience to date. I loved it.

On our host family day off, I got to sleep in (again!), ate a nice little breakfast and my family and we jet down the street to church. The church was beautiful – it was built on a very steep hill, it was very clean, and upon entrance I traced the pure white floor tiles that split the many rows of pews to a silhouetted altar. Behind the altar was a large panoramic glass wall with an extensive view of Leon. Before we headed off to our main event, Mario and I went shopping. Leon is famous for shoes; it is considered the show capital of Mexico.

And the main event: the ‘summer’ house. We met up with my host fam’s friends who have a place outside the city. We played volleyball, swam in their little pool, barbqued-mexi-style, and then danced the night away. What made it more enjoyable was that all these friends had host other students too. The uppies included: Leslie (AZ), Emil (Sweden), Nina (Finland), and Nilo (Sweden). I think the highlight of the night was dancing with my host mom, Martha.

El Studio

Friday, Sept – 4^th

Today we went to the site of our show and began our set up on the Foro del Lago stage. This stage is really unique because it is positioned on a lake. Pretty cool. The dressing rooms are actually below the stage as well, which makes for a deceptive exit from the stage. Set up was hot, hot, hot. Lots of SOL. I worked primarily with Michael W (sound intern) today helping him place speakers, wire them, and power them. I learned a lot.

After lunch, we briefly rehearsed our show on the new stage and then were dismissed. The attention of the cast had shifted to that of our Friday night plans. Earlier in the week, a Tec student had announced that he was going to take his host brothers out to a local club in Leon. There was great disparity in the acceptance of this message between the staff and students. If only you could freeze-frame every face in the audience to see it. All my cast mates had been looking forward to this night all week. And finally, it came.

We went to a club called Studio. This place blew away what little expectations I had. From the outside, the place looked a bit drab with its metal gate fence and dirt parking lot, but once we entered, the scene changed to Hollywood glamour and European elegance. There was a multi-tiered set of private tables and bars which surrounded a raised glass dance floor that changed colors. Above that was the greatest disco ball I have ever seen in my life. It was the size of Jupiter, probably. Beyond the vibrant atmosphere, Viva la Gente was in full force that night, which made it even more fun. I’m so glad that so many of the host families were so willing to drive/pick-up or even attend the outing. !Que divertida!

Here, hold my baby while I take a photo

Tour of Leon –

The second day in Leon, our sponsor arranged a nice scenic tour of the city and some of its popular sites. We adventured around the town

using chop-top or convertible buses – buses made specifically for sight-seeing. Normally tourists weren't allowed toget off the bus and see the individual sights, but for Viva La Gente, they made an exception. There were some nice churches, parks and a very impressive convention center, The Poliforum, which is central to Leon’s local economy. The bus ride to and from the tour drop-off provided for some much needed venting and deep conversations with my friend, Leslie Kleiman (Tucson, Arizona).

Sidenote: I have a special BIG thanks to Eduardo for helping me solve the missing computer mystery (long story – but without his help, my computer may have gone ‘missing’ forever!). Muchas gracias amigo por su ayuda!

After the day finished, we went out to dinner with some other host families who hosted other students and enjoyed a stroll around more Mexican plazas. A clown act in the plaza made a public announcement that we were strangers. This gave us an opportunity to introduce ourselves and our origins, as well as promote our upcoming show.

Dance – Dance – Dance

BTS – Backing Track Show. At 7pm in the Plaza Mayor (a major Leon mall) Viva La Gente was scheduled to have a BTS on a small stage with a selected bunch of the cast. I made the bunch!

Hooray. Maybe, not… That day we had a full day of dancing. As I remember it, it was really not much fun at all, to be honest. We were run ragged from rehearsing so much. But come time for the BTS show, my lethargies were lightened when we were cheered on by 100’s ofMexican spectators with sparkling eyes. This had been the first performance in Mexico. The rumors were true: Mexicans LOVE Viva La Gente! I’m not sure where the transformation occurs, but I (and everyone else) became a rockstar. Maybe at the border there is an invisible force field that changes your appearance or abilities. Nah.

I felt like a king on stage. There were so many people watching this quick, 30 minute snipet of our show and people blew up with applause after each song. I performed in a few songs including Jai Ho – the crowd pleaser. When I finished in the crowd with theme song – Viva La Gente – people came to me to say good job, sign autographs, and take pictures. One lady even handed me her baby for a quick shot on her camera phone. Ridiculous!

Best night of sleep – EVER! Not.

On Sunday we traveled to the phoenix airport. The airline we flew was AeroMexico. It was a nice service. We landed in Hermosillo and then re-boarded for Mexico City. VIVA MEXICO! I have been waiting for this part of the tour for a long time. I am so excited. After I recovered my passport from the back seat pocket on the plane (very last second!), we made our way to the street and we’re greeted by cameras and videographers. We’re famous!

That night we bussed straight to our first city, Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. It was a proximately 7 hour drive. Talk about the best night of sleep. NOT! Too kill some time on the bus, Jason (Bermuda) and I watched “I Love You, Man.” Pretty funny. Then we stopped in the middle of the night at a bus/gas/food station. I had some food for dinner and hoped to fall into a deep food-coma on the bus. It worked.

Hey wake up everyone – We’re in LEON! And the crowd goes wild. Not really. We all sauntered of the bus like zombies looking for a place to rest.

we found a dark building, grabbed some random white things that were laying on the ground, laid in or on them, and we all passed out. We soon came to discover that the white things were seat covers! Haha the things you do when you are so sleepy! Perhaps that’s is why UWP has such a busy schedule and run us overtime….? Hmmm… the things you do… just kidding.

We woke to a bitter cold and then ventured outside to find where we really were. We had made it to the Tecnological de Monterrey Campus Leon. We ate a rather American breakfast with donuts and coffee. After we dressed in our number 2 outfits (aka business casual), we were greeted by the Leon Campus students and staff. they prepared a dance performance for us too.

Lunch started at 2pm. Why so late? I’m hungry now and its only 11am! I better bring snacks and get used to this change in meal time. While we’re enjoying our first authentic Mexican food, we were pleasantly surprised by a 7-8 man mariachi band. We sang and danced to the music with other local university students.

HOST CODE: El Mundo (The World)

I saw a lady with a map of the globe and decided to ask if she was my new host mom – it was! I met Mario y Martha Luna. Mario speaks English well but his wife, not so much. They have 2 sons, both of which are in college. The younger one, Oscar, is staying down the hall from me. He is cool and speaks great English. I am practicing my Spanish with them, and vice versa. Que fantastico! Ellos viven in una casa bonita y limpia. Tengo un quarto con una cama grande. Esta bien!

i met a seven-legged tarantula named Rosie

on arrival to Lake Havisu City, our bus drove over the original London Bridge. this bridge was brought over from London piece by piece and was rebuilt in the Havisu channel back in the 1970's. pretty interesting tourist site, but once you cross it, that's really it. it's worth the bragging rights, i guess.

my new host-family is amazing. once again. allow me to introduce the Bertrand family. there is Curt, Joslin, and their two (extremely) shy daughters, Summer and Starlie. in addition to the 4 person family are

my roomies: Kyle (South Dakota), Ronja (Germany) and Yui (Japan - show manager). Kyle and I are sharing a room at the end of the house and the Ronja and Yui are next door in the girls' playroom.

what's unique about this family is that they are used to hosting people from all over the world - BUT not from UWP. we are the first UWP students they have hosted. the Bertrands host people from the internet site, couchsurfing.com. this is a pretty interesting site because it connects travelers from around the world with home/apartment owners willing to host them. say, if i wanted to travel to san francisco, CA, i could contact people in that city and request to stay at their home for a designated period of time. there is a map in my room that has a little tag over the home town of each visitor they have hosted, most of which are from other countries!

furthermore, the Bertrands operate what many would consider a zoo, but i prefer, Creature Sanctuary. they have your standard house pets ranging from a cat, to a rabbit, to fish and turtrles. but they also love insects. there is a seven-legged tarantula named Rosie (which i held), two black widow spiders, and a newly added collection of mexican jumping beans. they are REAL! laugh you may, but this is legit! as i write this entry, there are 30 plus little brown bean-shaped pods hopping-, rolling-, skipping-, rocking-, sitting-and-waiting-to-move-, jumping- around in multiple clear petri dish containers. the sound is so weird: the noise reminds me of random bouts of hail landing on a metal roof. i can't even describe it. it is so strange. if you could see my face right now, you might understand.

henyways - the first night we arrived, we had a great dinner and went to the local store. and then my jaw dropped. we walked out of the store and saw a beautiful arizonan sunset. one that i hadn't seen since i moved from arizona. gorgeous. Curt drove us to the lake for a better view. even more jaw-dropping. and with all my luck i happened not to have my camera. great. well the next night, i managed to convince Curt to take me back to the same location to get some shots. here's what came out...

B-E-A-utiful!

Well the rest of the week was a blur. I certainly wont forget my birthday however. on the 27^th, our cast hosted a culture fair. this is essentially a massive presentation (displaying country-specific props or pictures) of all the countries in our cast to others that attended – which was about 400 elementary school kids. Come 4 oclock, the lake havisu rec center gym exploded with tiny people running and screaming around. don’t you remember those fun days when it was ok to scream at the top of your lungs and not get in trouble? now I understand why adults hate it…

In addition to the culture aspect of the culture fair, was the festival part. On the other side of the gym, we set up numerous interactive games and activities. Matt Erley, Mike Wooster, and Breton Shepherd and I erected a massive cardboard fort (named the Legacy fort for obvious reasons). There was also an inflatable obstacle course, face painting, bracelet and coloring stations, and my all-time favorite: balloon art!

i am a balloon artist. kinda. I make masterpieces of balloons. my portfolio includes swords, giraffes, dogs, and a funny-looking hat. very extensive and difficult to imitate, huh? Well, it turned out to be a huge success. There were so many kids in line, I had to recruit 3 more people plus 2 balloon blower-uppers. The kids loved it! The scene was similar to that of the one in Wedding Crashers. One cute little girl requested a designer hat. what the heck is a designer balloon hat look like anyways…?

Beyond the epic cardboard fort and being with amazing people for my bday, I celebrated with my host family and their neighbors (who had 2 other castmates.) we enjoyed good old hamburgers and hotdogs and took a dip in the pool. But to top it off, I was able to cheers to my bday at the Martini Bay (a place where the staff was staying ironically). About 10 people met up there and we enjoyed some drinks and non-UWP dancing.

We had our show two nights in a row – which went well, I guess. i say 'i guess' because the two night shows are somehow much different than one night shows. for some people, they do really well the first night, and not the second. and vice versa. i happen to enjoy the one night only shows. it forces you to give it your all. but the one great thing about the two shows is you dont have to setup and strike between the two nights!

not much later, we packed up and headed to the Phoenix airport.