Here I am, in one of the most gorgeous places on the planet, La Paz, Baja California Sur, where the humidity is high, the food is so much better than American Mexican food places, and the people will always treat you like family.
Speaking of family, I am living with the Castros. Yet again, my host mom, María, is the best cook imaginable. If this trend continues, I am going to see if I could get all of my past host Moms together and start up a restaurant of world cuisine. My host Dad's name is Hector, and he is the general manager of a hotel in La Paz that his brother owns. And I have two host siblings, José Daniel (17), and Ilse (11). It's great because they fight like my sister and I used to fight. Except they do it in Spanish.
The Community Impact projects that we have been doing here have been just amazing. On Tuesday, my group went to a nursing home in La Paz to paint the walls, and give it a fresh new look for the people living here. The paint never arrived, so we just ended up doing upkeep things, like washing the windows, and sweeping. The best part of that day was interacting with the residents there. One lady I had a conversation with was named Consuelo, and she had only been there for a couple of months. She expressed how greatful she was that we came in to help them out, and then she gave me a big hug. It was so great to think I could touch her life in that small way. There was a lady there that loved to sing, and another one that loved to dance with everyone. It was awesome seeing her dance with Russ, our lead guitarist.
The other CI project I was involved with was working with an Oregon-based non-profit organization called Mobilize Mankind, which brings donated American wheelchairs and other equipment and gives them to disabled children in the Southern Baja California area. They also work with the school systems down here to try to mainstream as many kids with disabilities as possible, and to help integrate them into society.
There was one girl with CP that I met with Asmartha, who, before getting in contact with Mobilizw Mankind, spent her whole life in bed. Her parents took her in to get a wheelchair, and her life changed dramatically. She started to go to school, and was eventually mainstreamed into normal Mexican school life. At the beginning, her mother went to school with her to help her with regular care things. But after awhile, Asmartha realized that she didn't need her mother's help. She tried many times to tell her mother, but her mother felt really strongly that she needed to stay by her side to help her out. So, Asmartha took matters into her own hands and asked the director of the school to help her draft a letter to her mother asking her to let her be on her own. The letter was signed by the Director, Asmartha herself, and eventually by her very reluctant mother. The school paid for another Personal Care Attendant for, her, and she's been attending a mother-free school ever since.
The most exciting night of the tour thus far was our performance last night at the Estadio in La Paz, where we had our largest turnout to date, ~1,500. Since we were outside, we had to perform on a stage that was about 5 feet high, and in order to accomodate me, they put the ramp to the equipment truck next to the stage, which was scary, because the ramp itself is on a 50˚ angle, and I get stuck at the top and the bottom, so people have to assist me onstage. So I am on mic groups the whole show, which is cool.
It's great to perform to a Mexican audience, because they know a lot of the songs that we perform, and most of them know the Viva la Gente theme song. And they especially went crazy during our Mexican medley, where we performad 7 Mexican pop songs. I greatly looknig forward to the next city when we perform a show on Friday in Cabo San Lucas, and a show on Saturday in San José del Cabo.
If I have internet access next week, I'll post again.
¡Hasta luego!
Speaking of family, I am living with the Castros. Yet again, my host mom, María, is the best cook imaginable. If this trend continues, I am going to see if I could get all of my past host Moms together and start up a restaurant of world cuisine. My host Dad's name is Hector, and he is the general manager of a hotel in La Paz that his brother owns. And I have two host siblings, José Daniel (17), and Ilse (11). It's great because they fight like my sister and I used to fight. Except they do it in Spanish.
The Community Impact projects that we have been doing here have been just amazing. On Tuesday, my group went to a nursing home in La Paz to paint the walls, and give it a fresh new look for the people living here. The paint never arrived, so we just ended up doing upkeep things, like washing the windows, and sweeping. The best part of that day was interacting with the residents there. One lady I had a conversation with was named Consuelo, and she had only been there for a couple of months. She expressed how greatful she was that we came in to help them out, and then she gave me a big hug. It was so great to think I could touch her life in that small way. There was a lady there that loved to sing, and another one that loved to dance with everyone. It was awesome seeing her dance with Russ, our lead guitarist.
The other CI project I was involved with was working with an Oregon-based non-profit organization called Mobilize Mankind, which brings donated American wheelchairs and other equipment and gives them to disabled children in the Southern Baja California area. They also work with the school systems down here to try to mainstream as many kids with disabilities as possible, and to help integrate them into society.
There was one girl with CP that I met with Asmartha, who, before getting in contact with Mobilizw Mankind, spent her whole life in bed. Her parents took her in to get a wheelchair, and her life changed dramatically. She started to go to school, and was eventually mainstreamed into normal Mexican school life. At the beginning, her mother went to school with her to help her with regular care things. But after awhile, Asmartha realized that she didn't need her mother's help. She tried many times to tell her mother, but her mother felt really strongly that she needed to stay by her side to help her out. So, Asmartha took matters into her own hands and asked the director of the school to help her draft a letter to her mother asking her to let her be on her own. The letter was signed by the Director, Asmartha herself, and eventually by her very reluctant mother. The school paid for another Personal Care Attendant for, her, and she's been attending a mother-free school ever since.
The most exciting night of the tour thus far was our performance last night at the Estadio in La Paz, where we had our largest turnout to date, ~1,500. Since we were outside, we had to perform on a stage that was about 5 feet high, and in order to accomodate me, they put the ramp to the equipment truck next to the stage, which was scary, because the ramp itself is on a 50˚ angle, and I get stuck at the top and the bottom, so people have to assist me onstage. So I am on mic groups the whole show, which is cool.
It's great to perform to a Mexican audience, because they know a lot of the songs that we perform, and most of them know the Viva la Gente theme song. And they especially went crazy during our Mexican medley, where we performad 7 Mexican pop songs. I greatly looknig forward to the next city when we perform a show on Friday in Cabo San Lucas, and a show on Saturday in San José del Cabo.
If I have internet access next week, I'll post again.
¡Hasta luego!
