This week has been such an incredible week. We did double duty in two cities: San José del Cabo, and Cabo San Lucas. Don't ask me what a Cabo is. I have no idea, but it must be something important, since it has two cities named for it.
My roommate this time around was Phil Woods, from Denver, Colorado, and we stayed with a really cool host family that exempliflied corazón to a T. I had two identical twin host brothers, Jorge, and José Luis, who married sisters, Rosita and Jasmine, and their mother and brother, Lolita and David live with them as well, so, needless to say, we had a full house. And it was sort of difficult, because only Jorge and José-Luis spoke any English. Every night Phil and I ate like Mexican Kings, and I swear that I ate a whole orchard of mangos by the time the week was over.
This is definitely one of the most interesting weeks on the tour, by far. On regional learning day, we went to the arroyo, which is a low area of land that floods really easily when it rains. It is also home to a lot of people who reside in little more than one-room plywood shacks. It almost took my breath away to see the conditions these people were living in. Right in Cabo San Lucas. Who knew that this kind of poverty existed in the same place that many Hollywood A-listers vacation? What I kept thinking in my mind was that my host brothers work in a jewelry store where it isn't uncommon for someone to walk in and just drop $10,000 on a single piece of jewelry and across town, here are people who have no choice but to scrape by on 20 pesos a day.
And then you see the children who live there, and upon seeing their smiles, you can't help but smile yourself. Seeing them running around, and joking and laughing with each other, you really get the sense that these kids don't seem to think about it all that much. A lot of people had mixed feelings about what we were doing. Some people thought it a little strange for us to be coming in to this area in air conditioned buses, and walking around with our high-tech cell phones, and taking pictures of everything, like these people were animals at the zoo. I saw it a little differently. I think it was a good thing that we went into the arroyo because a lot of people in our group, including myself, had never seen this kind of poverty in person. And as we spent more and more time there, and started interacting with the kids, all of a sudden, everyone's socio-economic backgrounds seemed to melt away. We were human beings connecting with other human beings on a real level, and it's something I'll always remember. It made me realize not only how lucky I am to have what I have, but how much more needs to be done so that no one has to live in that situation.
Because the cast was divided up into two cities, we had two shows. Our Friday show was in San José del Cabo, and our Saturday show was in Cabo San Lucas. Both shows were a big success. And it made for a really interesting week, because we had two really late nights in a row. The best part of the shows in Cabo San Lucas was when everybody took out their cell phones during "I Can Believe" and started waiving them around. The Mexican audiences have been so enthusiastic and wonderful. In San José, there was a large group of teenage girls that screamed every time Russ, Zach, or Gijs were on stage. I felt like the Beatles for a bit, there.
On our host family day, the twins took us to a waterfall, which I thought I could get down to since they said there were only stairs to go down there. They forgot to mention the sheer rock faces that were in between the car and the stairs. So, needless to say, we ended up going to a beach, which was so cool. I have never seen waves like that before in my life. I attempted to go swimming, but just ended up getting swept up into the ginormous waves, and watching my life flash before my eyes more than once, but it was really cool!
That was my week in Los Cabos! Stay tuned for week 3 from México!
My roommate this time around was Phil Woods, from Denver, Colorado, and we stayed with a really cool host family that exempliflied corazón to a T. I had two identical twin host brothers, Jorge, and José Luis, who married sisters, Rosita and Jasmine, and their mother and brother, Lolita and David live with them as well, so, needless to say, we had a full house. And it was sort of difficult, because only Jorge and José-Luis spoke any English. Every night Phil and I ate like Mexican Kings, and I swear that I ate a whole orchard of mangos by the time the week was over.
This is definitely one of the most interesting weeks on the tour, by far. On regional learning day, we went to the arroyo, which is a low area of land that floods really easily when it rains. It is also home to a lot of people who reside in little more than one-room plywood shacks. It almost took my breath away to see the conditions these people were living in. Right in Cabo San Lucas. Who knew that this kind of poverty existed in the same place that many Hollywood A-listers vacation? What I kept thinking in my mind was that my host brothers work in a jewelry store where it isn't uncommon for someone to walk in and just drop $10,000 on a single piece of jewelry and across town, here are people who have no choice but to scrape by on 20 pesos a day.
And then you see the children who live there, and upon seeing their smiles, you can't help but smile yourself. Seeing them running around, and joking and laughing with each other, you really get the sense that these kids don't seem to think about it all that much. A lot of people had mixed feelings about what we were doing. Some people thought it a little strange for us to be coming in to this area in air conditioned buses, and walking around with our high-tech cell phones, and taking pictures of everything, like these people were animals at the zoo. I saw it a little differently. I think it was a good thing that we went into the arroyo because a lot of people in our group, including myself, had never seen this kind of poverty in person. And as we spent more and more time there, and started interacting with the kids, all of a sudden, everyone's socio-economic backgrounds seemed to melt away. We were human beings connecting with other human beings on a real level, and it's something I'll always remember. It made me realize not only how lucky I am to have what I have, but how much more needs to be done so that no one has to live in that situation.
Because the cast was divided up into two cities, we had two shows. Our Friday show was in San José del Cabo, and our Saturday show was in Cabo San Lucas. Both shows were a big success. And it made for a really interesting week, because we had two really late nights in a row. The best part of the shows in Cabo San Lucas was when everybody took out their cell phones during "I Can Believe" and started waiving them around. The Mexican audiences have been so enthusiastic and wonderful. In San José, there was a large group of teenage girls that screamed every time Russ, Zach, or Gijs were on stage. I felt like the Beatles for a bit, there.
On our host family day, the twins took us to a waterfall, which I thought I could get down to since they said there were only stairs to go down there. They forgot to mention the sheer rock faces that were in between the car and the stairs. So, needless to say, we ended up going to a beach, which was so cool. I have never seen waves like that before in my life. I attempted to go swimming, but just ended up getting swept up into the ginormous waves, and watching my life flash before my eyes more than once, but it was really cool!
That was my week in Los Cabos! Stay tuned for week 3 from México!
