Jan
30
Extremely Wonderful & Horrible
Filed Under Mexico 2004
We arrived in Acapulco about an hour before the sun set. This was probably the most excited we’d been since leaving for the airport two weeks ago. Our hotel Costa Club is shaped like a vertebrae and has 29 floors. My quad is housed on the 22nd and our balcony looks SW. What a beautiful view! That evening, I went exploring our awesome pool and took a short walk on the beach with Malie, my hot date.
The next day, everyone was on the beach, soaking up the sun. The ocean is nice and warm, but the tide can be *very* strong! I got pulled under as one wave was coming in and another was coming out. Scary. I now have lovely, and painful, sand scratch from being dragged up the beach by the wave, as many other bandies do. Of course, we are dealing with sand-stuffed swimming suits and salty water since this is the Pacific Ocean.
The pool is a nice way to relax in clean, calm water after a couple of rough hours on the beach. The other day, a bunch of us were exposed to the wonderful game of tequila volleyball. While we were playing pool volleyball, the bartender came over with a fruit mix of tequila; everytime someone made a bad hit or missed, the guy would shout “tequila!” and swim over to pour the mixture into the ‘unfortuate’ person’s mouth. Only in Mexico…
We have found out that being on the beach of Acapulco is a great way to shop. Countless vendors of sunglasses, hats, and other trinkets comb the beaches for shoppers with weak souls. Also, many ladies advertise their braiding skills with little picture booklets of how they can braid one’s hair. About half of the bandie women spent an hour getting corn rolls. Kaicy McLeod, who has probably the longest hair, spent 3 hrs in a chair! Alas, I chose not to get my hair done.
Yesterday, Thurs the 29th, was our last concert. Mahr took the officers out for lunch and we worked on the Band Awards. At 3:30pm, we loaded the buses and drove across town to Fort San Diego to set up for a 7pm concert. The weather was very hot (I think I heard a high of 98F), so it was exhausting for the truck crew. I gave my devotional before we took the outdoor stage located in the middle of the fort. During the concert, though, bandies started dropping like flies, leaving between songs to go puke in the bathrooms. If I can remember, by the end of the concert, we had lost: 2 clarinets, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 of 5 bass clarinets, 2 trumpets, 1 percussion. Later that evening, a bunch more became sick. Before I go into that though, the concert went well. The crowd wasn’t too enthusiastic, but I enjoyed the accoustics. I felt that the big bass drum hits were like cannons firing from the fort. 
)
AND, afterwards, a couple came up and asked who in the clarinets is from Larned, KS. ME! For those of you who don’t know, I come from a town of 4800 in the middle of the state, anyone knowing where Larned is is a miracle.
The sickness:
It is hyphothesised that about 5 people, who had all eaten the chicken mcnuggets from McDonalds were sick from that. They threw up and felt better. The rest, perhaps 25 total, are thought to have suffered from heat stroke and exhaustion. Some had pale faces, Anne Murphy had to be carried halfway back to the bus, Kaicy went on a search for anyone with plastic bags,
in case some didn’t survive the bus ride back the hotel, others were really weak. The sick people were dropped off around 10pm, while the rest of us went to the other side of town for a fancy farewell dinner. We’re all a bit disappointed that tour ended on a downfall, but I don’t think anyone could have foreseen this scenario. We ate at a very fancy place with floor-to-ceiling windows looking over the lit bay. Caesar salad (mmm, salad! finally!), seabass with mussels, and tiramisu were on our menu. It was around 11pm when we ate, and by then people were a bit exhausted. A few more people broke down and we’re too hungry.
Back at the hotel, around 12:30am, I got straight into bed to get a good night’s sleep. Then my phone rang around 1:15am and was summoned to Lindsey Austin’s room.
My deviation:
I and 5 other bandies have planned to visit and volunteer at an orphanage in Oaxaca. Yesterday morning, we went to the bus station to buy tickets for the ride there. Upon finding out that no direct trips to Oaxaca exist, we bought tickets for a 5-hr trip to Mexico City where we will have to then take a taxi to another terminal and buy another ticket for the 5.5-hr ride to Oaxaca. Although this seems complicated, it is actually a shorter trip through Mexico City rather than taking very windy roads to Oaxaca. Lindsey and 2 others had planned to go this morning (Friday), and I and 2 others bought tickets for Sunday. Last night, though, Sarah DeMoss (who had planned to bus today) fell ill. It was decided, in our late-night meeting, that we would all just take the Sunday bus and hope that Sarah would be better by then. This morning though, Lindsey was sick too. She was really torn up, because out of the 6 of us, she has been very excited for this deviation.
Two-thirds of the band left for the airport at noon today, so Lindsey dragged her tired body along in order to check out her flight options back to the U.S. on Sunday. I am hoping that with a day-and-a-half of rest, both Lindsey and Sarah will recover, and all of us will get to Oaxaca together. One of the girls, though, is deciding to fly home anyway, if the price is right.
I came down to see the band off today. A few people were still having to walk very slowly, and poor Shelly Wipf was not looking good at all. Hopefully, when they are all on plane, everyone will be able to just rest. Dr. Mahr and his family went with this first batch, while Rich and Sylvia are staying until the Sunday group flies. It was really sad to see people tired and lacking enthusiasm, and I was just depressed to say goodbye everyone. I felt like I wasn’t going to see these people for a long time, when in fact school starts up in just over a week. It hit me that my senior and final tour has come to a close, but I consoled myself by looking back through the 500 digital photos I’ve captured.
Obviously, since I am here typing away I am puke-free. Thank goodness. In fact, my whole hotel quad is healthy. I am looking forward to the next couple of relaxing, snow-free days in Acapulco. The trip to Oaxaca will be an adventure, and I’ve always wanted to give myself a shot at traveling in foreign country with me as my own leader.
Hope everyone in Minnesota is staying warm. We’ve heard about the 20-30 below windchill. Brrrr! You’ll hear from me again, probably when (cross fingers) I’m in Oaxaca.
Take care,
el gato