Oaxaca

So I was in Southern Mexico for a while. I was "unplugged" as they say. Since getting back yesterday I have not done anything except look at facebook. haha.

The Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra took a trip to Oaxaca to participate in the Oaxaca opera festival. I'm way lucky I was able to participate. There was a ton of music and that was crazy. There were lot's of singers and that was fun. I'm not sure why Lerner (our conductor) wanted to do this, but these singers don't get opportunities to sing with an orchestra. There's a lack of orchestras in Mexico. So Lerner took us to Mexico!

Airports are fun. Corporate control at its finest! haha. Georgia and I carpooled and we talked all about feminism on the way up. That was so great. I like talking about it. She majored in Women's Studies at the University of Arizona so she had a lot more to say about it than I even knew about. It really opened up my eyes. Also Georgia is so fun, we got along wonderfully.

The language barrier was a thing. Thankfully Hiedi spoke Spanish fluently, Georgia and I relied on her a lot. haha. Practice was 4 hours everyday. 6 hours on Saturday. And a performance Saturday night. We played a lot of Verdi and Puccini. Beautiful music. Some pieces I just wanted to cry they were so beautiful.

I visited a lot of Catholic Churches. They were so beautiful, I wanted to take pictures, but they were holy places and that's a little disrespectful. People were praying in them. I don't think that'd be appropriate. Hiedi and I went to the Mormon Temple too. That was great. I love the Temple so much.

I bought 2 shirts and a Dia de los Muertos style skull. Ate at restaurants every meal. Food is pretty cheap down there. I loved the trip so much!

I visited Monte Alban Ruins. That was amazing. These things were so old and so solid and so impressive. People built things to last back then.

I wasn't just a tourist. We worked with opera singers from Mexico and it was great. I became friends with a few of them. Mexicans are so friendly and so fun. I had a great time. I'm definitely going next year and taking friends!