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If you guys checked out the previous post, then you know that we had a very long last day in Quito! We had a concert, a workshop and two planes to catch to get us to La Paz Bolivia. This is the place that I was most nervous about because of all of the “horror” stories I’ve heard concerning altitude sickness. You know, it’s funny that whenever you speak about something you haven’t experienced before, most people feel obligated to tell you the worst case scenario first. I guess it just goes to show how people gravitate towards negative before they do positive. I’m going to try and be more conscious of how I speak from now on. Maybe it’ll catch on!

We arrived at the airport a little after midnight and were greeted by law enforcement officials in riot gear. Everyone wondered what was going on, but it turns out that the transportation industry was on the eve of a 24 hour strike for better working conditions and service. The law enforcement had been sent to protect the city in case the people retaliated. It turned out that this act of solidarity crippled most of the immediate surrounding areas of our hotel, but not the city center where our hotel was located. Our one and only workshop was canceled because of safety concerns and because the students would have no way to get to the school. I was very saddened because the workshops are were we get to interact most with the people of the country, but I am understanding of the situation.

Here are some pictures of the city center from my hotel room:

This “day off” in the hotel was much needed because we all were still trying to adjust to the altitude. Small tasks like taking a few stairs or walking down the street take your breath away. Even at nights it’s hard to sleep because you keep waking up with the feeling that you can’t breathe. The thin air also causes food to take more time to digest and it causes your body to dehydrate really easily. We had to eat light meals and drink water very frequently. Another interesting thing is that we felt trembles from the earthquake in Chile. That was my first time experiencing something like that so it was a weird feeling for me.

The next day we did a television interview and had a show at a club called Equinoccio. Everything turned out really well. We were out of breath every 10 -15 minutes or so, but we did our whole show non-stop. Some people from the Embassy told us that they were amazed that we could do so! We had no use for those oxygen tanks! There were media representatives from 6 or 7 local stations and they all stayed and videoed until the end!

The pre-show, post sound check mental preparation:

Warm ups:

Marc’s working on his breathing technique!

Special thanks to the United States Ambassador Phillip Goldberg for stopping by to support us: