YOA Tour 2010 Commences Ahora

I left Chicago yesterday to join the Youth Orchestra of the Americas on their 2010 Latin American tour. The first stop: Bogotá, Colombia. Today we will all pile in a bus to go to our residency site in Villavicencio, which is about three hours away in the mountains of Colombia.
YOA will spend the next ten days rehearsing there and playing chamber music. Then we will start to travel around Colombia (you can see the dates on my calendar) mentoring members of the new national youth orchestra system that Colombia is implementing. After that, we will continue to play concerts in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. I won't be home until August 17th!
This is definitely the longest tour I've ever been on. I am still dealing with some remnants of a viral infection and I'm concerned about being sick the whole time, so lots of sleep is imperative. We have to pace ourselves and not burn out too early. But really, this orchestra is known for it's hyperactive energy. Playing with the YOA is an electric experience.
Last night, we experienced Colombian customs and immigration. Let's just say it's not too sophisticated and that rules are not applied to everyone in the same way. I was detained, along with a violist and a bassoonist, for not having an address for our hotel on our customs form. It was kind of scary, but in the end one of the officers took me outside to find our contact. I couldn't see him in the huge crowd, but I did see some other people with instruments. They had been allowed through without providing an address (no one knew it!). After about an hour of sitting there while they had confiscated our passports, we were freed and allowed to go outside. The violist, Javier from Chile, taught me a lot about being patient and not arguing your case too much. It seems like they really just make up the rules on the spot and all you can do is be nice and go with it.
I'm really excited to hear the orchestra, to see old friends, and to travel more of the country. More soon...