Cali and Bogotá (Days 22-25)

I’m sorry I haven’t updated this blog in so long, but the tour is starting to get the point where everyone is tired all the time. Sorry! Here is the update for the rest of our time in Colombia. Look for an entry on Ecuador and Perú coming up soon!

Cali was the city we visited after Barranquilla. Cali is the salsa capital of Colombia, which means we had a fun-filled time there. The first night we were going to go out, but we were all too tired from a long day of traveling so we ended up staying in and playing a wonderfully fun card game called Burro until 5 AM. One of my friends in the YOA horn section is from Cali, and studies at the conservatory there, so at our concert the next day, I had the privilege of meeting his horn professors. I also met his younger brother, who is also an accomplished horn player. Later that night we went out on the town for a night of dancing. I was on the first flight to Bogotá the next day, so I stayed up all night that night. I’m becoming an expert at salsa and meringue! One of the things I will miss most about Latin America is the lack of good dancing music in the United States.

Upon arrival in Bogotá, I had a free afternoon and evening. Many of my best friends from the tour live in Bogotá, but most were on the second flight. First we went to the apartment of one of my friends, and also looked around the music school she attends. Afterwards, we went to the old town area of Bogotá, where we saw the “White House” of Colombia and went to the Botero museum. Botero is a very famous Colombian artist. You would probably know him from his paintings of fat people. The next day we had two concerts. The first was sold out two weeks before so they added another, which was also sold out by the time the concert started. It was really exciting, because two of my friends from the World Orchestra tour of China who live in Bogotá came to the concerts. It was fantastic to get to see them again, even though we weren’t able to hang out much. Also, the energy at these concerts was fantastic. Because so many people were from there, everyone really wanted to play their best. Also, during the encores, I danced for the first time ever to thank all the Colombians who taught me to dance during the tour. Afterwards we went to a friend’s apartment where once again we danced the whole night until once again I had a flight with no sleep at 5am. I was so sad to leave. I know I made friends in Colombia to last a lifetime. I hope I’ll be able to go back to visit sometime very soon.

In general, I was so glad to have spent so much time in Colombia this summer. I really loved the country and by the end of the tour I actually felt partially Colombian. I learned how to play a few folk songs and I learned a ton of Colombian slang. It was a different type of love than that I felt for Brazil. In Brazil, I felt really comfortable and happy in a vacation sort of way. I did have a great time there. But in Colombia, I really felt like I belonged there. It’s a different sort of feeling. I hope I can go back to Colombia one day and live there for at least a few months or something.

So that's what I was up to in my final days in Colombia. Below are some photos from the end of this part of the tour. I'll write soon about what's been going on since then!

The double horn section after our last concert together.

With my Colombian friends on the last night of the Colombia tour.

Medellín, Cartagena, and Barranquilla (Days 16-21)

We arrived in Medellin late in the day, but I had to go directly to coach the youth orchestra. I was a little nervous about it because of the language barrier. I was concerned that they wouldn’t speak any English and that I would have a lot of communication barriers. Fortunately, it didn’t turn out that way at all. We arrived and listened to the orchestra rehearse for a few minutes, and then we had to play with them a bit. That would have been fine but none of us had played in about two or three days, and let’s just say that the last movement of Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony is not the world’s best warm-up. After that we had about an hour to work with the students in individual groups for each instrument. I worked with my two horn players on how to play together, and how to practice your music for orchestra rehearsal effectively. The language barrier actually wasn’t a problem at all. There was only one word (glue) that I had to ask a translation for.

The following day we had rehearsals all day because it was the first time during the tour where we had a space available for a rehearsal and not just a sound check. Our evening concert was once again outdoors, but it was pouring rain so we didn’t know if we’d actually be playing it until literally five minutes before we started. It turned out ok, though. It only really started raining after the concert.

The next day we left at 5:30 AM for our flight to Cartagena. We got to the airport for our 8 am flight, but the airline hadn’t accounted for the amount of carry-on luggage (with an entire orchestra, you get a lot of carry-on bags), so our flight was kind of delayed. This flight was taking place on July 19, the day before Colombia’s bicentennial, so there was an air show taking place in Bogotá between 10-12 that morning. Our flight had a stopover in Bogotá, and our flight was just delayed enough to make them have to cancel it until after the air show in Bogotá. So we waited in the airport for about an hour until the orchestra and airline decided to just change the flight to go directly to Cartagena. So even though it was awful to have to sit in the airport in Medellín for so long, it was really nice to have a direct flight and have plenty of time to do stuff in Cartagena!

Cartagena is kind of the party capital of Colombia; it’s where all the Colombians go on vacation to go to the beach, maybe like the Colombian equivalent of Miami or something. The first day, we did some shopping and then went to the beach. The beach was really nice, but not comparable to the one I went to in Brazil. The water was super warm and pretty calm, but there was some trash on the beach, and since it’s such a tourist destination there were people pestering us constantly to buy stuff. I wasn’t able to take my camera there either, because it would be really easy for someone to steal stuff there.

The next day we had the whole day free until our concert at night. My friends and I went swimming in the morning, and then in the afternoon we went to walk around the old city. It is a very quaint old town, which even included a castle. It was really awesome to get to see all those old buildings – it was a different side of Colombia that what I’d seen so far. Our concert started at 10:30 that night; the idea was to play the Colombian national anthem last on the program perfectly on the stroke of midnight. We were off by about three minutes, but it was ok. What an experience. The whole huge crowd was enthusiastically singing along to the anthem. Afterwards there was a huge party for YOA with lots of dancing.

The next day we again had a free day until we left for Barranquilla in the night. We went to the beach for a few hours in the morning, and then in the afternoon went and walked around the city some more. I like Cartagena a lot, but at the same time to me it feels less safe than some of the others. I’m not completely sure why, since crime is lower there, but I think it has something to do with the sheer number of tourists everywhere and that fact that I am obviously a gringa.

Last night we took a bus here to Barranquilla. I haven’t had a chance to look around the city yet, but I hope I have a chance to do so before we depart for Cali tomorrow morning.

Photos from the Tour, Part I

The view from the hotel in Villavicencio.



The Boston friends reunited in Colombia.



The view from my balcony in Ibagué.


In the hot tub at the hotel in Ibagué



The hall in Ibagué where we played.


Near our hotel in Manizales, from the top of the steep hill that we climbed.

Photos from the Tour, Part II

Having my first ever cup of coffee.



The concert hall in Manizales.

Our hotel in Manizales.



At one of the salsa parties.



Preparing to ride the cable car around Manizales.



Climbing up to the steeple of the cathedral in Manizales with friends.




The view from the top of the cathedral in Manizales.



Eating arepas on the street in Manizales.

Ibague, Armenia, and Manizales (Days 10-15)

Once again, it has been a long time since I have written. Before it was because not enough was happening, but this time it was because too much is happening and I haven’t had time to write because I’ve been so busy.
Last time I wrote was before our dress rehearsal/pre-concert thingy. That went pretty well. Of course it was very nice to finally get to perform the repertoire we had been practicing for so many hours. The dress rehearsal, as I discussed in my last post, was also a concert, which was open to FJC (the Colombian orchestra we’re touring with) and the faculty.
The following day we had our first real concert. It was an outdoor concert as part of a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Meta, the state in Colombia where we were. It was pouring rain, though, and it was so windy that some of the people sitting near the edges of the stage got wet. Surprisingly, we still had a huge audience, with people standing around the edges because there weren’t enough seats. The audience was so appreciative that we had to play a number of encores for them. It was a great concert to start the tour with.
The next day we traveled by bus to our next city, which is called Ibagué. Villavicencio is about 4 or 5 hours away from Bogotá, and Ibagué is about 2 hours from Bogotá also, but in the other direction. So after about six hours on the bus we finally arrived in Ibagué. From the hotel we had a great view of the city. We had a free day before our concert at night, during which I spent the entire morning in the swimming pool, and the afternoon exploring the city a bit. One of my friends from FJC grew up in Ibagué and she showed us some of the nice pedestrian shopping areas.
Our concert in Ibagué was also outdoors, in a sort of public amphitheater in the park near where we were walking earlier. This concert was much better than the first one. After the concert, a bunch of us went to a party at my friend’s house in Ibagué. It was really nice to finally get out of the tourist mode and hang out with people who actually live in the city.
The next day, we had another three-hour bus ride to Armenia. There we stayed in a hostel. We were only in Armenia for a very short time so we didn’t get to see anything there, but the scenery was gorgeous. We were actually there for such a short time that we weren’t even allowed to get our suitcases out of the truck! Our concert there was the first one indoors, and I felt like the orchestra played the best it has so far in that concert. It was also the first concert where I played with a soloist. All the concerts include the Copland clarinet concerto, but since it’s only strings, I don’t play. The concerto I was playing was Scottish Fantasy, a violin piece. The soloist was the concertmaster of the Colombian National Symphony in Bogotá. Another notable event that occurred in Armenia was that I drank my first cup of coffee that I liked. It was so delicious but I’m pretty sure I won’t like coffee again when I return to the US.
After that we traveled to Manizales, which has been my favorite place on the tour so far. One of my friends from the US had an adventure on the five-hour trip. His alarm didn’t go off, but his roommates didn’t realize that he wasn’t awake because he talks in his sleep. He didn’t wake up until 10 (we left at 7), so he had to take a public bus and then a taxi to the next hotel! It was a good thing he’s fluent in Spanish…! Anyways, in Manizales we were staying in a really nice hotel outside the city. There were actually three hot springs in the hotel where the majority of the orchestra spent all their time. It was especially nice because it was pretty cold there, maybe in the high 40s, which feels freezing after a few weeks of 90º. One of the best things about our time in Manizales is that we had so much free time there. We had the whole afternoon free before the concert, and the day after the concert we had the whole day completely free. On the concert day, I decided to go walk around with two friends. We found a pasture with a ton of baby cows that were incredibly adorable. Then we decided to climb up this hill from which we could see everything. The only thing was, it was covered in glass higher than my knees and it had just rained so it was really slippery. It was really fun, though also incredibly muddy and wet, and when we got to the top we had such a nice view. After the sound check in the concert hall we had some more free time, so one of my Colombian friends who plays horn took me around to show me the city. With him was his friend who is from Manizales, and actually organized this really big-deal international horn festival in Manizales for the past three years. After the concert I met some other horn player friends of his, who we would see again soon. Once we got back to the hotel, we had a huge dance party that lasted until 8am, though I went home early at 5am. It was really fun. I’ve learned how to dance pretty well at this point, but it is way easier to dance here in Latin America, where the guys are all good dancers, than in the US, where the music isn’t as conducive to partner dancing, and the guys don’t really know how to dance any more than I do.
The next day was completely free. After a kind of late start, we decided to wait to go to the city until the bus left at 2pm, so in the morning we played cards and just hung out in general. In the afternoon we went into the city. After walking around for a while, we went to a mall where we had coffee and snacks. Then we went for a ride on the cable cars. Instead of a subway system, Manizales relies on cable cars as their form of public transportation. Even though the city isn’t that big, it is so mountainous that they created the cable car system in order to transport supplies and construction materials in the late 1800s. Later they converted the old system into the public transportation system it is today. It was a lot of fun to go on it with all my friends. Manizales is also home to the fifth-tallest cathedral in the world, so we went up to the top. Even though it was rainy and cloudy, it was still an absolutely breathtaking view. We had to walk up 70 meters to the choir loft, and then up again probably about the same amount to the roof of the church. From there we walked up a staircase on the roof itself, which was as steep as the roof was, and was about equivalent to the steepness of the Great Wall of China (imagine each step is as high as my knees). Then we were finally in the base of the steeple. From there we walked up this spiral staircase reminiscent of a lighthouse’s. They actually had some remnants of the original staircase inside, which was the most rickety thing I have ever seen. I can’t imagine walking up about 500 steps on that with no railing! Anyways, it was absolutely incredible!
After we finished the cathedral tour, we ran into some other people from our orchestra in the plaza, who convinced us to accompany them to go bungee jumping. I actually was really excited for it – it only cost about $5, and since it was so high above the city it would be a great view. Unfortunately we couldn’t go on it because it was raining, so instead we went for a walk around a different area of the city. We were in the highest point of the city, and from the edge of one of the cliffs we could apparently see five states. At this point we were with the horn players who live in Manizales, and one of them especially was a fantastic tour guide. He seemed to know about every building in the whole city, and told us about all of them. He then took us to this fantastic outdoor arepa restaurant. For those of you who don’t know, arepas are kind of like the Colombian/Venezuelan version of an English muffin, but they eat them kind of like sandwiches. After dinner we went directly to a club, where we danced all night.
This morning, we left for Medellín, the third-largest city in Colombia. We have the rest of the day free because our concert isn’t until tomorrow, but I volunteered for one of the orchestra’s outreach programs. They actually invited me to participate in the first one, in Villavicencio at the very beginning of the program, but then realized my Spanish wasn’t good enough to really help out much. But now my Spanish has improved so much that they judged that I could do this one. I’ll be giving sectionals for a youth orchestra and then observing their rehearsal. It should be interesting, and I must say I’m really looking forward to it! We’ll stay in Medellín for two days, and I believe from this point forward we’re mostly flying to the other cities rather than having these long and boring bus rides.
I’m having such a great time on this tour, I must say. I actually mostly hang out with members of FJC rather than people from YOA. Because of this, I’m speaking Spanish pretty much constantly and my vocabulary and grammar skills are improving immensely. The really annoying thing is that some of them speak a little English and they can understand when I speak, but even if I’m really tired and don’t want to speak Spanish, they refuse to listen if I speak in English. I also have translation responsibilities during rehearsals so that the whole horn section always knows what’s going on. So it’s pretty much like total immersion for me right now. I’m also working a lot on my Portuguese. After learning Spanish it’s really easy. My Brazilian friend who is teaching me made me write two essays completely in Portuguese on the last bus ride, and then after I wrote them in an elementary style, we fixed them up into professional language to resemble a newspaper article. Meu português e meu espanhol estão melhorando cada dia. In addition to learning a lot about language here, I’m also teaching a lot of English. I think my students have strange vocabularies though. I teach them things as I go along, so they know a whole lot of words about specific topics and absolutely nothing about others. My Colombian friends all call me Super-Gringa rather than Lauren because I’m generally the only non-Colombian hanging out with them. They also call my friend Diana (who is Colombian but lives in the US) Gringa-Paisa (paisa means something like fellow countryman) so at least I’m not the only one!
I really love Colombia and I’m glad we are spending so much time of the tour here. On the other hand though, 10 more days is no time at all! I’m going to make the most of the short time I have left here, but I’ll try to write an update soon. I think I’ll also put up a post of pictures soon.

Residency in Villavicencio, Colombia (Days 1-9)

Last time I wrote, I was preparing for my seating audition. The results turned out well: I will play first horn on Mahler 4 (the most important horn piece in our repertoire this summer), as well as on West Side Story and Chavez’s Sinfonia India, both of which have really important horn solos. I will also be playing 3rd on Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, and 2nd on Shostakovich Symphony No. 9, both of which are important parts as well. Thus, even though I didn’t get the specific parts I wanted, I am more than happy with the part assignments.
The horn section sounds really good this year – even better than last year. Only one of the horn players from last year is back, a Colombian guy who is the same age as me. We also have a guy my age who goes to Cleveland Institute of Music, another Colombian guy who just graduated from a conservatory here in Colombia, and a girl who finished her Master’s a few years ago and now makes a living gigging in San Francisco. It’s really great to play with them, but of course our coach, Javier, always has more tips for us. Actually, the orchestra as a whole sounds much better than it did last year (with the exception of a few sections that merely sound the same as last year). It’s refreshing to play with a strong group, especially since this tour we are performing a lot of difficult repertoire.
We are very busy during this residency with rehearsals for both orchestra and chamber music. Every day we have rehearsal in both the morning (3 hours) and the afternoon (2 ½ hours). Sometimes we also have sectionals at night, but even when we don’t, we use the time at night to rehearse for chamber music. I am involved in two different chamber music projects during this residency. I’m playing in a brass quintet that’s performing some traditional Colombian music, and one of my best friends asked me to play second cello in the Schubert quintet, though I’m not sure if we’re ever going to record it.
Also, we have a few hours free during the day, and most nights free to have fun. We’re staying in a country club / resort type place, so there is a really nice pool. It’s really warm here all the time so swimming is always an option. We’re 30 minutes away from the closest city, which is actually a small town called Villavicencio. Most nights, someone in the orchestra organizes a party, in which the main attraction is usually salsa dancing. I’m definitely not very good but I’ve learned the basics of the dance.
We have our first concert tomorrow, and tonight we have an open dress rehearsal, which I guess is kind of like our first concert. On Sunday morning, we begin the actual traveling portion of our tour, and then after that it’s go go go until the end of the tour. I’ll probably have more time to update while we’re touring, though, because we have a lot of bus rides and flights within Colombia.
Since most of our tour is within Colombia, we’re actually partnered with a Colombian orchestra for the tour, called the Youth Philharmonic of Colombia (Filarmónica Joven de Colombia). They’re good, even though this is their first year in existence. Mainly, they play one half of the concert and we play the other half, and then at the end we play one or two pieces together. Though it’s a great concept, it’s really difficult to play together because doubling all the wind parts is always troublesome in terms of being together perfectly rhythmically, and in terms of intonation. I really like them being here. The people are all so nice and I feel like having a larger group on tour for most of the time might help reduce the amount of drama that seems inevitable on orchestra tours.
We have three conductors for the tour. One is from the United States and works at Interlochen. He is mainly conducting the Colombian orchestra, but he is conducting one of the combined pieces, I believe. Another conductor is from Colombia. He is conducting mostly the Colombian orchestra right now as well, but once we leave Colombia he will be conducting us more and more. Our third and final conductor is Mexican. He conducted us last year and he’s definitely my favorite. I’m sad that he’s not conducting us on the Mahler.
Anyways, that’s a quick update on my life here in Colombia so far. I’ll try to put up some pictures soon of the beginning of the tour.

Endings in Brazil and Beginnings in Colombia

Saturday was supposed to be the day when I would finally see the beach here. Unfortunately, I woke up to a sky full of clouds and a periodic sprinkling of rain. In the morning, while most of my friends were sleeping in after a late night out on Friday, I got some practicing done and also wrote my whole previous blog entry. For lunch we were going to go to a restaurant where they sell traditional Bahian food, but it was closed for some reason, so instead we ate at the food court at the mall. The food court here is much different than in any American mall I’ve visited before. Instead of just things like McDonald’s and some fake Chinese restaurants, this mall had sit-down restaurants. Even the take-out was classier than in the United States – we ordered our meals and then when we picked them up they were on real plates, with real metal utensils and everything. Also, instead of just the chicken dish that I ordered, it came with three sides. It was like something you would have in a real restaurant, rather than fast food.

In the afternoon, since it wasn’t beach weather, we went to see the sights of Salvador. First we went to this big hill with a huge statue of Jesus on the top, which also overlooked the old part of the city and the ocean. It was super windy – other than when I was on the Great Wall, it’s the most wind I’ve ever experienced! It was difficult to even stand up straight. Then we went to Salvador’s lighthouse. We didn’t go up, but we walked around the base. Then we went to the Pelourinho, which is the old town of Salvador, which is full of cobblestone alleys. Salvador actually was the first capitol of Brazil and we saw a lot of buildings and churches from the 15^th and 16^th centuries. The Pelourinho was full of souvenir shops, but of course they were all designed for tourists and so I passed on that. It was such a tourist trap that there were Brazilians
on the street handing out ribbons for free to people. You can’t take them though – they use these ribbons to mark the tourists for pick pocketing. Most of the time during this sight-seeing we had to leave all of our stuff in the car except for a few reals (Brazilian currency) and our cameras, just in case. Also in the old town, there were a lot of street performances, which are designed for tourists too but were interesting anyways. There are a few types of music that are specifically from the city of Salvador, which mostly involve African-style drumming. That’s because Salvador is kind of the center of African culture in Brazil. It’s really interesting. There were also a lot of people in traditional dress, but funnily enough only the women were – the men wore Brazil football (soccer) jerseys! I guess that’s a different kind of traditional dress for them.

On Sunday, I finally got to go to the beach! We went to a beach called Ipitanga or something like that. Even though the place it was located was still actually part of the city of Salvador, it was beautiful and just as I imagined Brazilian beaches to be. The waves were pretty rough but I like swimming in the ocean when there are lots of waves. The sand was great, and it was very picturesque. Right before we left there was even a full rainbow that lasted for about five minutes! The tide there is so strong that it covers the entire beach when it comes in, but by that time it had started to rain a little so we decided to just call it a day. I escaped sunburn-free, except for part of my back. But it isn’t too bad and I had a fantastic time!

Monday and Tuesday I gave sectionals in the morning, and then observing full orchestra rehearsal in the afternoons. Monday was an exciting day for me – in the sectional I was finally able to really make them sound like a great horn section! Unfortunately, some members of the section forgot what we worked on in the morning once we got to the afternoon full rehearsal, and two of the six horn players couldn’t make it to the morning rehearsal. If I were here longer, I’m sure I’d be able to make them sound like that in everyday rehearsals. I guess that just means I’ll just need to come for longer next time! If they invite me back, I’m definitely going to learn some Portuguese (and maybe I’ll learn some regardless – it’s a very beautiful language and so similar to Spanish that it won’t be that difficult.

While I was upset to leave Brazil after such a short time there, it was amazing to realize what close friendships I had made in just a few short days. It was incredibly crushing to say my last goodbyes to everyone in the orchestra.

My last night in Brazil was unforgettable. I went out with my usual friends to dinner, and this time we went to this perfect restaurant on the marina. The view was spectacular, the food was amazing, and the company was unbeatable. We got back so late – at about 1:30 in the morning, and I hadn’t even started to pack yet. I’m sure once I get settled in here in Colombia I’m going to realize I forgot some really important things. So far the only thing I know I forgot was this beautiful seashell my friend found for me on the beach. I’m hoping I can get it back somehow.

I’m really hoping I’ll be able to return next year. Numerous members of the orchestra already told me that the horn section was sounding tons better, so hopefully that means they’ll invite me back. Next time, I’m going to go there speaking some Portuguese and stay for a much longer time.

After going to bed probably around 2:45 or so (because I had to pack all my stuff), the driver was coming to get me at 4:45 so I didn’t sleep much at all. The drive to the airport was a mirror of that on my first day in Brazil – a driver with whom I couldn’t communicate at all and kind of a sketchy pick-up situation, but everything worked out fine! To get to Bogotá I had to fly through São Paulo. My first flight took about 2 ½ hours. I then had a lengthy stopover during which I happened to run into a YOA friend from last year. We couldn’t arrange to sit together on the next flight, which was unfortunate because instead I was sitting next to this fat man who was really sketchy, so I couldn’t really sleep at all. That flight was about 5 ½ hours long.

Upon arrival in Colombia, YOA staff members met us. We then had a little free time before getting on the bus. During this free time I was lucky enough to get a yellow fever vaccine. Yippee. Anyways, apparently the trip from the airport to our hotel takes about 5 hours, including our stop for dinner. I know one of my roommates from last tour, but the other one I have yet to meet. Apparently we have auditions first thing tomorrow morning, which should be interesting since I couldn’t practice today at all, and yesterday I didn’t have time to practice much what with everything that was going on, and my whole time at NEOJIBÁ I wasn’t exactly concentrating on the excerpts. But we’ll see. The coach, Javier, knows my playing pretty well so I’m sure things will be fine. I’m excited to meet the other horn players and see all my friends from last summer, but I’m still feeling an intense sadness regarding leaving Salvador.

The view from my apartment in Salvador.

Kathy and me with part of the city of Salvador in the background.

Old town Salvador!