Let me first say that I am the first to admit that making Keri happy is no small feat at times, but when she is thinking first of her performers, the experience she wants for them on tour, and the expectations she has of traveling experiences, it is darn near impossible to meet those expectations. Let me also say that trying to understand what Morningstar is, the type of “tour” group it is, and the details that need to be coordinated to make a tour successful is also nearly impossible for someone to appreciate until they have been on a tour with the group. Let me give you a few examples. A normal tour group wants to learn about the details and history of the place they are traveling through. While Kieri wants the group to be respectful and appreciative of where they are, she also remembers better than most, what it is like to be 16 or 17 or 18. Trying to put together activities that are both entertaining and educational is an art that few have mastered. I know I haven’t. Our guides typically have to change their plans to create a better balance of fun with facts. A second example: most tour groups like down time. Kieri hates downtime. She has learned from years of doing this that down time is when teenagers do really stupid things. The more event filled and exhausting the kids are at the end of the day, the more likely they will actually sleep at night. Last example: the end of the day of a normal touring group is dinner. For Morningstar it is 1:00 am. Shows need to be broken down; kids like to play at the end of a long day. This means that 11:00 is the soonest the group will eventually settle down. If you let the group settle earlier, they are wide-awake for later in the night. So after explaining all of this, it typically takes about 4-5 days for tour organizers to “get” Morningstar and readjust their plan.
Ecuador presents its own unique challenges as does any country. When someone says the bus will be here in 20 minutes, it means 40. If someone says, “it will take us 2 hours to get there”, count on 4 – mostly because a landslide has blocked the road to where we are going. If someone says they have a tight schedule to keep, be sure talk over the tight schedule and fill in the loose 3-4 hours. Wanting to give credit to Victor and Jose, they have been more responsive and more adaptable than most others Morningstar have worked with in the past. They are working really hard to make sure details are paid attention to, communication is clear, water bottles are purchased when needed, venues are set up correctly and bus, boxes, and people all end up at the same place at the same time. They are already looking exhausted however. I hope they don’t quit on us.
Tonight is a performance in a beautiful theater. I personally can’t wait, as the first performance was a tough one to make sound good. The theater seats about 600-700. After breakfast Victor had arranged for a tour of a hat factory and some time in a local market for the group to do a little treasure hunting and shopping.
Our first stop was the Ortega Panama Hat Factory. This place was pretty cool. The process it takes to make the famous Panama hats takes days or even years depending on how fine the weave of the hat is. The hats were originated in Ecuador and exported to Panama during the building of the Panama Canal. The Ortega family was the first to create coops to outsource the making of the different stages, but having all coordinating and merchandising occur at a central point. This model benefitted the greatest number of people economically and created an industry that is still very successful alive today. We left the factory with a few Panama hat converts. Most purchases were in the range of $30-$70, but some hats in the store were over $1000-$3000.
We left the factory and headed to a local market. Everyone found something they couldn’t live without whether that was a switchblade, a very large spoon or a one of a kind bag. For Austin it was a jackpot, scoring 3-4 items that were the best finds he could imagine including a knife with hidden butane lighter. The artisan factor in Ecuador seems to be lacking in comparison to Peru, but there is still some great local handiwork to bring home. The people are very warm and open. It was a great day interacting with many of the locals.
We were then rushed off to visit an eco nature venue. Now I have to be careful here because Ecuador is at the front end of understanding how to tap into the eco tourism market, and what we saw at this location was interesting to be sure, but as we entered the venue I felt I was going through a Marble Valley School biome more than an established professional venue. In total, it was about a space of 1000 square feet that wound through cases of snakes, piranha, and a crocodile. It didn’t smell very good and in total contained less than 25 animals. But as I said, they will learn, improve and get better. We went from there to lunch and then to our venue to set up.
The theater was gorgeous. The building it was housed in was truly beautiful. The venue raised the bar for the performers and they met the challenge. The show looked twice as good as it did as any other time they had performed before. Costume changes, hitting solos and in-synch performances all improved dramatically. The audience was again very appreciative and responsive. They expressed they had never seen anything like this live and felt they had just been part of something professional and special. And most importantly, the kids felt like stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment