Back in Mexico....otra vez!

Hola from Puebla, Mexico. So I have returned to Mexico....for another gig, of course. In fact, I have been working on this show for a bit with quick trips in and out. But before I tell of my stories here, I better let you know what happened since the last post!

I got to spend a bit of time in Sydney doing all things summer. Even though it wasn't the driest of summers, I still enjoyed it immensely. It may actually be time (when I get off the suitcase lifestyle) to admit I need to live in Sydney....look for me coming soon.

Had dinner with Joanne, Philby & Cameron Lewis out in Beaumont Hills. It was a bit of a transport hike, but they have a lovely house...and meeting cutie Cameron definitely made the trip worth it! Have a look!

Cameron Lewis

I also made sure that I spent some time with the very newly born James William Mackonis. Had a lovely day at home with Andrew and Liz. He looks a lot like his Daddy.

James and Daddy Mackonis
Me talking to James

And of course it wouldn't be January in Sydney without the Festival and First Night. Soph, Steph and I went to have a look. Fun all over the city, but ultimately we ended up in the pub drinking beers. I also got to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra play in the Domain one night as well. Alycia Bangma organised tickets for us. It was so fun to see her so cute and pregnant! Can't wait to see the baby when I get back. Sydney Festival fun photos below....

Me and Soph at the ANZ Chill Out Zone on Festival First Night
The stage for the Symphony

Steph and I also managed to stop into a Sydney Football Club game. Unfortunately, they aren't very good, but Steph's Dad works with them. So it was very fancy seats for us! We happened to be getting a drink during the only goal of the game. Oh well. Good to see the Football/Soccer going well in Australia. Too bad more people weren't at the game.

Sydney FC - a day out at the soccer

After a bit of running around catching up with people, it was work time. The first gig I did was Australia Day in Darling Harbour. It was a video, laser, pyro spectacular mixed with some other bits. It rained lots during the load in, but amazingly it was relatively nice on the show day. Got to see lots of the regular boys. It went really well. I was just looking after the fancy speeches and had a great time.

Building the barge for Australia Day....heaps of rain
Australia Day Pyro
More Australia Day

I also worked with Soph & Gerry again on the Chinese New Year Parade. This year I had a very important title "Parade Pace Control Manager"! Ha. I basically was at the start line making sure everything got off to a good start. Parade was fun and also managed to avoid the rain.

Sydney Town Hall Projection for Chinese New Year (and my parade pace starting corner)

Of course, I needed to spend some time at the beach. So definitely went to Bronte! Steph and Soph live that way. Also spent a couple of days hanging out with Dave Wilkinson and Mel. They live nearby as well. I enjoyed the eastern suburbs rock pool & beer on several occasions.

The rock pool at Bronte...a few trips here
Me and Soph at Bronte Beach

But eventually my time working/hanging out in Sydney had to come to an end. I had prior commitments to get onto. So on the 6th February I packed up all my things again and headed back to Mexico. This time I am in Puebla for an event celebrating Cinco de Mayo (NOT Mexican independence day btw). So this is where I will be until mid-May. I moved into my lovely 2 bed apartment which is across the hall from Karla's apartment. We had to get things started right so the first week we were here, we had our very first Red Wine Thursday. But we needed to make dinner as well. So we had red wine and hamburguesas! Delicious. Red Wine Thursday will hopefully continue at our building on 43 Norte. Luckily now it has started to warm up a bit, so alfresco dining/drinking will feature a lot I am guessing.

Andres cooking hamburguesas at the inaugural Red Wine Thursday

The first weekend here, Karla's husband Juan was visiting. So on the Saturday we hopped a bus to Cholula. It was all of $7.50MX/.55AUD for the bus ride. Very expensive. Cholula is a bit of a little hipster town nearby to Puebla. Very cute. It has an amazing cathedral on a hill, built, like most cathedrals here, over the top of a traditional pyramid. Damn Spaniards. But you can climb the hill to the top, walk through the operating church, check out the ruins etc etc. From the top you could see a lot -- even our office way off in the distance! The volcano is a huge presence in this town. Puebla itself sits at an elevation of 2200 m (7217.85 ft), so we are definitely getting fit just walking around!

Popocatépetl the Volcano - covered in snow this time
Cholula Cathedral
Me at what we reckon was a rebuilt section of the Pyramid
The Cathedral and the Pyramid ruins aka Tlachihualtepetl

By chance, we happened to see that there was a bullfight about to begin. Karla wasn't that excited about it, but Juan was. I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought it would probably be worth seeing at least once. As it turns out, I think once was definitely enough. A very famous torero was there called Pablo Hermoso, all the way from Spain. We got a great deal on the tickets and sat in the second row. I have to admit it was a bit too close to the action. But it was good to get go at least once. We saw Pablo on tv in a venue in Mexico City the next day with over 50,000 people! Ours maybe held 2000 so it was definitely close by. I loved the theatricality of most of it. The costumes, the music, the movements - very balletic. But the killing wasn't very nice. And seeing the bull get dragged away by 2 horses at the end of it was all a bit much really. So Karla's opinion of it being not that great -- I would have to agree there. Anyway, some fun photos from the day regardless.

The Plaza de Toros from the cathedral
The venue map
Pablo Hermoso does his thing on the horse
Pablo....and the dead bull!
So much blood....
Pablo Hermoso with the ears of the bull....ew!
Another Torero has a go sin un caballo (without a horse)
Karla's husband Juan smokes a cigar...very traditional
Both of us....

Our first week with most our team here for production meetings was around Valentine's Day. So Karla and I cooked up a cute little feast of heart shaped pancakes for all of the boys in my apartment. Since we were all removed from our loved ones, we did a bit of cutting up of the hearts, but we had some full ones as well. We had syrup, fruit, chocolate sauce & whipped cream for toppings. Awesome....

Darbs with his broken heart pancake
A pancake - cooked by me!

The table set by Karla....
All the boys with the pancakes
Karla and I with our cute creations
We also got to catch up with Jorge who is returning to work with us....Karla, Ian, Jorge, Steph and I at our new fav wine bar with delicious mussels.

As I said, we have begun spending a bit of time on our lovely roof. It's very nice up there when it isn't raining. However, we made a trek to Costco last night and bought ourselves a lovely Tommy Bahama beach umbrella to chuck in the table, so it just may become an all weather area! At least we will keep the hot sun off of us at breakfast time. Now we need to solve the fact that the table is very dark at night! We haven't even been able to see our food while we eat. I am sure we will come up with something.

Breakky on the roof with Kamasz and Camacho
The roof at night
The view at dusk...
Dinner on the roof with Steph, Karla, Tarmo and Bernie

So that basically catches you all up on what has been happening over the past few weeks. Will surely be doing a few exciting things here so look for that in the coming weeks. Not sure where I will be next, but once I lock it in, I will definitely let you all know. In the meantime, if you happen to be travelling through Mexico in the next few months, let me know. I am already picturing myself on a beach in Cancun towards mid-May!

Love and miss you all,
Sxo