Carol, Ruby, Barbara and Helenor at LAX at 5 am, Thursday, November 16th, 2006. We were delayed by bad weather in Philadelphia and we arrived in San Juan about 3 hours late. We got to the Hotel Normandie at about 1 am and promptly made ourselves at home in the lobby, enjoying a late snack and cocktails in the art deco lounge.
Next morning the was just enough time for breakfast and a quick walk around the hotel grounds before boarding the bus for the first performance.
(click to enlarge)
The Chorale's first performance was at the Episcopal School of San Juan (k - 12th grade) which is celebrating it's 60th anniversary. The students were wonderful and enjoyed the show very much. They danced and sang with the chorale and were very gracious to us. (click to enlarge)
Across the street is the Catholic Church.
We left the school and started the 3 hour drive to our hotel near Guanica.
The cities in Puerto Rico are densely populate but once outside of the city the countryside is extremely lush and green. There are houses and small communities dotting the rain forest hillsides and religious statues pop up unexpectedly along side the road.
We turned off onto a two lane windy roady down the mountain to get to the hotel which is directly on the beach...well, the road is two lanes if you are in a small car that is.
We were in large buses and pretty much took up the entire road. The drivers would honk repeatedly to warn oncoming traffic. This worked pretty well until we were about 5 minutes from the hotel and an oncoming car was traveling way to fast and plowed right into the back of the bus I was on. Luckily no one was hurt and damage to the bus was minimal. The other car however was pretty well smashed. Anyway, we quickly loaded everyone onto our other bus and also a bus carrying one of the other choirs and proceeded safely to the hotel.
We arrived at the Copamarina Beach Resort just in time to change clothes and head into Ponce for the opening ceremonies of the festival. The ceremony was held in the town square which was beautifully decorated for Christmas.
There were 6 choral groups from the US and 6 from Puerto Rico. Most of the groups were from either high school or colleges with the exception of the 2 groups from LA. Our group knocked everyone out and got a standing ovation. After the performance we got a police escort up to dinner at a mansion on the top of a hill that overlooked the city. The food was great, roasted pork and chicken with salad, beans and rice flavored with olives and achiote oil. Lots of rum flowed also.
Our second day in Puerto Rico started with an outdoor breakfast of bacon, fruit and coffee on a terrace facing the Carribean Sea. There was a warm breeze blowing and the sky was the bluest of blue dotted with cottony clouds. There is no smog in Puerto Rico and the colours were brilliant in the sunlight.
Once again we boarded the bus to travel to Ponce where the chorale was scheduled for a morning workshop on Puerto Rican music and rythem with the other choirs at the University of Puerto Rico. The workshop was led by Professor Ruben Colon Tarrats, the director of the Camerata Ponce.
Following the workshop the Chorale performed at a live radio broadcast from the historic Park de Bombas building in downtown Ponce. The Park de Bombas is the city's historic fire station and was built in 1882.
Downtown Ponce
A quick bus ride back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon on the beach.
Saturday night we traveled back to the University of Ponce for the Friendship Concert where the Chorale performed with Orfeon San Juan Bautista and the Gwen Wyatt Chorale, who are also from Los Angeles. Not that I'm biased or anything but the ECS Chorale totally rocked the house. For the encore, the chorale went into the audience and invited people to join them onstage to sing "Oh Happy Day". 
After the show we were invited to dine with the members of the University of Puerto Choral members. They performed during the meal and everyone sang and danced.
When it was time to go the students sang us to the bus and the dancing continued outside for several minutes. We were sorry we had to leave the party.
Sunday morning we had to leave bright and early for Ponce for services at the St John's Episcopal Church. St John's is the oldest Episcopal church in Puerto Rico. The chorale performed during and after the services which were entirely in Spanish.
After the service we were treated to coffee and homemade empanadas and sweet rolls.
The church ladies
After church we went back to the hotel and took a short boat trip to Gilligans Island. It's not the real Gilligan's Island of course but it resembles the deserted island from TV fame.
The final concert was held in the newly built Concha Acustica de Ponce. Each choir performed separately then gathered en mass accompanied by the Ponce Muncipal Band to perform "Tributo musical a Puerto Rico" which was specially composed for the festival by Professor Ruben Colon Tarrats. This concert was broadcast live on the radio across Puerto Rico.
We left at 4 am the next day for San Juan and our flight back to Los Angeles. Puerto Rico is a beautiful island and the people are warm and welcoming. All throughout the trip it was clear just how important music is and what a wonderful common demoninator it is between different cultures. It makes me wonder what would happen if we shared music with our so called enemies instead of bombs...
The lights of Los Angeles from the plane while coming in for a landing at LAX. Home again.
