Halfway done the tour, Panama is finished, Colombia is next

Today we were flying to the city of Pasto to check out a little of Southern Colombia before our next batch of shows, but after our plane was twice denied landing due to bad weather, we got sent back to Bogota and that's where we are now.  Tomorrow we'll make another attempt at getting down there.

We've had a great first two weeks of the tour.  We flew straight to David, Panama which is in the western half of the country.   Our contact there was Antonio who is a member of the local rotary club and runs a culture house which is always hosting different kinds of events. He had shows for us planned in schools, children's homes, retirement homes, libraries and community events.  It was quite a mix of events that took us all around David and Boquete. He and another Rotary member Omedo also made sure we got to see plenty of the area from the coffee farms of Boguete to the beaches of Barqueta and lots more too like the library that was once a train station that Vanessa's farther slept in one night when he was traveling through Central and South America back in the 70's.  I was also excited to see Gustavo who is a friend from my days with Celebrity Cruises. David is his hometown and he told us a lot of local stuff and gave us some background on Panama's exciting inclusion into the 2018 world cup.

While still in David we started a series of three shows with SOS Children's Villages.  We had one show in David and then the next morning they drove us to Penonome where we had another one, and then on to Panama City as well.  Our contact with SOS, Amelia, also made sure we got to see some of Penonome like the point that is the center of the country and the museum of Hermanos de Arias de Madrid who were two brothers who both served as Presidents of the country.  

We had one last show in Panama City at Hogar Malambo, another home for children, this one run by Catholic nuns.   We never would have gotten that show set up if it wasn't for the help of Irma and Raysa who I was connected to via my friend Joe who lives in Media, PA.

Performing for all these wonderful audiences with 13 shows in all was great and it's or course nice to see a new country, but the highlight really was getting to stay with our friend Yuliya in Panama City.  Yuliya and I performed together on the Celebrity Silhouette Cruise ship for most of 2015 and I also worked with her brother Alex on the Celebrity Solstice in 2014. She was a wonderful host and it was great getting to meet her husband Luis's family as well.  Luis unfortunately was off working at sea on the Celebrity Summit.

What would a trip to Panama City be without going to see the canal.  I always thought I would go through it working on a cruise ship but I'm glad I made it to see it one way or another.  The night before at Yuliya's sister in law's birthday party we found out that her father is in charge of maintenance for the tug boats that work in the canal.  He invited us to come see his office which has a big window that overlooks the canal.  When we got to his office we got so much more as he arranged for us to see the inside of three different tug boats, engine room and all.  Everyone there was really nice and welcoming and gave us a great tour.   

There is lots more to tell about al the shows and the great organizations that set them up and photos to sort through too, but I just wanted to get this little mid trip update out, warts and all. Next week we have shows set up in Chinchina thanks to Glen and Stiven at Minga house and then one last show in Bogota with Kidsave before we head home November 12th.  Feel free to write with any questions. We're pretty good about posting photos to Facebook and Instagram everyday and I'll write more soon.

  - Andrew

Hello everyone, 

  After last year's very successful Clown the World tour of Central America, we're off on another trip.  Last year we took 6 weeks to travel across Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize and Honduras performing 24 shows for over 3000 people in schools, community centers, children's homes, day cares, schools for the deaf, and retirement homes. We brought live performance to a variety of people who don't normally get to see it.  This year we'll be doing the same from mid-October to mid-November in Panama and Colombia.  We're only hitting two countries this year because last year's trip was a bit rushed and because we've found some great partners in these places that have set up a lot of shows for us.   In Panama we'll be primarily in David City and Panama City and in Colombia most of our shows will be in the town of Chinchina. 

This blog obviously doesn't get updated that often, but we are very good about updating our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook page with short notes and Vanessa's great photos (and my not so great ones). That is where we also try to spread the word about the groups and organizations in these places that set up these shows for us and the great work that they do in their communities.   Please note that our facebook updates probably won't just pop up in your feed like your friends updates do. Facebook wants us to pay for such a thing to happen on a large scale and we're not doing that. So mosey on over and visit the page now and again if that's your platform of choice. 

Links to our profiles

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Thanks for all your words of support and encouragement.  Feel free to reach out with questions about the trip and we'll tell you more about it when it's done.

- Andrew (and proofread by Vanessa)

The first month of Clown The World! 5 countries and lots of shows!

      Hello everyone it's been a while since we posted here and to be honest this one is the same as our e-mail list which is not how it'll be in the future.  The original idea was to send out one e-mail a week, blog about all the shows a couple times a week, and maybe even have a video blog or podcast. Obviously we've been way too busy for any of that.  We have however been good about quick little updates on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, so feel free to follow us on any of those if you like.

     We'll go into detail about all of the wonderful organizations that have helped us out and tell you lots more about the shows when we get home had have time, but right now, here's a quick recap: (click on any of the organizations names to learn more about them.)

     We started off in Costa Rica with 4 great school shows set up by our hosts at the wonderful Chilamate Eco Lodge in Sarapiqui which is a couple hours north of San Jose.  They are a great place to stay and they do wonderful things for the surrounding schools and community.

     Then we moved on to Nicaragua where we had two shows in the capital city of Managua set up by Comamos Juntos which is a great organization dedicated to eliminating food waste and getting that food which would otherwise be wasted to those who need it. We continued within Nicaragua and moved to Matagalpa where we had two shows in the beautiful handicaped accessible park, Estrellas, Santa Julia Billiart. One show was open to the public and the other was more for disabled kids and their families.  The shows were set up by Familias Especiales which does too many things in the community to try to list here. We squeezed in one last stop in Nicaragua by going to Grenada and performing at the really cool Escuela de Comedia y Mimo for all of the students, families, and community members.

      Next we flew to Mexico and performed two shows in San Miguel de Allende, one for Casa de Los Angeles, a free daycare for single mothers, and the other at Hogar Mexiquito, a home for boys run by a group of loving sisters. 

     Our next stop was Guatemala, where we were based in Antigua Guatemala and had 2 shows set up by the fantastic Ninos De Guatemala in Ciudad Viejo and San Lorenze de Cuba, and 1 by the amazing Education for the Children Foundation at their school in Jocotenango, plus a rather last minute addition of a show at the very friendly Las Voces de Silencio, a school for the deaf that was just blocks away.

     For months we were unable to find a contact in El Salvador. However, our contacts from the other countries reached out to people they knew and we found two great hosts. One in Santa Ana's Iglesia La Puerta Abierta and another in Santiago de Maria where we got to be the entertainment for graduation day at the Colegio Santa Gemma run by a group of sisters that also live on the site of the school.  They also arranged a last minute show for us to perform at a local home for the elderly.

     Right now we're in Belize, and this weekend have 2 shows lined up by the Cornerstone Foundation in San Ignacio and then we'll make our way to Honduras where we have three shows lined up in La Ceiba for Helping Honduras Kids and then another one in Trujillo with Farm of the Child.  After that we'll head back home and that will be it for Clown the World 2016 Central America. When we're home there will be time for more detailed stories to be written down, but right now all our efforts are going to planing the logistics of the trip, making sure we're both fed despite all of our food restrictions, making sure the audiences see the best show possible and spending time with and getting to know our hosts and the places we're visiting.

     Don't forget that we're on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, we have a newsletter, let other people know about us, and look forward to more stories to come.
     Wish us luck with the last 5 shows.
          Thanks,
               Andrew and Vanessa

The first two shows!

     Alright, we've been down here for almost a week and I still haven't updated the blog.  So in order to assure my mother that we haven't been abducted by Costa Rican land pirates (which are not a thing, and I totally just made that up) I figured I should get on it and post something:

La Lucha Elementary School

     Tuesday I landed in San Jose and I was pretty out of commission for the rest of the day.  Between the 12 hour time difference from China, (I was working at the wonderful AEMI Clown festival for 3 weeks in September and October) waking up at 3 AM to catch the 6 AM flight to San Jose, and staying up till past midnight to figure out how to pack a backpack, I was pretty worthless for the rest of that day.  But after a good night's sleep, Wednesday morning, Vanessa and I got on the bus for Sarapiqui. Sarapiqui is just a little over two hours north of San Jose and while the second part of the bus ride is pretty straight forward, the first part of it to get out of the valley that San Jose is in, is pretty interesting. Given that there are lots of trucks and cars and buses on the road, that it's a pretty twisty road and that it was raining, it was a fun ride.  I wouldn't say it was hair raising, maybe more eyebrow raising. We'll have to come up with a scale for that. 

     We then took a short taxi along a paved road, an unpaved road and then a charming bridge to find our host Megan at the the Chilamate Rainforest Eco Lodge along the Sarapiqui river. Sarapiqui comes from a local word for snake.  I assumed this was because of the way the river snakes around but I could be wrong. Being in the rainforest, I've been really enjoying all the sounds that are here. Before I got to Costa Rica, Vanessa was volunteering in another part of the country or two weeks and thus was able to identify chirping geckos, howler monkeys and other sounds for me.  From a distance, the howler monkey souds not unlike a heavy table being dragged on the floor. She assured me it's much worse the closer it gets.  There's much more to write about Chilamate Rainforest Eco Lodge but to do it justice I'll have to do that later.

     Thursday we had the first two shows of CLOWN THE WORLD!  The first one was at a high

El Paraiso High School

school! El Pariaso High School.   I'm not sure I've ever done a show just for high schoolers before, but when our contact here, Meghan, said that was the first show lined up, we decided to just go with it.  There were a great audience and Vanessa even thought that they laughed more then the elementary school later that day.  Maybe their sense of humor is more like mine than the kids is.  They had a brand new principal on her first day at the school that didn't really understand why we were there and how we were going to do a show even though our Spanish is terrible.   She was busy after the show and we didn't get to talk to her, but afterwards we received a very nice e-mail from her, thanking us for coming. 

     After lunch we went to the La Lucha Elementary School. Although it wasn't a huge crowd, they were very happy to see us, as in attendance were many parents who had brought their kids that were either too young for school or perhaps had been there in the morning and not for the afternoon session.  Being from Philadelphia, I'm always surprised whenever I see buildings without windows or a gymnasium or common area

La Lucha Elementary School

that is just covered and not fully enclosed. In an area that never gets that cold. there really isn't a big reason to fully enclose a place or even have windows. So both of our shows this day were in the common area of the schools that is covered, but has no walls or doors.

     And like that we had started.  After well over a year of ruminating about it and months of planning and plotting, Clown the World had started.  Until now it had all be theory, but we'd done it, or at least started it.  We found people in a far off place that liked the idea of a clown from Philadelphia coming to put on a show at their local schools, they arranged everything for us locally, we came on down and we did the shows.   There are lots more details and side stories but this has to get put on the blog sooner rather than later, even though I didn't give Vanessa time to proofread it and I can't figure out how to place photos with blogger.  Thanks for reading and tune in next time to find out if Day Two of shows in the town of Chilamate, in the canton of Sarapiqui, in the province of Heredia, in the country of Costa Rica go as well.  

Notes from the plane ride down.

        I was hoping to have some finely crafted posts to put on this blog to kick off the trip but I guess that will have to come later.  Friday night I got back from a wonderful 3 week clown festival in China and here I am on Tuesday on my way to meet Vanessa in Costa Rica. All there is time and energy for now is to say that the trip has started!

        Packing was hard as always, perhaps even more so because I've never traveled with a big old backpack before.  I also lost a lot of time trying to figure out how I could vote in the upcoming elections even though the Philadelphia Absentee Ballots didn't go out when they were supposed to.  Hopefully a combination of luck and wonderful roommates, who believe in democracy and will forward the absentee ballots when they finally do arrive will allow Vanessa and myself to exercise our civic duty.  

         We have two shows lined up for Thursday and two for Friday, and then we'll see a little of Costa Rica before heading to Nicaragua.  

         Every time I talk about the trip I keep saying "Wish us luck."  I've been performing and traveling for 21 years but I've never traveled quite like this.  I've always had the luxury of a circus trailer, or a cruise ship, or at least a van as a base and this whole living out of a backpack and a suitcase full of props is a whole different animal. Without underestimating it I'm guessing that performing will be the easy part and little things like laundry are going to be the real challenge. 

It's almost time to land. I've really appreciated everyone's messages of encouragement as we try out this crazy trip.  I'll try to write more soon.  Wish us luck. - Andrew

Hello everyone.   We hope you're doing well. Clown the World 2016 starts very, very soon.  Right now I'm in China at a wonderful clown festival with many old and new clown friends and Vanessa has already ventured to Costa Rica to volunteer at a few different places.   After China I'll have about 4 days at home (one of which will be spent on my stilts in Old City Philadelphia for about 5 hours!) and then I'll fly down to meet here. We'll take the bus to the first shows scheduled in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica and then the trip will have officially begun.   The shows will be the fun part, figuring out how to get around in short time spans and all of the logistics will be the hard part.  Wish us luck with all of that and more.  - Andrew

Welcome to our blog

Because some people enjoy a little more depth than an instagram pic, a tweet or a facebook post, we're going to start a blog. If no one but our parents read it, then it still will have served it's purpose.  But if others find it too and that helps Clown the World along the way in the future, then that would be swell.  Sometimes it will be written by Vanessa, and sometimes by me (Andrew.) We'll try to keep it short and to the point. Sometimes we'll just tell you what happened during the week. Sometimes it will be insightful, but more often than not it probably won't be; at least not when I'm writing.   There will be grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes and we won't always use the semi colon correctly; at least I won't. If you like it, you can get on our mailing list to learn when a new one comes out.  But if you choose not to do that we won't be hurt.    Enjoy.