FolkFaro Part 2

 Below - the cleanup committee! We had lots of fun punishments for lost items - Mike was really creative! I will never think of "Just Give Me a Reason" the same way since Jarom and Dawson had to sing it as a duet to their lost costume pieces.

 Maggie and Courtney getting cosy at Karaoke night! :-) And Gary and I getting cosy with Richard from Puerto Rico! :-)

One day we got to do a full American show on the main Faro stage at the Marina. What a crowd! The huge audience (2,000+ in audience!) was amazing. They seemed to really like us - and we loved them!

 Pre-show and dinner before the big Marina show

The thrill of a big night, a big crowd, and our full show! They told us that there were over 2,000 people in the audience!

 We dressed up Vitor and Joana in our Native Dress as they were our narrators

 Joe and Maggie playing... some sort of game? :-) Tall to Short, maybe?

Day six at FolkFaro started with an outdoor performance for children at the Faro library. Back at the dorms the dancers worked on their makeup and hair skills. Then after "quiet time" Gary led a dance workshop with help from our team. A poolside performance at 10:00 pm was followed by a USA team "white night" where on the spot performances were organized, and our Portuguese guides (and members of a Portuguese team) taught us a dance.

 What do we do on our downtime? Why, get silly, of course! The kids came up with this one, and while we're not great fans of crossdressing, they really enjoyed it. First the boys did the girls' makeup, then the girls gussied up the boys. Audra even straight-ironed Matt's fro!

 Just a little scary how Trent looked like a girl once we added Maggie's hairpiece to him! And even Vitor got in on the act, below.

 The USA workshop, above (we taught Virginia Reel, clogging and the Cotton Eyed Joe line dance) and the pool party show we did at the Aquashow hotel.

 Every night had a theme party back at the school/dorms. That night it was white night... but since we were the only dancers back from the evenings' performances, we made our own party!

 Trent was super cute with Maggie

 Beach Day! Faro is the capital of the Algarve, the southern region of Portugal famous for its beaches. Tons of British go there on vacation, which is why so many locals speak English! We got to hit the beach for a few hours one day -heavenly!

 Hannah ended up with a wonderful seashell collection!

 Kallie, Hossam from Egypt, Katherine, Crozier, Maggie, Jarom, Cody, Dawson, Abby, Brenna, Jenna, Annabelle

So lucky for us - the local church building was walking distance from our dorms! We got to go to church on Sunday and do a fireside one Saturday (and have a sardine bbq with the local members!) very fun.

But we were getting tired. We started enforcing nap times, because the dancing was suffering due to our kids' fatigue. They resisted at first, but by the end of the tour were begging us to announce a siesta!

Final Day in Faro: Church was in the morning at a nearby Portuguese branch. Then an ecumenical celebration with all the teams was held in the afternoon at Faro's historic Catholic Church. A short parade in downtown Faro (at 10:00 pm!) was followed by final performances by all the teams before a crowd thought to be 7000 strong. Hugs and tears were shared backstage afterward. Finally, a party was held with all the teams back at the dorms. It still wasn't over at 4:00 am!

 Group pictures!

 Waiting to line up for the final parade and marina performance in Faro - everyone loved Mostapha! Look at the tile on that lovely street - it was like that all along the parade route! Gorgeous!

 One last performance

Everyone was paired up for the closing candle ceremony

 Soooo many tears! Since almost everyone at this festival spoke English, we really bonded with many of them. Although we still had one festival to go, everyone was so sad that Folkfaro was over!

 Mairin, Vaishali the Indian team director, Maggie, Mostapha, and Nadia the Egyptian director

We stayed up almost all night, saying goodbye, trading souvenirs, signing t-shirts, chatting in the halls. (No curfew on the last night!) What wonderful people we met - friends forever!

 Last pictures!

Mostapha, above, from whom Gary purchased the most beautiful Egyptian drum, and dear Vaishali, below. Hopefully Gary will be able to go over to India to teach a workshop for her!

And.... one of my favorite moments from the whole tour. As our bus was pulling away to take us north to our next festival, our dear guides Vitor, Fabio, Rafaela, Joana, and Cesar laid down in the street in front of our bus so we wouldn't be able to leave. Aw. We love you too, guys! :') Seriously, we really do. I ADORE Joana - she is a special soul. A beautiful soul. I want to be her big sister! She's the best!