Team Day!

This day started a bit later because today was our free day. After we woke up and ate breakfast, the group gathered together and boarded busses to a ranch. The ranch was owned by one of the best matadors in all of Tlaxcala. The bus ride took about an hour. Once we finally arrived, the matador took us to see the field of bulls. The bulls range from black to brown, and some were spotted. We all took pictures of the bulls gallavanting around their field. Then, we walked through a field which had bulls in it, with NO gate separating us from the raging bulls. The bulls ran around crazily, and scared everyone on the team with their constant groans. After that, the whole team gathered in a room full of newspaper cutouts about bullfighting. The room was literally filled with posters and photographs, ostentasiously showing off vibrant pictures of bulls and their bullfighters. Following this, the bull ranch presented us with delicious appetizers. We tried different foods and delicious drinks. Along with the traditional Mexican staple, tamales, we also ate very interesting snacks, including pig skin, and drank some ethnic beverages. Most notably was a juice created from the pulp of a flower. After munching our appetizers, the whole team headed over to a bull ring located on the property. A very tiny, brown haired baby bull was led into the ring. He looked very skinny, and had the number "57" branded into his skin. At first, the matador beguiled the bull with a pink and yellow cape. The bull kicked and rammed into the cape several times. Then the matador brought out the traditional red cape. The baby bull got even angrier. After this, the matador invited members of out team out into the ring. At first our teammates were a little tame, and acted shyly with the bull, but then they became rather adventurous and started teasing the bull by running around and shaking their bodies. One of the plastic surgeons, Dr. Blas, got rammed and stepped on by a bull! However, he got back up, and into the ring again After playing with the bull with the cape for awhile, the team then decided to play a game. Some team member received a domino card, and they needed to put their domino card in the middle of the ring before the bull raged after them. This game caused much apprehension, as many of the team members were a little nervous to be in the same ring as the bull. Luckily, nobody got hurt, and the game ended without any injuries. After staying at the bull ring, the whole team headed over to the food area, where we were served lunch while members of Tlaxcala's Rotary Club sang for us. We were served tacos with pork and beans, along with some bread and rice. After we ate lunch and conversed with each other, the whole team boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel. A famous historian came to meet us at the hotel, and gave us a very interesting presentation about the history of Tlaxcala. We learned about the origins of the city, and the special archaeological sites in the Tlaxcala community. After this presentation, we had a team meeting, where we played the Name Game and talked about the schedule for the next day. We then had dinner, where we had some of the same and some different foods from lunch, and then after dinner, we headed back to our rooms. We divided our toys and toothbrushes for surgery day tomorrow, and with sleep already forcing our eyes to close, we collapsed on our beds to sleep. We can't wait for tomorrow to see the kids!!!!