Dec. 1, 2005
We arrived in Cancun, Mexico on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon. After our drive to Dallas and going through customs and filling out all the papers, it was good to just get to the hotel and relax. However, instead of being excited about being in paradise, we were all concerned about our teammate, Sophia, who was still stuck in customs over some paperwork. I don't think I ever realized how hard it can be to travel and have all your paper work ready and things of that nature. Some of the coaching staff stayed behind with her and kept her company while everything was settled. Turns out that the TCU team, who we rode the same plane with, also had a girl with problems getting into the country so I guess Sophia had some company, and she made a new friend! Fortunately, five hours later, everyone was reunited at the resort and everything was back to wonderful.
We spent the rest of the afternoon getting acquainted with our new home. We did a lot of exploring around the resort and met some new people, and more importantly we had dinner. The hotel was all-inclusive so everything was up for grabs as long as you had your little wristband on. There was also 24 hour room service that turned out to be very convenient. Wednesday came and went and then we had quite a while on Thursday to have some free time to ourselves. We didn't have practice until that afternoon so we got up and had breakfast together. Sophia and I decided after breakfast to go kayaking in the lagoon. It was so much fun, we decided to round our troops, come back and have a race. We ran into some of our TCU friends and arranged a team race but they ended up not showing up. One Horned Frog did make it out however, Adrianne Ross, and she got in a kayak with me for our big race. As soon as we started it was a mess, we were running into each other and hitting each other with paddles. Some girls were in double kayaks and some were in single ones, but all were soaking wet from the splashing. It was a good time, but we didn't want to use all our time getting tired because we still had practice that night. So afterwards we did a less strenuous activity, snorkeling in the lagoon, which was full of all kinds of sea creatures. I stayed on the side and became a photographer and soaked up some sun with Abi and Jessica.
It was good stuff though, we all went to get some lunch after all the water fun and then took a very much needed nap. Practice was pretty suspect because we had so much fun that day it was hard to transition to the whole "back to business" mode. It went smoother as we got further into it and so we were pleased. However, we were pretty tired after so for the rest of night we just hung out in one room together and talked and watched TV. Since our cell phones weren't working, we had plenty of time to bond and spend some quality time together.
As much as we enjoyed the late practice and all our early free time, we had the early practice on Friday. We got up with the sun and got up and down the court. It was very productive and we got ourselves ready for the California game. After practice we used the rest of our day to go shopping and see the sights that Cancun had to offer. Sophia and I did some serious bargaining and bought some good things, had an authentic lunch and then walked along the beach. It was a very relaxed and calm day. We got back to the resort and watched a couple more games that were going on. We watched some film and then went to bed.
Cal was a good team, a lot more physical than we thought. They took it right at us very early in the game but we maintained our composure and kept our head above water. We finished the game very relieved and pleased with our victory. Then we got our head straight for Marshall the very next day.
The game was in the early afternoon which was great. We ate breakfast together and then hit the floor running. We jumped out on the Marshall girls and got a very nice lead. Everyone got to play and run up and down the court. After the game we were free to roam the resort as much as we pleased. We also got to hang out with some of the girls from the other team. I had two friends on the Marshall team who I played AAU with in high school, so we got to catch up and reminisce on the "old days". So all the girls who hadn't left the resort yet hung out that night and compared the life of college basketball, and told stories and just basically made new friends. It was a good time for everyone but in the morning we all went our separate ways and headed back to the states.
The arrival into America was a lot more relaxed for Sophia, which was good for everyone. We made our drive back to Dallas and arrived in Waco that night very happy to be back at home sweet home. So here we are, back to practice and getting ready for Washington on Friday.
Hope to see you guys out at the Ferrell Center, let me know if you can tell I got a tan. Until next time.
Chameka
