The Ranch!

I'm sure you're all dying for an update...

crickets...

...okay, probably not. But here's one anyway! It's going to be a lengthy, detailed update because I'm using this as my "journal" for my internship assignments from my department at BYU-Idaho.

I had a wonderful road trip, according to the plan explained in the post below. My old roommates and I were able to reunite after being separated in various locations for a year (granted, we were still missing 2 roommates, Lauren and Angela). But alas, it was great!

Saturday I crossed the border, drove 3 miles through Tecate, Mexico and arrived at Rancho La Puerta. My room wasn't ready, or the staff was confused (since I'm not a regular "guest") and I had to sit around and wait for my room. I was thoroughly surprised at how ghetto my room is...but I really can't complain because I have a bed, bathroom, running hot water, electricity, and wi-fi...and it's free. The only problem is the raccoon that keeps waking me up at night. Oye.

After getting settled, I met with one of the full-time instructors here at the Ranch and she showed me around a bit. Then I took the "new guests" tour and orientation. I received my schedule, and you would think I would be good to go from there. Yeah...right...I ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off for a few days.

Sunday, I was scheduled to go on a morning hike. The hike is called the Quail hike, a very easy rolling hills hike, total time of about an hour. After the hike I ate breakfast and then actually went back to bed because I hadn't really gotten any good sleep for a few days with traveling and such. Then I took the rest of the afternoon to walk around and try and locate places here at the resort (it's really easy to get lost, lots of walking paths surrounded by trees with an inaccurate map). Oh, and don't forget a dip in the pool with some sunbathing...Sabbath appropriate right?!? ;)

Monday morning I had another hike. This one called the Alex Oak hike, more of an upward climb up to an oak tree on the hill, total time of about an hour and a half. Once again, I ate breakfast and went back to bed (I had a lot of sleep to catch up on). That afternoon I taught my first class here on the Ranch, Zumba format of course! I think the class liked it! The guests here are much different than I had anticipated. They need extremely simple choreography and a lot of low-impact/intensity moves. Perfect! That makes things super easy on me. After Zumba, I was the assistant for "Partner Thai Massage" so I got to be the instructor's dummy while she demonstrated the massage. I know, it's rough.

Tuesday morning was occupied with another hike. This time I was the "Shepherd" for the Quail hike. That means that I follow the last person of the group and make sure everyone gets back to the Ranch. I also carry a first aid pack and a radio, very official! Then I met with the fitness scheduler and talked about the classes I'm interested in and things I want to do while here. In the afternoon, I took "Pool Pilates" and "Stretch & Relax" followed by a writing workshop (I just thought I'd see what it was like! Ha!).

Today was technically my day off, but I wanted to get some classes in since I kinda slacked off the first couple days and I have to get in 400 hours of "work" while I'm here. No hikes today, but I attended a "Hot Latin Dance" class, followed by Hydro-fit "Wave" class in the pool. After lunch I went to a nutrition workshop and a "Hip Openers Yoga Workshop" and a "Restorative Yoga" class. That last one is pretty sweet...basically 45 minutes of lying down with your eyes closed. This evening I got to play sand volleyball with some of the staff. I got recruited to play on the "Police" team, which consisted of all the staff who work security. White Idaho girl playing volleyball with a bunch of local Mexicans...haha.

For these first two weeks I'm just supposed to be attending lots of classes, getting the feel for the ranch. this caused some anxiety at first because I wasn't sure what to do with such freedom. But now I'm getting the hang of things, scheduling out my days and keeping myself busy. I'm still meeting everyone, there is a lot of fitness instructors and they all have different schedules and a lot of them don't eat dinner in the dining hall with everyone. Speaking of dinner...the cuisine is lacto-ovo vegetarian. They do serve a fish option at dinner, which is keeping me sane. Everything is organic and very gourmet. I feel like I've eaten enough vegetables to last me a year or so!

I do get 2 days off every week. And as of now those days are Mondays and Tuesdays. So, I hope to be able to escape to San Diego and get my fair share of meat and other *gasp* unhealthy foods on those days. Well, I think I pretty much covered my first few days here on the Ranch. If you haven't fallen asleep while reading this, look forward to more updates! Most likely daily updates so I don't have to back track on my journalling. Enjoy!