North Carolina State University Athletics
Bienvenidos a Mexico
12/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2001
By Patrick Kinas
Cancun, Mexico --- When the plane carrying the NC State women's basketball team touched down on Mexican soil about 6:00 PM Central Time, the adventure began. For the second time in three years, head coach Kay Yow's Wolfpack were back south of the border to take on Mississippi State and Pitt in the Sunsplash Torneo del Baloncesto.
The fun part for me on this trip's first day was actually standing at the Cancun airport to see my passport get rammed with rubber stamps until I could practically see the type jump off the pages. See, this is my first trip outside of the United States. During the trip, I came to find that freshman guard Kendra Bell lived in Germany from her kindergarten through 5th grade years due to her father's job in the military. Forward Carisse Moody's international experience is vast. She played on the gold medal World University Games team for the U.S. in Beijing, China this summer, along with her trip with the Pack to Cancun two years ago. When I asked her for her biggest surprise leaving Cancun in 1999, she replied "they didn't know what a virgin daiquiri was."
The day began at RDU around noon, when the team checked in only to find that a travel case was 12 pounds too heavy with basketball shoes. Fortunately, we didn't have to jettison shoes like an Imelda Marcos yard sale, and soon we were on our way.
Boarding the plane was uneventful, and so was the flight. Or so I thought. It was the quietest flight I've ever taken. The usually chatty Pack was obviously worn down by final exams, because they all were lights-out. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as a few of the Wolfpack would've preferred to swim to Cancun over flying, Moody being one of them.
After a breathtaking view of Miami beach in our descent on our trip's first leg, we were forced to hustle through a hairpin in the spacious Miami airport to reach our connecting gate. About an hour later, we were off and heading to Mexico. On this flight, like the first, I was seat-by-seat with Moody, only this time she didn't sleep. I pulled out a deck of new cards, and we proceeded to pass the time with a couple of hands of rummy and "speed," which is a two-person rapid-fire solitaire-like competition. After an exhausting battle or smarts and reflexes, Moody won our first-ever "International Airspace Speed Championship of the World" in the decisive Game 7.
On the final approach to Cancun International, it looked like any typical U.S. city. However, after landing, it was simple to see it wasn't. Out of the jetway, we were greeted by what I thought was Mexico's answer to the Osmond family. A group of four, clad in snow-white tops and bright turquoise pants. However, they didn't sing. Turns out, it was the uniform of the airport's employees. Then we reached a cordoned, winding area just outside the gate, with 10 windows at the front. If we were in Raleigh last weekend, I might have thought Brittany Spears tickets were on sale. As it turns out, we snaked our way through to the front, where passports were authorized and stamped, and viola... a few technical steps later, we were in Mexico.
Approaching customs with the squads 52 bags, you're checked individually. As you approach with your personal bags, you're asked to press a button just below a stoplight-resembling instrument. A green light and you can "paso" right through. A red light, and all of your belongings are checked. As far as I could tell, we all were green-to-go. Walking outside of the airport, Mexico hit us all - well about 150% humidity on a still-81 degree evening did. We trudged our way to the awaiting bus from the tournament committee, and took a 30-minute ride to the Fiesta Americana hotel, which we will call home for the next five days.
We were ushered into a banquet room by the committee chairman, served a traditional Mexican fruit drink, and informed of the protocol for the next few days. Our games aren't until Friday and Saturday, with a couple of practices scheduled for the next two days.
Dinner was next, and you would think that a first night in authentic Mexico, an indigenous meal might be in order. We took a basically error-free walk from the hotel, and four blocks later, up an escalator to? Rainforest Cafe. The menu was dizzying because of the math involved. A fajita dinner was listed at $115.00. But factoring in the exchange rate, the cost was about $11.50US. As if the players didn't study enough in the last few weeks - another math test at dinner trying to determine how much was how much!
Anyway, after dinner, the long travel day got to most of us, and we headed back to the hotel. As rumor had it, Wednesday's scheduled practice is going to be called off so we can all have an entire fun-day. On the docket is the hotel's breakfast buffet, jet skiing, snorkeling and scuba diving for some in the afternoon.
Well, more on Day 2 tomorrow!
Adios from Cancun!
Patrick Kinas will be writing a diary throughout the season as he travels with the Wolfpack Women.
