First Day in Peru: part two

Wednesday, May 23 4:50 pm PT

"Up in bed taking a break from the party (the wedding reception). I've felt better most of the day, but decided to take more ibuprofen and rest.

Marla's wedding took place in a municipal building about 20-30 minutes from her house. The groom, Ismael, had a friend drive us in his van. The trip was incredible, we got to see more of town and even a bit of countryside, which is built up in the mountains. The poverty in some parts if extremely apparent, as many people live in brick shacks and there are stray dogs and garbage everywhere. Along the winding roads up and down the hills, there were these overflowing garbage bins with dogs and people on top, scavenging. I can not imagine how many bags of poopy paper they run into! Much of Cuzco and the surrounding areas have the same architecture, most of which appears run-down on the outside, but who knows what the inside looks like!

The driver, Mildon, as all drivers here, is crazy on the streets. We nearly crashed into other vehicles, dogs, or people countless times (little did I know at this point some of the car rides I would be taking later in this trip...yikes!). Some of the views along the countryside were breathtaking, the dozens of curving hills folding into one another, the various farms and agricultural plots carved into them. It reminded me of driving to the mountains in California (I think I was referring to the grape vine here, although we weren't on a major highway, just a two-lane one. I wish I had taken a picture on this drive!) but the land on the hills are actually being used here. 

The municipal building's exterior contrasted with the surrounding town, and it looked like it was constructed more recently. However, it was not very busy for a municipal building! It was the middle of the week and we seemed to be the only people demanding anything from the building. We had the ceremony on the ground floor of the building. There was a big open room with pillars holding up the high ceilings and long blue curtains that kept out some of the daylight. In the center of the room, on the far end, was a platform. Marla and Ismael stood in front of this and the judge stood on the platform behind a counter. I took photos throughout the ceremony (although I won't be posting pictures of Marla, Anna or Ismael on this blog*) which only lasted 15 minutes or so. The entire ceremony was in Spanish, so I mostly just watched for the reactions of the Spanish-speakers instead of trying to understand his legal jargon. Once they gave the rings, they signed a marriage licence and gave a fingerprint next to their name. Their witnesses then signed, and we all went outside.

Katie in front of the platform/podium

Outside, we opened some champagne and had some cookies that are similar to those wafer cakes we used to have as kids, but these were quite good. We then drove back with Mildon in order to prepare for the party, but Marla went with Ismael and his parents to pick up the roast. They didn't actually show up to their own reception for about two hours, so we started the hors d'ouerves without them and got to know some of the wedding guests. It was a small gathering, about 15 of us.

hors d'ouerves

In Marla's courtyard

It's custom here that the bride serve everyone before she eats, so Marla and her mother-in-law served us (thank god there were only 13 mouths to feed!) They served the pig roast, bread, tamales, and a spaghetti dish created by Ismael's mom. 

I should get back to the party, just waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in."

The rest of the party was pretty tame, with a cutting of the cake and some dancing. I tried to explain that they should each take a piece of cake and feed it to one another, but Ismael's mom had other plans and shoved one huge piece into both of their mouths for our photo op. It was my first inter-cultural wedding, and it was clear that we were at a Peruvian wedding.

Marla and Ismael went to a fancy hotel for their wedding night, and the rest of us crashed around 9 pm. The sun was setting around 6 pm, and the altitude made us all tired, so it wasn't unheard of. The next day we hit the road on our four-day journey to Machu Picchu...

*If you are family or friends of mine, please let me know if you would like to see more pictures from the trip that include everyone. I have no problem sharing them with you, I just don't want to post them on the internet!