A Joyous Celebration

This morning began a little bit earlier than normal as we needed to leave Lazy Dog by 8:15 in order to get to the celebration of both marriage of Carlos and Nancy, and the baptism of Juan Carlos and Lenin, on time. So after a quick breakfast of pancakes, fruit salad and granola we left. 12 of us managed to fit into two taxis; this required that in each taxi two of us sat in the trunk which was surprisingly comfortable and had even been retrofitted with bars to hold onto. ( This was not an activity planned for the group, but the result of one of our taxis not showing up. In typical Peruvian fashion the drivers and the kids made do and found a way to get everyone to town in time.)

We arrived at the church, expecting to see upwards of 200 people in attendance but saw only 3 people inside working on decorations. This created a bit of confusion as those of us in taxis were unsure of the exact location of the marriage and baptism celebrations. Soon the groom arrived and we were reassured that we were in fact in the correct location.

The ceremony soon began and community members filed in throughout the course of the celebration. Despite having the entire ceremony conducted in Spanish, a few of us were able to gather the main components and even understand some of the exchanges between the priest and the now married couple. The Apostles’ Creed and The Lord’s Supper were among the elements that we were able to recognize.

Nancy and Carlos united within a chain by the godparents of the marriage.

It was lovely to see the two children baptized, especially since you could see the joy in Jeffs and Sarah’s faces.

Lenin and Juan Carlos being baptized.

We were given some rice on the way out of the church, which we threw onto the bride and groom outside. When we arrived outside there was a full band, complete in snazzy suits and white shoes. After being beamed in the head by projectile candy, we were accompanied to a hall for the wedding reception, by the band.

The band led the way to the hall.

Inside the hall we danced, drank, and delighted in the company of our new friends.

Carlos’ Mom.

After three wonderful dances (which lasted a LOT longer then we thought they would, because the musicians chose to give us 5-10 trick endings in their songs) we headed ‘downtown’ which we had already visited once, to shop just a little more.

Lunch was at Cafe Andino (where we had been once before) and we were able to indulge in some delectable sandwiches and the local take on milkshakes. After lunch we traveled back up to the Inn and many of us donned our newly acquired Peruvian attire.

The original plan had been that we would join in the celebration at Nancy’s house following the wedding but we learned that the party had gotten a little bit too rowdy, even for us folks from Alberta, the “Texas of Canada.”

Despite this, a few of the adults headed down to assess the situation while the youth remained at the Inn.

The Hills are alive.

Some of us stayed and played Dutch blitz, listened to musical soundtracks and various other activities while Montana, Daverin, Taij, Arnika and Sam took the dogs for an extremely long walk and got to witness the sunset over the mountains and into the beautiful valley. The clouds were golden to the west and pink to the east; it was wonderful!

 

For supper we had spaghetti with a wonderful pesto and various other sauces. Dessert was scrumptious and our friend Micah input some of his characteristically dry humour as he told us what we were about to eat.

Overall, this day has been busy but incredible from its waking moments until our early bedtime in preparation for our hike on the morrow!

Hopefully we will have some spectacular views to share with you in our post tomorrow so stay tuned!

Goodnight 🙂