The Wedding

(the bride's bouquet)


I know, I know...I'm a little delayed on posting anything about the wedding but you must understand; I have no computer, and well, I've been a little busy.

Honeymoon. Right?

It is official. I now have a husband. Much to Lorin's dads dismay there was no leg wrestling matches or anything that included fighting over my hand in marriage. It came as no surprise to me, no-one that had read our announcement in the local newspapers came forward to protest this union (paying one off handsomely works!...).

Thus upon our return in the death-defying chicken bus from La ciudad de Guatemala I rushed off to do those typical bride duties. Retrieve my dress from it's secret location (Dad and Jeanne's room), pick up bunches of flowers from the local mercado (my negotiating skills had much improved as only $15.00 USD got me loads of Gerber daises, eucalyptus and some other local pretty little flowers) and final take a shower and prepare myself.
















This really just meant me trying to rub off all my peeling skin so I didn't look THAT bad in my strapless dress.

Once I had done that I settled down with Jeanne (my stand in maid of honor) with a glass of wine and waited.




However, as we were settling down we suddenly heard the noise that no bride wants to hear; the cracking of thunder followed by a sky full of lightening. And, as you can imagine all followed by pounding rain. I'm SURE that sheets of rain an hour before your wedding is good luck. I think I've told a bride or two that before (Rachel Hoff, am I right?)












(jardine, before the rains)








So I looked out the beautiful wood adorned window and saw the men dressed in their Mayan outfits running around to move all the covered chairs, tables, candles and whatever else was out in the jardine (garden) to safety. Above me I heard the big tables that had been set up so beautifully on the roof-top terrace being drug into what I would assume would be a dry environment. A few seconds later came the ringing phone, "Seniorita, una pregunta..." she said...I knew what her question was to be, could we move the wedding. Without hesitation, I said, "yes, I understand...I hear/see the rain". After all, I too did not want to be sitting in the pouring rain saying my Spanish vows. Thus, our beautiful garden/roof-top terrace wedding was moved into the "salon".


Shortly thereafter came the knock at the door; it was Lorin asking Jeanne, in a somewhat shaky voice, "How is she (Heidi) doing?". I'm sure his thought was the rain had pushed me over the edge. But, for whatever reason I was as calm as calm could be. What rain I said? And, continued to drink my wine.

If that was the worst that could happen, what could I really be upset about?

So, about 20 minutes later I was walking through the courtyard and into the Salon to marry my husband.

I could hear what seemed like 8000 camera's clicking which was funny since there was only 15 of us. But, apparently someone was rather camera happy?

As I walked in, I saw the biggest smile that all of you could only imagine emerge from Lorin's face. In part I'm sure relief that I made it and didn't steal a burro to run off, and in part because a little make-up, a little sun and a pretty dress can make any guy smile.

And together we sat down, behind the required desk. And above us in full regala stood Astrid (the lawyer) speaking to us in Spanish about commitment, and love, and rules of marriage (read from the Guatemalan book on marriage). Then she said, "you may kiss the bride". Confusion set in for both of us, kiss the bride...? We had not even said our vows? Apparently in Guatemala you get to kiss before the vows and rings are exchanged (which she slightly explained under her breath). So we kissed, somewhat awkwardly and with some serious concerns plaguing our minds whether this was the end. But it wasn't. She continued in Spanish and then asked us to read our Spanish lines to each other, and again in English so those who only knew English could hear what we were saying. The rings were exchanged and viola...more kissing. Then she asked for a witness to sign our documents and then the most beautiful thing happened. Everyone came forward and signed as a witness. Apparently as many witness as you want can sign, and everyone in our group did so...although I did turn to Isais and say, "you better get up here and sign this thing". And so he did (my motherly voice comes in handy at times).


(the rings before giving them away)







(us exchanging vows and rings)










We were so happy to see that everyone with us so eagerly to support this union. And with such strong emotions.

Then we were presented to all.

We followed up with an amazing dinner with drinks, and dessert. And shared toasts with all, re-stepping our last week with everyone and all of us so glad that the journey had allowed us to meet one another and share this occasion together.

Then after the good-bye's and good lucks in walked five other fellow volunteers to take us out for a night cap and a show of congratulations. A perfect ending to a perfect marriage.

Thankfully my now husband enjoyed himself so much that he is willing to do it all over again, May 8th. In his words, "I'd marry you as many times as you want". In my words, "does that mean I get fancy dress, fancy room and a trip to Guatemala?".

So yes, it did happen. And although it wasn't quite the same as I had had it pictured in my head, it was still the best day of my life. Lest all of you. As much as I would have loved to have so many of you there, by my side, I still luckily enough had my best friend next to my side.

Wedding Message

From my neighbor, Evan.

Notice I just have a "husband"

Volcan Pecaya

Top 5 things not to do when hiking a volcano:

5. Not buy a handmade walking stick carved by the local kids (I bought one, the boyfriend did not)

4. Not eat a lunch beforehand.

3. Dont wear a skirt when hiking on to a peak at 13,000 ft (it may constantly blow up and show your panties to all around you)

2. Be at the end of the pack where the horse guys are following you saying "taxi, taxi".

1. Began the hike after 4:30, you will then be hiking down the lava at night. Lorin and I, the only true hikers out of our pack, constantly were saying "ah, we need to head down"...most others looked at us like we were the old fun-haters. And as we all know, I dont hate fun, just hate death.

Lemme back up...

I know some may want to hear/read about the wedding, but more importantly I want to share with you all our last day with the familia de Santa Maria de Jesus.

Just like every other day for the last week, we woke up to the un-harmonic clanging of the churchbells (who gave this guy the job of ringing the bells, sweet lord he needed to go to church ringing school). But unlike the other days, we knew this was going to be the last day of our build and our time with the family. Thus sadness settled in amongst us as we talked about it around the breakfast table. We discussed what the week of the build had meant to each of us, slightly happy to not be on the 30 lb bucket brigade any longer, but also slightly sad to know that we would not be walking in through the metal corrugated door any more saying our "buenas dias" to the family.

With these thoughts rolling through our heads we all probably took in the sites a little bit longer as we drove through the town, saying "adios" to everyone we passed on our way to the home.

Everything looked so different as we pushed open the door; no more piles of sand or rock, no more scalfolding that we used to sit and eat our lunch on. But there was a 4-sided structure that was at least 6 feet tall complete with a cement floor. And Hugo, the father, with a proud smile on his face knowing that today would include a paint job and a roof and then viola...a complete house.

Mostly our job was to paint. Two of us on each side, Don and I continuing our week-long tradition of Team Jovag and Hamlin and Lorin and Jeanne on the other wall. We started inside with the color of sky blue, picked by the mom Margarita. As we started the paint process, and got about a wall plus done I realized something was missing...the kids...thus I called over Manuel, handed him a brush and gave him some simple instruction about painting. He was beyond ecstatic and when I asked him if he was happy to be helping he nodded his head with the biggest smile on his face and gave up any element of being shy and not trusting me. Slowly Michelle came over and giving her the same instruction and sitting with them to guide them we continued our painting. They getting all the spots below me, and beyond getting colored blue, they were having the time of their lives.



This continued the rest of the day and happily I can say that Manuel never stopped painting until we were finished. At some point Michelle was taken in for a round of clean-up which brought on some tears as it meant she wasnt allowed back to help. I can also say that those once-shy kids were now considering me a little like a surrogate mom, looking up at me to make sure they were doing things "right".

Finally the roof was on, the painting done, both metal window and door were installed and tools were cleaned up.

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This was what I think we all dreaded. The end. A small group had gathered to have a final gathering and exchange of the keys to the new house. Oscar, the director, and Joe, the founder of the program, came with others to speak to all of us and have a little ceremony. They began by explaining to the family why we were there; to help them have a healthier, happier life (all in Spanish). Many times the family, who stood very humbled, would look at us and exclaim "gracias" or "dios" or other words of gratitude. By the end, I think all of us felt emotional and were only so happy to hand over the keys, George kissing them with blessing before handing them to Hugo. And then the hugs, and kisses and goodbyes. But not before I was called in to the house as Isais and Abei told us that the family had a gift.

Handmade bags. Or bolsas for all of us.

It was the sweetest sentiment this family could give.


(family and build team)


I will always think of them. And as the door closed behind us Lorin and I took off our work shoes and left them at the front door hoping that they can find some use for them, along with the work gloves and clothes left behind. Or, at least have some rememberance of us.

Id like to think Ill see them again one day, and who knows....

Wedding Day

As the church bells rang, again, at 6am etc. etc. I woke up the "bride". However, unlike most brides I had to go to Guatemala City to pick up our last bit of paperwork. The Estado de Libertad.

Thus we had breakfast and started our adventure, trying to get to Guatemala City.

Hmmh.

How is this going to work? I know we have to get on a bus, or pay $40 usd via taxi to get there but how does the bus system in Guatemala really work?

Well, as one of the multi-colored buses approached us with a guy hanging out the door yelling "guatey, guatey, guatey" we hopped on board, taking the last two seats available, in the back. Lorin was ahead of me, I seated against the very back door.

As one leaves Guatemala you immediately start heading up one of the mountainous roads that eventually takes you to Guatemala City. Thinking nothing of it I settle in for a sight-seeing tour but as I look at the seat in front of me I notice that everyone is praying. Sweet Jesus I said. What is this about...

Then as we starting hitting the turns I knew. Im not really sure what kept our bus from tipping over other than possibly all the prayers on board. I do know that we would take the corners at a speed of about 60 mph, and every single person would slid to the end of their seat. But those that have done this numerous times just lift up and return to their position in the seat. Me, I think I left indentation in the seat in front of me. I looked at the guy next to me constantly apologizing for ending up in his lap.

This high speed, half-keeled bus situation lasted a good 20 plus minutes. Of which I may have found religion too?

Finally, after meeting some boy who was most helpful and took us where we needed to go we made it to the Embassy. The American Embassy has high high high security and through it all, we were the only Americans in there. Maybe 150 Guatemalans were trying to get visas, or passports, or something else but it made our task much easier....thus we got it...the Libertad de Estado.

SO, everything is final and off I must run to pick up flores and my dress, I got a wedding in a couple of hours to attend to!

How many brides can honestly say they just are getting ready 2 hours before their wedding starts? Well, we just got home and moved to our hotel, thus....

Wish you were all here to celebrate with us, pero, mas tarde!

Finalmente

Are we done planning this wedding thing yet?

Can we just get the show on the road?

Do we have to look at one more location?

For those interested, the plan is as follows:

Tuesday, April 12th, at 7pm we will be saying our vows and celebrating with a roof-top dinner for 15 personas

The location is the Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo in Antigua.

http://www.posadadedonrodrigo.com/antigua/

Weekend Time

Finally, some time off.

Holy crap we´ve been working hard here in the mountains of Guatemala. My skin is red, and peeling. My lips are red and peeling, my back hurts, my arms are tired but we´ve been having an awesome time!

So Lorin and I decided to rent bicycles and peddle our way to a coffee plantation in more of the hot, blistering sun. Did I mention I am a white girl turned red? Thus we packed the backpacks, ordered some sandwiches to go and found a place via the girl at the Tobacco y Vino store and got ourselves on some nice "cruiser" bikes. Mine was powder blue with a basket...if only I would have had a bell.

Getting out there was a little like a nightmare as we navigated the cobblestone roads and squirmed our way in between rickshaws, cars, trucks, people and other bicylist. Yes, I did mention rickshaws, it confuses me too...am I in India? But once we left Antiqua and got on to the road it was smooth sailing. Minus the fact that I like to ride in a skirt...apparently from Lorins perspective men were giving me the once and twice over, one even filming the site.

We passed through one little pueblo and then rode onto the plantation. Which turned out to be more of a tourist deal than we quite thought. I could not justify paying USD 18.00 to walk around a coffee farm thus we saw a bit and then continued our ride.


(me cooling off in the fountain)

After a couple of stops at some of the tianga´s (which are small open air markets common in latin america) we found our way back home. Not before organizing our next trip for Sunday, climbing the volcano Pecaya.




So wish us luck as we start our ascent Sunday at 4pm, hopefully seeing the sun set and the lava shoot up. From talking with others we do apparently get fairly close to the lava flow...close enough to burn your shoes if one is not careful. Ciudado. Careful I say...

Info de la boda

(actual bride our first night here...much better dressed than I will be)

Date: 13th de Abril

Where: Narrowing it down

Facts to marrying in Guatemala:
Step 1 find a man willing to marry you in Guatemala (as opposed to Seattle)

Step 2 test his Spanish skills and make him in charge of all the paperwork to settle things in Guatemala. First we had to provide our passports and birth certificates to Washington State to be "certified". Next we had to send them to the Consulate of Guatemala in San Francisco to be "certified".

Step 3 find lawyer in Guatemala.

Step 4 fly to Guatemala not knowing if anything you brought was correct.

Step 5 place an ad in 2 Guatemalan newspapers announcing the marriage. Currently it is posted in the La Hora de Guatemala and El Diario de Guatemala using our lawyers address should there be any objections. When I asked her yesterday she sadly said no men have come forward...porque¿

Step 6 go to Guatemala City (try not to get robbed) and go to the American Consulate to get a libertad de estado. Meaning we are both free to marry.

Step 7 present all this to the lawyer, with our "gifts" to each other. In our case, the gifts are the rings. This will all be included in the ceremony thus she must have them before, personally had I not met her I´d have thought she was probably going to rob us of our rings...pero no.

The only other thing we know yet is that in Guatemala you must get married sitting down behind a desk. Thus we must find a place where we can haul in a desk and two chairs to sit in. Oh, and legally she can only marry us in Spanish...thus I better start studying what I am about to agree to...what is the translation for "obey and serve" again...?

Un Tipico dia

6:00am - church bells go off
6:15am - church bells go off
6:30am - church bells go off

I think my boyfriend is not enjoying the churchbells anymore.

7:30am - our house mom, Irma, cutest woman ever, makes our breakfast and brings our packed lunch to her "nino´s" complete with a napking in the bag.

8:45am - we pile in the back of the trucks with Isais and Abei to head up into the mountians. Riding in the back of the pickup is a little unnerving for some.

9:15am - arrive at jobsite saying our buenos dias to the familia, and tiredly put on our sunscreen, and gloves and get ready to start the day.

12:00 ish - we stop for lunch and eagerly unpack our lunch from Irma never quite sure what she has made us for the day. Usually it consists of bread and ketchup...I´m thinking my ketchup intake of late is more than the last year? Than usually I find Abei or Isais sprawled out somewhere taking a nap. The white girl from Seattle can not take a nap ANYWHERE on the josite. Sweet lord it is about 1000 degrees up there...thus I tease them and then head off to find one of three things; the tortilla lady, the dulceria or the tiends that has ¨Gatorade frio" meaning it will be luke-cold. Cool with me.



(Isais taking a nap)

1:00 ish - back to work. Hard work. Hot sun, concrete mixed by hand and hauled by bucket. It hasn¨t been easy work, but we are a pretty strong team minus the couple of days Jeanne got the Latin American stomach revenge. Thus we have kept up being a member plus short. We have a schedule to keep and a house to build...

3:00ish - start cleaning and locking up tools, climb back in the truck and head home. Always a little tired, a little sore and a little sunburned.

4:45 ish - head home for a much needed shower and possibly a nap. However, the soon to be bride has a lot to plan for her Guatemalan wedding thus many an afternoon is spent walking the streets doing our wedding stuff.

7:30pm . dinner with Irma. Last night, por ejemplo, we had black beans, chili rellanos, and bread. Mmh. Went well with my stack of tortilla,s I bought for 1.50 quetzals...about 20 cents usd.

10:00pm - fall asleep

7 Days and counting

¨Chinita¨ was what was written on top of the windshield of the red truck we were about to climb into that would take us to our jobsite located in Santa Maria de Jesus. A small hill-top town of about 3000 people. This is where we would meet the family that we were to spend the next 6 working days with.

As the road twisted and turned and our speed increased from maybe 10 mph to 13 mph, we all started getting a little anxious. Where were we going, what are we really doing, and where are we really going to go the bathroom?



Finally after passing many "curva peligrosa" signs and many stray dogs alongside the road we pulled to a stop in front of a fence constructed entirely of dried cornstalks. Abei, one of our group leaders, knocked on the corrugated metal "door" and we were greeted by a man, the father of the house, his wife, two sons and one little daughter. In we went. To our left was a makeshift bathroom with a bottom of a toilet, some sheets and blankets covering the three sides. Beyond that was a huge pile of sand, a huge pile of rocks, and about 400 hundred blocks. These are to be our construction tools for the next 6 days.

We said our holas, introduced ourselves to the familia...the kids; Manuel 5 yo, Michelle 3 yo and David who is about 11 months. Instantly I want to take them all home, especially Michelle




The next days are going to be hot, dusty, tiring but oh so much fun! Hopefully we can get los ninos to smile even more...and get this house built!

Mas tarde!

Fly fly fly away with me

Wedding dress ironed. Check.

Passport. Check

10,000 hand sanitizers, TP, and bathroom wipes. Check
(this last week of peeing in my back yard has prepared me well for living w/out indoor plumbing-note to others, when you have only one bathroom in your house, don't gut it a week before you leave on a major trip)

Emergency Spanish book complete with phrases like; "help, your llama is biting my leg" or "is that big, tall volcano at the base of our town erupting?". Check.

Husband-to-be ... where is that guy? Hopefully he hasn't backed out...

Off we fly...

Why I love Latin America...

Need I say more?

The Plan

We are flying out Saturday, arriving in Guatemala City early Sunday morning which is Easter. Thus arriving in the midst of "semana santa" a very big deal for Latin American countries.

On Monday morning, bright and early, we show up to begin building a house for a family in need. At the completion of the house, the following Monday, we plan on celebrating with the family and then leaving to get "hitched" and ending with a dinner celebrating the "boda".

Hopefully we can bring you along on our journey both through photo's and written communique. Thus you will all feel just like you are there.

Background

In the fall of 2007 I had returned home (with my dog Madelina) from Mexico; tan and unemployed. The things parents can only hope for their 35 year old daughter. Thankfully I also had a carefree attitude that allowed me to not really care about what people thought about my employed or unemployed status. Plus, in my mailbox an exciting job possibility loomed. One filled with many benefits; two hour lunches, no work on Fridays...ahhh...only good things could come from this.

A summons for Jury duty. In Superior Court. Making $10 a day + bus passes.

It wasn't really an option to go or not to go, I was summoned. And in red it stated "special jury selection". Wow, even the Superior Court thought I was special! Did they know I was tan and unemployed?

Well, it turned out 300 of us were summoned and they were only selecting (12) people to sit on a murder case of a 15 year old gunning down/killing a 50 something year old Boeing employee while he was driving to work. Apparently there had been a lot of media coverage, and some special information that the Judge had decided to have be "inadmissible in court". Thus the tan, unemployed girl that had been traveling through Mexico without TV was a good jury candidate.

The first day all 300 of us arrived, eager to serve (only written to impress any Judge reading this). They brought us in to a large room and made us wait for a couple of hours before even starting the process. Thus the 300 of us sat around and tried to occupy our time; reading, picking our cuticles or talking to our neighbors.

In steps the over-eager Lorin Jovag, who was sitting across from me looking anxious and probably, like the rest of us, bored. He strikes up conversation with the girl on his right who was so perfectly dressed in her yellow business suit and a couple of other neighbors, finally including me in what they were talking about. Then lunch was called out, and the three of us began our next two week tradition of eating lunch together.

After two weeks, the verdict was in; I was selected as juror number 4 and Lorin was selected as juror number 5 in the Superior Court with Judge Steven Gonzalez as presiding judge.

Over the next 4 weeks, juror number 5 and I ate lunch every day together and he even started riding the bus home with me. And then finally, after our 2 day deliberation and the verdict of "hung jury" came in, he asked me out. For Valentine's Day. I'd say that is a lot of pressure for a guy, but I was leaving to travel back to Mexico for 14 days thus he had to do it then or not for awhile.

Happily we've celebrated two Valentine's Day's since then and in July of last year he woke me up singing with a small black grey jewelry bag in his hand. He is lucky that he has a career as an Engineer...I don't think the singing would take him too far in this world.