The night before, my friend Loren, emailed me to tell me that my friend and I would be picked up at 3:30 to go to another hotel and everyone would be caravaned over to the church. My friend's wife, Kathy, came by our room after this email and told us that the plans had changed and we would be going with my friend's aunt to the airport at 415 and my friend would pick up his mom at 330. As we were getting ready, we received a phone call from my friend's aunt at 330 asking about the details of the plan. She asked if we were ready cause our taxi was there. I went out to the lobby and saw that Loren's mom had already gotten in the taxi and drove off. So then a few minutes later, Kiah and I went to sit with the aunt and wait for our taxi. Soon, a taxi rolled up and my friend Loren stepped out of it. Uh oh, THAT was our taxi....but oh wait, the original taxi with Loren's mom pulled up right after Loren. Loren's mom came out of the taxi, upset because the driver didn't know where he was going AND when they found the church, no one was there. Loren's mom was still yelling as Loren stepped out of the car and I hugged him and he told Kiah, "Hi, welcome to Peru." After a few quick words we were off to the wedding. We got in the taxi that was meant for us and Loren and his mom got in the taxi he arrived in. But our driver told us he didn't know where he was going, so I finally got to use the phrase, "Follow that taxi!" Super cool.
When we arrived at the church, we had to wait outside becuase there was a baptism inside. Loren's high school friend Catherine (who also goes by Cathy) and her husband, son and parents were all outside the church. Loren was talking to them when Catherine's mom walks up to me and Kiah and asks how we know Loren. I explained that I had gone to college with him and met him my freshman year of college and that Kiah was just my traveling buddy. Catherine's mom then said "oh, so you are the one that replaced Catherine." Sure grandma, if you want to look at it that way. But then....she said it AGAIN! She told someone else that "this is the girl that replaced Catherine." Ok lady. Point taken.
Then....Kiah and I made a little friend. I should say Kiah made a little friend....and I just made a friend. Catherine and her husband's son, Andrew. Light, sandy hair, green eyes, cheesy smile and 2. He was super talkative and super smart. He kept me and Kiah pretty entertained throughout the evening. He kept wanting to arrange the seating but always wanted to keep sitting next to Kiah. Kiah made a new best friend. However, she was soon replaced by the flower girl. *Enter dramatic music here* The flower girl kept drawing happy faces in Andrew's coloring book and he was overwhelmed with her different happy faces that Kiah was soon forgotten. However, Andrew's night was cut short when he had to leave and it was past his bed time. He did not want to leave his new friend. He was reaching out for her. It was very sad. Love knows no language barriers...or age apparently. My friend was Catherine's mom who was a chatty Kathy. She talked, and talked, and talked, and talked. Catherine, Loren's friend, barely spoke to us and his wife Kathy, we barely saw. Despite the other Katherine's going by Kathy, the mom was the TRUE chatty Kathy.
The wedding as you can imagine was very Catholic with the mass in Spanish and the up/down, up/down that goes along with any Catholic ceremony. It had it's punny moments with the priest talking about the perfect recipe of a happy marriage (Loren is a cook.) The ceremony ended and we were whisked away in a van. But wait, the driver that originally picked us up (cause you know, we had a driver) was the same driver that took us to the reception. All good things come full circle I suppose.
The reception was beautiful: Open bar, specialized Peruvian drinks, great food, even better dessert. Yum. After a few hours, I finally got to talk and catch up with Loren. When we first sat down, we all noticed that there were bottles of whiskey on the table. I asked Loren if it was for the Americans and he said no, whiskey is very big in Peru. Most of their specialty drinks have whiskey. AND that the water and ice were for the Americans. Hmm, interesting. Loren also warned me that we had to wait til after 11 to leave because that's when the party really started. They had Peruvian dancers all throughout the night but at 11, it was a whole Mardi Gras theme. Loren had a crown, Kathy had feathers in her hair and everyone was given a long balloon (the kind that you make into balloon animals) to dance with and bounce around with. It was really cool to see. Loren thought at 11, they would have hats and bears for everyone, as that was the tradition. But no such luck so we had kind of a goofy photo but not a ridiculous one. At midnight, the dancers came back out after they changed and had hats and headbands for everyone. Loren brought me my personalized black hat that had black braids coming out of the sides. We took a thug photo with his new hat and mine.
It rocked. I truly am grateful that I missed Loren's wedding in Lake Tahoe so I could make it to this one in Peru. It was totally a social experience worth having.
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