Peruvian Wedding

Some of us had an opportunity to attend a Peruvian wedding on Saturday. The civil service was suppose to start and 8:30 in a little town about 30 minutes from here, and then the church ceremony was supposed to be on the mountain another hour or so away. We were not originally intending to go to the civil service, but were just planning to be up the mountain in time for the church service. Our van left about 9:30 and when we arrived at the little town, the civil service hadn't yet taken place. Apparently the judge forgot about the wedding (or something) and left town. So, they were trying to contact the mayor or another official who could perform the ceremony. I'm not totally sure what time it was that the civil service actually happened, but it was close to noon before we left that little town.

We made the hour or so trip up the narrow windy mountian road, and only came upon one bus and one dump truck. Both times, one of us had to back up in order to find a place wide enough that both vehicles could pass each other. After we made it to the town where the wedding was to be held, we had to hike about a half mile up hill. (keep in mind that this is about 13,000 ft above sea level.) The little church at the top was a small building with a dirt floor and some wooden benches. Most of the service was done in Qechuan. (however you spell it)

Following the ceremony, we all walked a short way to the new couple's home. We sat on some blankets off to the side, while we waiting for the dinner. People brought out pots and pots of food. My favorite was the pig pieces that were brought out and taken to the kitchen. Finally, they started bringing out bowls of soup. We were a little worried that they might not have enough bowls and would just re-use them over and over without washing them. All of the Qechuans we just sipping directly from the bowls, but they provided all of us with spoons. The soup itself was very good. While we ate the soup, some women came around pots of baked potatoes and corn kernels. One of the women told us that it would be a good idea to peel the potatoes in order to clean them a little bit. I'm so GLAD I cleaned mine. In the process of cleaning off my little potato I accidentally broke off a small piece and found a WORM inside! Blek! Anyway, for the next course we saw massively piled plates of pasta, rice and huge chunks of pork coming out. Thankfully, the portions that came to us we slightly smaller and didn't have any pasta.