So in my previous post I discussed my outdoor adventures however an equally shocking experience was when I went to an Ecuadorian wedding. All I can say about that is wow. Clearly that’s not all I can say about it because I am about to describe it to you, however, that one word sums it up probably better than I will be able to.  So it started off in a church where I believe the priest had a bit too much of the blood of Christ to drink because he literally talked for an hour. This was not a dialogue with the newly married couple this was a lecture/long sermon. My first thought thanks to Fernando was hum what an “interesting difference” this is. “In my experience” priests in the states don’t talk that long at weddings. But then I checked with my family and they were equally as shocked as I was. Not simply about the length of time but the topics too. For example topics ranged from if machismo was good or bad, to how marriage was a unity which implied sharing (learn something new every day huh?) and finally to how the groom must not get too drunk at the after party. This last part was good advice that ya just can’t take.

Now to the after party… The food was excellent but that’s not really the interesting part. The interesting part was the sheer amount of alcohol present. However it does not stop there. At American weddings sure there are a ton of booze but maybe some of the young people get drunk. Here, substitute “some of the young people” for everyone over 18 and you’ve got the picture. Ok a bit over exaggeration but a good eighty percent of the people who could be drunk took advantage of this opportunity. Right I have not told you size. There were probably 300 people there. Now back to the booze. Eighty year old men and women were coming up to me trying to get me to take a swig or glass of whatever. Tactics of pretending not to understand were defiantly employed. This alcohol led to dancing and fireworks. Real fireworks. Due to the fact that the people who were lighting them were drunk, one went off in the middle of the party. This however didn’t seem to surprise people as much as I would have thought.

Finally dancing; never in my life have I seen so much salsa done by people of all ages and I have to say on a serious note if I ever get married I hope my party is as fun as this one was.