La boda y la Festival de Sopocachi

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So it is the month of December and it is the year 2006. In Bolivia, maybe in other Latin American countries, it is good luck to be married in an even numbered year, so being the last month of the 2006, every Saturday is full of wedding everywhere in the country. So after my friends Nadia and Linnea were invited to a wedding the weekend before and got invited to another wedding, they invited me to come along as well and I tell you that it was an unforgettable experience.

When on woke up on this Saturday morning, I still did not know if I would be going to the wedding or not. Nothing was confirmed, so I called Nadia and she was still wanting to go, then I called Alejandro and Linnea and they really wanted to go as well. So after all the calls were made it was 9:30AM and the wedding was scheduled to start at 11AM, so we would have to rush to get ready. We told Nadia we would take a taxi to her place to pick her up a little after 10:30AM. So at about 10:45 we hopped into a taxi to go to Nadia's home, we are starting to move on Bolivian time here 😊 It was good that we were late, because Nadia was running late, which is nothing new 😉 Finally, we got to the church around 11:10AM and just like everything else in Bolivia, the wedding was running late. It probably didn´t start for another ten minutes or so. The service was pretty normal, however, it was a little hard to understand as it was in Spanish and there were all kinds of words being used that I wouldn't know unless I went to weddings and church services in Spanish all the time. There was a moment where they couldn´t find the wedding rings, but other than that the wedding went smoothly.

Outside the church it was time to congratulate the newlyweds. This included buying confetti from a women on the street for 1 bolivano and getting in line to congratule the wedding party. Everyone congratulated them and threw confetti on their heads, and yes, I took part in this as well. After this was all down, they loaded us into two buses and transported us all to the reception hall. I am not sure we took the most direct route to get there, because it felt like we were on the bus for an awful long time. Finally, the bus stopped and dropped us of somewhere where I though I had never been before (later I found out that I have been to this area before, just didn't recognize it at first). The reception hall was much nicer than I thought it would be, and when we got there there was already beer, singani and chuflay (a drink made with Singani) on the table waiting for us. We sat around talking for the first bit of the reception, as the newlyweds did not show up for quite some time. Eventually, they served us a small lunch consisting of chicken and potato salad. Afterwards, we went to find the couple a wedding gift in the market, as this is where people buy the wedding gifts, and most likely they buy the wedding gifts on the day of the wedding. We roamed around the market with the woman who invtited us, as well as her nephew Freddy, who became my new friend by the end of the day. Eventually, we found them some stuff at a small little kitchen store. We had decided to buy them a couple of crates of beer as well, a very common wedding gift here. Freddy, the nephew of the woman who invited us, hung around me all the time while out shopping. He could understand me as well which made communication easy. He was so fascinated by my camera. Everytime that I took a pictre, we wanted to immediately see how it turned out.

Back to the reception hall we went and while waiting for the couple to show up, we continued on with the drinks at our table. Sometime after 4PM, they newlyweds finally arrived at the reception hall. They marched around in the circle as we were all applauding them and then with a glass a champagne there were many toasts to the newly married couple. Next were the dances and I have never seen so many dances before everyone is invited in to the dance. There were dances with the cake godparents and alcohol godparents (guess what they are responsible to paying for... and Katie, if you are reading this, I am just not a cake or alcohol Godfather to Alex, just a normal Godfather 😊 )

Like most people, after all the toasts were done, we went back to our seats and had a few more drinks before heading out onto the dance floor. I tell you the people like to dance here and I gotta say it was lots of fun, especially dancing with total strangers. After a bit of dancing, the group of us got in line to give the couple there wedding gifts. First, we had to buy the beer from the specially designated room for buying beer and then we brought it up to the couple and placed it in front of them with the wrapped gifts that we bought earlier. The gift giving ceremony is much different than anything that I have ever seen before. First, you recongratulate the wedding party and throw more confetti on their heads. Then it is time to take back three drinks, and the drinks have to be finished in one go, otherwise they will refill your glass. For ever drink, you have to pour a little onto the floor as a sacrifice to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and then drink whatever is left. The tip that Nadia and Linnea gave us was to give a little extra to Pachamama, just to make things easier. And if you were wondering where all these liquids go, there is a drain in the floor. The first drink was a glass of champagne with a cherry in it. I was putting my glass back on the waiter´s tray and my friends were only have way through their drinks. Most be the east coast blood in me. The second drink was a rum and coke and this was followed by a glass of beer, which of the three was the hardest to take back (mainly because the high altitude causes beer to me more gaseous). Finally, the wedding came around and thanked us and threw confetti on our heads as well. I am thinking that I may have to integrate this into some Canadians weddings when I get back 😉

The rest of the night was spend between the table having some drinks, and on the dance floor, having more drinks. Every 15 minutes or so, a waiter came around with some really tasty shots... I lost count of how many I had. Then there was the communal glass of beer that a guy walked around with, pouring beer into it, giving it to people, and once the glass was finished it was off to the next person. I now that it doesn´t sound sanitary whatsoever, but I took part in it anyway. (And if you really want to know, I did not get sick after). There was even one point where we had to balance the glass of beer on our head and dance with it, and trust me, after a few drinks, this isn't so easy. The four of us danced most of the evening when music was playing, not only with each other, but we other guests at the wedding. A choleta (woman dressed in traditional Bolivian clothing) asked we to dance and of course I accepted. What an experience dancing with a woman probably in her forties, wearing traditional clothing and singing to all the songs. After a short break, another women, probably in her mid-forties, asked me to dance and of course I would not turn down an opportunity to dance at a Bolivian wedding. We were out there for about an hour and she started getting pretty possessive of me. Everytime I would dance with someone else, I could see the jealousy in her eyes. So after dancing, I went back to the table to talk with my friends and she followed me and sat down beside me. It was very hard to understand her as she had been drinking quite a bit, but I definitely understood her when she said "Te quiero. ¿Me quieras?" (a literal translation would be "I love you. Do you love me?") So, then I had to resort to a plan that I thought that I would not have to use and that was to pretend that Nadia was my girlfriend for the night. She didn't seem very happy with Nadia but was still very pleasent towards me. She had told Nadia that she was looking for someone to get her out of Bolivia. I guess she didn't realize that I wasn't looking for someone in their mid-forties, widowed and with children.

At probably around 8:45PM, the four of us left to check and see if anything was still going on for the Festival de Sopocachi. Remember those pictures I have posted of people dancing in the street before and said that was the prelude to a bigger festival, well this was it. Even though we only caught the end of it, it was still spectacular to see. I´ll let the picture do the describing for me.

I would like to say thanks to Freddy, the little boy in the pictures, for taking all the pictures of me and my friends at the wedding. I let him use my camera throughout the entire reception, which ended up benefiting me because I actually have pictures of myself.

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Photos

Confetti everywhere
It is a tradition here to congratulate the wedding couple and the wedding party by saying "Felicidades" and shaking their hand or giving them a kiss on the cheek.

Cans behind getaway car
They still use cans behind the getaway car... of course, on Saturdays, you can here these cars going by everywhere.

Spiffed Up Pat
The first time in Bolivia that I had to dress up in a shirt and tie. I seemed to be the most colorful person at the wedding.

Bowler Hats
This was taken on the bus ride to the reception hall.

Bowler Hats
Here the women are again, this time walking to the reception hall. The indigenous peoples' formal wear is so nice here.

Reception Hall Districit
The reception was held near the Cemetery District and it seemed like the street we were on only contained reception halls.

Confettii Dispenser
This contraption contained lots of confetti to dump on the married couple during their first dance.

Drinks at the table on arrival
When we arrived at the reception hall, there were four beer, a bottle of Singani and some other mixed drink on our table...when the bottles were empty they were replaced pretty much immediately.

Entertaining Kids
These kids just loved to dance.

Habana Tropical
The hall where the reception took place...it beat my expectations for where we would be celebrating.

Comments

[Onehorsetown Loaferville]

fascinating!
What superb photos you've taken of this wedding. They really struck me. How lucky to be invited to a wedding! I will be in Bolivia next May/June and I cannot wait.