Hands down the best way to spend the weekend.
Not only did I get to see the most amazing, spectacular wedding EVER (don’t even get me started on how crazy it was to pull this all together in less than three months), but I am so honored to be able to say I was a part of it. Irving’s brothers had a double wedding and asked me to be one of the madrinas. (Can you imagine how shocked I was that I was even considered?) As soon as we got to his hometown in Purepero, everything was already super busy. And yet, even though it was the morning of his wedding, his brother was still thoughtful enough to show us around town, just so I could get a gist of what it was like. It reminded me so much of the Philippines, only with a greater sense of community, which I love. They showed me the fresh beef they were gonna use for that night’s dinner, had me meet some of the relatives, and finally I got ready.
Both brides and their parties walked in a procession through town to get to the church, and I kid you not when I say practically the whole town was watching. After Mass, we all walked to the hall where the party was—and we didn’t get back until six in the morning. Irving had me meet all his family, and they always included me in everything, from dancing to pictures. I spoke to everyone with terrible Spanish, but whatever. Towards the end, his uncle asked me to dance traditional dances with him, and of course I looked ridiculous, but it was SO FUN! At the very end of the night, whoever was left at the reception grabbed an instrument from the banda and we made our own “music.” Needless to say, that was one thing I wasn’t too bad at. ;] And I’m not gonna lie: I felt pretty darn cool being the only girl cleaning in heels after the party.
We woke up at 6 pm the next day and fell back asleep within hours. That was totally awesome.
On Sunday, we drove around town to drop off some of the borrowed stuff from the wedding and hung out with more of his family members. I love them all—they are the most hospitable and welcoming people EVER. I honestly couldn’t believe it when they said their house was my house! I never thought I would legitimately hear that! We also went to the plaza for the open-air market, a.k.a. my favorite things in the WORLD. His cousins both had taco stands and gave some to us for free :) Later that night was the town carnaval, and the tradition was that the girls would walk around in the plaza in a circle. The guys in the outer circle would walk around throwing confetti to the girls they thought were cute. hehe! We didn’t walk in the circles since we only stayed for a while, but before we left, they somehow bought a bag of confetti without my knowing. Of course, Irving dumped the entire bag on me! After his sisters and friends chatted for a while, we all drove to a late-night taco stand on their cute vintage van…and I will proudly say I ate four tacos.
I felt terrible the next morning though (it was probably from the giant bag of amazing chocolate banana milk/milkshake from the plaza), so I couldn’t wake up until noon. Irving’s whole family ran around, made sure I was comfortable, and got me some medicine and tea while he was still knocked out haha. When I was feeling a little better, he walked with me to the plaza to get some souvenirs for my family, as well as say goodbye to all his family down the street. And then the best part of the trip came unexpectedly: their family friend lent us her motor scooter and he drove me around town! That was SOOOOO cool—I didn’t care if I looked/sounded like such a tourist. We went back to his house, packed, and got some food for the airport (I could only eat bread since I still wasn’t feeling well and could only take a few bites of torta before feeling sick again…sigh). Next thing I knew, I woke up in the car at Guadalajara (a lot sooner than expected, if you catch my drift hehehe).
Saying goodbye to everyone was so difficult, especially since they were so unbelievably warm and welcoming. I wish that we have their sense of community here like they do there—I know for sure I’d love to have most of my entire family within walking distance of my house. It was such a blessing to be able to go. And to be honest, I’m glad we didn’t go anywhere tourist-y or urban; I love being able to soak into the real culture and getting a sense of life there.
My favorite phrase that I learned was my response when they would ask me if I’m coming back again: “espero que si.”
