The Big Fat Latin Wedding

We sure are having a blast down south in Mexico. We are getting aquainted with lots of Maho's family still living here: lots of Aunts, Uncles and cousins.

Yesterday we went to his cousins wedding. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. For starters, their wedding day was their first date! I'm not kidding. The guy served his mission here, so knew the family somewhat. Then Maho's cousin (Irais)and him started emailing back and forth when he went home from his mission. He lives a few hours away. I don't know how long the emailing went on, but 2 weeks ago he called up her dad and asked if he could marry his daughter!!

If that's not enough, the dad (Maho's uncle) agrees; but the groom is very poor and only has money to ride the bus here THE DAY OF THE WEDDING. This couple hasn't even held hands, kissed, or been on a date! So as soon as he and his mom and sister step off the bus (which broke down and was late, which set the wedding back), they all head to the courthouse to be married.

Here in Mexico, temple weddings are not recognized as legal and binding. So they have to be married civilly first. We met them at the courthouse. This is not a nice building, like you would expect the courthouse to be. It was a cramped little dirty room where all the wedding guests (About 18 of us) waited around for paperwork to be filled out. The groom and his family were wearing jeans--probably what they stepped off the bus wearing. The guests were more dressed up. Then we went to an even more cramped room--office really--where an official read off the words to marry them. That was followed by hugs and congratulations. Then we all went home to get ready for the reception.

The reception alone was a new experience! It was held in another uncle's backyard, probably because he had a fairly large cement patio. Usually, though, when someone is having a wedding reception in their yard, they go to great lengths to make it look nice. And for all I know, maybe they had! But it was still..... hmmmmm....how do I put this? A mess!! Garbage a junk piled around the edges of the yard. There was a make-shift patio roof they put together by tying a HUGE plastic election banner from a pole on top of the house to trees down in the yard. It was held up in the middle by a long green bamboo pole.

There were 10-12 tables set up under the tarp, covered with white table cloths, and surrounded by old dirty chairs. In the center of each table was some kind of reddish-brownish succulent with a random ribbon around each one.

Something else about the Latin culture that I am trying to become accustomed to is WAITING! So much waiting! In this case, the reception was originally set to begin at 3. We arrived at 4:30 and waited over an hour for the newly weds to arrive. At that point they started bringing around the food. Wow, it was worth the wait. Food is one thing they've got a handle on down here!! First they brought around a soup, which was made from the drippings of the barbacoa (the lambs cooked inside leaves down in the ground). It had rice, veggies and chili peppers in it.

Along with the soup they brought around freshly made corn tortillas, refried beans and salsa. I've never had such delicious corn tortillas in my life. I could have eaten them all day!

The main course was Mexican rice, mole chicken and barbacoa. And the tortillas kept coming. Ooh it was good. Of course we had to wait and wait and wait for the cake. But it was worth the wait--tres leches cake with peaches in the middle. Yum. Oh, I forgot to mention that during the dinner it began to rain. It poured and POURED for about an hour. I was glad those cheesy election candidate smiles were hanging over my head to keep me dry!

The music had been on during dinner, so once the eating died down, tables were pushed back, chairs folded up, and we danced! And the rain just kept coming. Around 8 pm, the rain finally stopped and we were good and ready to go home. But we waited. And waited. And waited. Not sure for what, probably for everyone to finish visiting. It was fun to meet many of Maho's Aunts, Uncles and cousins that I'd never met, or hadn't seen for a very long time.

It was a great party! The newlyweds were beaming and weren't fased in the least by all the things that seemed odd to me. Not even the rain took the gleam out of their eyes. Today they were sealed in the Mexico City Temple. We didn't go to the sealing. Last night after getting home from the wedding, coming home to a household of inlaws and cousins, Maho and I were feeling "familied out." In a good way though. We are enjoying so much being here. It really is a different culture, but so warm and spicy! Hopefully we can bring some warmth and spice back with us!