I do!

I had the privilege of attending two weddings during the month of March.  The first was a mix of the indigenous and ladino cultures of Guatemala, set outside the country’s second largest city- Quetzaltenango.  The second took place near San José, Costa Rica and was also a mix of cultures, with a bit of the US, Costa Rica and China.

Here´s the recap:

 Chuck and Laura

I like this story a lot.  It begins just over five years ago, when I decided to study abroad a semester in Costa Rica.  I was placed with a wonderful host family that had three daughters, one son, and was half tican (Costa Rican) and half Chinese.  Only the youngest two still lived at home, Beiy Sim who was a few years younger than me and Chuck Jun who was slighter older.   There was another girl in the same program that lived just down the street from us and we became fast friends.  She would come over to the house often, and we would go out with my host brother Chuck and another study abroad friend, Steve.  By the end of the semester Laura and Chuck had definite chemistry, but alas, she had to go back to the States.  Luckily, Chuck ended up going to San Diego the next year for a few months to study English….Laura just happened to go to college in San Diego as well :)  From there their story goes back and forth from Costa Rica, her Peace Corps stint in Bolivia, being relocated to Costa Rica, being together a bit in her home state of Washington, etc.  All this to say that this couple has traversed (and is currently exploring!) the hemisphere together, they love each other deeply and I have absolute confidence that they will make it work no matter what.  It was such a blessing to be able to join them on such a special day!!!  Better pictures can be viewed at http://blog.theyoungrens.com/

The old host family and I back together again!

Claudia y Maynor

Claudia is one of my favorite cousins of the family on Miguel Angel’s side.  She’s such a sweet person, 22 years old and studying marketing in the university.  A couple of my favorite memories here that include her are the time we all went camping on the mountain and the training I went through on how to kill and defur(sp?) a rabbit.  She had been dating Maynor for several years before joining him in marriage at his family’s home outside Xela. 

Their version of the dollar dance....women pinned money on Maynor and the men on Claudia :)

Doña Oralia and I