Last weekend we traveled back to Valparaiso to attend the wedding of Teresa and Nigel. Teresa was the host mom for Sarah when she lived in Chile in 2001, so there is a special connection between our families. Teresa is a Chilean who lived in exile in Denmark for 20 years, and Nigel is from Northern Ireland. Together they run an Irish bar in Valparaiso.We arrived in Valpo around 9:00 pm on Friday, after traveling all afternoon by train from Chillán to Santiago, and then another 2 hours by bus to Valparaiso. We got settled in our small hotel and then headed out to grab a bite to eat. We ended up in a small place a block or so away through the winding streets of the hills of Valparaiso. There were two young men working the cafe, and just a few other patrons. We settled in to our meal, and they settled back into their card game at a table at the back of the room. At one point I asked the waiter about the intriguing music that was coming over the speakers...Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, he said, un grupo argentino. Cool. Later, as we were paying the bill and getting up to leave, he gave us a CD with MP3s of all Los Fabulosos Cadillacs albums. What can I say? This is Chile. The generosity of the people here sometimes just makes me smile.
The next day we just hung out and wandered around Valparaiso, trying to save our energy for the wedding that night. Around 5:00 we grabbed a cab and headed over to the wedding, which was being held at a beautiful old Valpo house that has been converted into a youth hostel. We weren't sure what it meant when the invitation said 5:00 pm, but as it turns out when we got there at 5:15 there were just a few people around, but luckily, since Nigel is an Irishman, after all, there was a keg of beer already tapped. Between then and 6:00 more and more people arrived, and then Teresa arrived and the actual wedding began. The crowd was bohemian and international: Lots of Chilenos, of course, with Catherine and I the only US representives, and others from France and Ireland and Germany, and Nigel's best man, Dave, from England, plus a band of Columbians playing traditional Irish music. Also, Teresa's family, sisters, brother, her children, and her mother were all very much in attendence.
The wedding ceremony itself was very sweet, with loving testimonials from both Nigel and Teresa. Teresa's son Liber stood at her side and offered support and English translation as needed. After the exchange of vows and rings, the real party began. The sound system was cranked up and everyone started dancing. And I mean everyone. It didn't matter if the music was Santana, or funky Ric James, or traditional Cueca, everyone was dancing, young and old. The dancing went on for several hours, with much drinking and a pause for speeches by Teresa's siblings and Nigel's best man (hysterically translated from English to Spanish by Nigel himself, a low-res video of which can been seen here here),
At around 10:00 pm, the word quickly spread that the food had arrived. The guests fell on the buffet like a pack of wolves on a fallen caribou. All the enthusiasm that was shown for the wedding vows and the dancing was now transferred to the food. Ah, the exhuberance for life that we find here in Chile! After the food, more dancing! At about 11:30, we were over-stimulated and fading, but the party showed no sign of slowing down, so we silently took our leave and headed back to the hotel, about a 20 minute walk. Who knows, the party may have gone on till the wee hours of the next morning. As for us, we had to get up the next morning and grab the 10:00 bus to Santiago and then the train back to Chillán, our ears still ringing from the dance music and our hearts still overflowing with the shared love of the wedding party.
A few photos from the wedding can be seen here
