Home Stretch!
Monday, March 24, 2008
It's crazy to think that we're in our final week. Where in the world has the time gone? We've had such fun here, even though we've worked hard and have been quite busy. Here's a run-down on our last few days...
Thursday Chase was on call and got about 3 hours of sleep that night. Friday afternoon we got a call from Gerry and Elizabeth inviting us to join them for a swim in the river! Chase "caffeined up" and we took off. It was AWESOME! It was a bit of a hike from the main road, which was an adventure on the way back when we were racing a thunderstorm and Anna decided she didn't want to walk, but it was beautiful too. And the river! So cool!
Saturday I got up early to shoot Gerry's family and then head to the wedding. Wow! I'm not sure how much detail to go into there, but let's just say that the phrase "quite an experience" doesn't cut it! First of all, I was told that the wedding would start at 10am and I should get there early to get some shots of the bride beforehand. I arrived about 9:15 and was the first one there. I managed to sneak into the church to get some shots of the set-up, and by 10am was STILL one of about 5 people at the church! Oh my. People started arriving at 10:15, and I think the bride got there around 10:30am. Needless to say, I didn't get any shots of the ladies getting ready or anything like that. They all arrived separately and dressed.
The ceremony began, and I was only one of a swarm of folks with cameras. It was nuts! I usually try to sneak around and be "stealth" during a wedding, and I was pretty much the only one doing that. Even people from the pews were coming up ON STAGE and taking pictures! I couldn't believe it! I struggled to get shots that didn't have another camera in them. Seriously, I think I counted 3-4 video cameras wandering around the stage, and at least 2 other people taking pictures that were not part of our team. It was a circus. So here I'm thinking "why did they need my help? They've got lots of people taking pictures!" The ceremony ends, the couple is announced, and then the MC guy tells everyone to stay seated while the professional takes some pictures. The entire church looks at me, and I about fainted. For a hurried few minutes I tried to direct the wedding parties and both families IN SPANISH so that we could take some group pictures in front of EVERYONE! My Spanish fell apart, the bridesmaids were ticked because I kept calling them "Senoras" instead of "Senoritas" and I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh and do a dance while the whole world was staring at me or crawl in an English-speaking hole and rot. So I laughed :)
We then RUSHED off to a nearby park with the bridal party where I was told we'd have 20 minutes to do all of the pictures! Holy smokes, seriously? It's no big deal when the wedding starts almost an hour late, but now we're in a rush to get to lunch on time? This made no sense to me, but we hustled. Again the SENORITAS were ticked at me and my Spanish was all mixed up, but it was a smaller crowd so I managed. It's one thing to say "move closer" or "turn towards me" but it's quite another to pose a bride and groom in a variety of poses with simple directional terms. This reminds me - most of the photography in Ecuador is done in a formal style, so the whole "act natural" thing was pretty much lost on them. They WANT something different, but didn't really know what to do. Well, at least this was my perception. Maybe they just couldn't understand what I was saying!!
So after a mad crazy rushed session we headed to the reception. They passed out champagne and a cookie, and I'd already eaten the cookie before I realized it was part of the toast. Whoops. I hung around there until dinner was served, and then bailed. Eugenia was doing a great job and didn't really need my help anyway :) I'm uploading about 500 images to a gallery and will let you know when they're finished so you can see them.
Chase and I had agreed that if the weather was nice we'd go to the waterfall that afternoon, and the sky was blue - not common in rainy Ecuador! At 2pm we piled into Klaudia's truck (I took her picture this afternoon - I'll post it soon! I'm so full of promises) and went to the "Pailon del Diablo" or "The Devil's Punchbowl." It was incredible! It was a 1km hike down, which meant a 1km hike straight up again carrying the girls. EXHAUSTING, but so worth it. Here's where I promise pictures...
Shamefully we didn't go to church on Easter Sunday. They do a 5am service and Evie informed me she planned to still be sleeping at 5am, and by the service at 7pm we were ready for bed again. But we took time to remember our Savior, and tried to explain things to Anna. At the end of the day Anna randomly said, "Jesus is alive, Mommy." I couldn't help but smile :) We were also invited to have lunch with our great new friends, Klaudia and Eckehart - missionaries from Germany. We will miss them when we go.
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 6:03 PM
"Jesus is alive, Mommy!" I LOVE it!!!