Economics With A Face

The head of the household Maria Elena, her three daughters, Claudia, Myra, and Haydeé, and her son Alex kept us well fed and speaking Spanish and always laughing. Their house never stops flowing with activity and people. The four siblings, all university students, would zip off to class all in different directions at different times driving their car or on Claudia´s scooter through the winding streets and tunnels of town. When we arrived to stay with them, the family was hosting another student Ryan from Alaska who had just begun his year-long stay in Guanajuato with the family. Eldest sister Flavia would visit from Leon with the little star of the family, four-year-old Jorge Alexander. Neighbors/siblings/comedians Barbara and Fernando would drop by almost everyday for a laugh. Sam, novia de Alex, Reynaldo, novio de Maria Elena, and Ulisis, novio and fiancé de Claudia would stay for long evenings of comida and conversation. The family had made great friends (¿amigos o amigovios, Haydeé?) with former students Sebastián and Jamie, who were in town visiting for the wedding. It was amazing that amid all of this melee, and with a wedding about to take place, they still had room for us and made us feel at home. We felt incredibly lucky.

The following Saturday with much anticipation, we returned to our new hometown of Guanajuato, dressed ourselves up as best we could, and caught a taxi up to the Templo La Valenciana, a dazzling ancient church perched on a hill overlooking the city. Claudia had told us that the ceremony was to start at 1:30 in the afternoon even though 1 pm was printed on the invitations. We arrived at 1:15, and to our dismay, a ceremony was already occurring inside. We snuck into the church, and after scrutinizing the bride and groom for a few minutes, we realized that this was not Claudia and Ulises’ wedding. Hoping that we had our information right, we quietly tip-toed out of the church to look for someone we knew. With relief, we spotted Ulises outside looking sharp in his tails and shiny new shoes from León. Happy and ready to be married, he gave us hugs and began to greet his other guests that had begun to arrive. We saw the sisters and Alex, and ran over to see them. Their little cousins and nephew Jorge Alexander arrived all dressed up and full of energy. The courtyard outside the church was full of guests. It was to be expected that pastors in especially important churches would perform more than one wedding in a day, and so we waited. Claudia and her entourage arrived in the polished Escalade that Ulises had borrowed from GM, but she stayed out of sight. Suddenly the church emptied, we entered, and the ceremony began. Claudia, looking fabulous and happy, walked up the aisle with her uncle. The golden façade of the church glimmered in the candlelight throughout the ceremony and mass.

Templo La Valenciana is named for La Mina Valenciana, a famous colonial mine of Guanajuato. After the ceremony, we made our way down the street to the grounds of La Mina for the reception, and were greeted with tequila shots served in roma tomatoes. The party had begun! Bright colors swirled (maybe an effect of the tequila), little kids ran around on the grass in their nice clothes and threw themselves onto the inflatable trampoline that was set up for them, a lively band began to play, and Ulisis and Claudia entered in the Escalade to cheers and toasts. Dinner was served, and the dancing began.

The newlyweds danced the first dance. As Ulises skillfully swung her around the dance floor, I remembered that Claudia had mentioned that Ulises and his family loved loved loved to dance salsa. Next the couples danced with their parents and then the rest of their family joined them. Las solteras (single ladies) were called to the dance floor for the legendary bouquet toss, but first they joined hands and danced around the newlyweds and then around the entire reception. It began to rain and thunder, but under the tent no one seemed to notice. Everyone got up to dance. As the night went on, the music changed from salsa to ranchero to brazilian carnival to popular latin music. The band played their last song, a line dance, said goodbye and left the reception.

By this time it was around 9 pm, and Peter and I were convinced that the night must be coming to an end. But…nobody got up to leave. Everyone mingled and kept on talking in the candlelight. The newlyweds circled the room laughing and talking. The bar was still serving drinks. And suddenly, out of the darkness a full mariachi band entered. The dancing and serenading continued. Beautiful and exhausting, exhilarating and drunkenly happy, the wedding continued after midnight. Claudia and Ulisis visited and talked with guests until everyone but the families had left—unbelievable, because they had a five o’clock A.M. flight to New York to catch to begin their honeymoon. At the night´s end, we thanked them and said our goodbyes to the fun-loving, generous and kind Prado family. Alex and Fernando dropped us off at our little hotel, and we said goodnight to Guanajuato and the gorgeous night.

Querida familia:

Peter y Emily