A Real Wedding

I think it must be a cultural thing to invite people to other people’s wedding, because yet again I was invited to the wedding of people I did not know. I was in Cuiaba for approximately a week when I was invited to a wedding. I was reluctant to accept the invitation for several reasons. The most obvious being that I did not know the couple. Also, I didn’t have any clothes to wear because I had packed super light for this next leg of my journey. On top of that, I was having a hair crisis my hair had grown a lot since I last cut it and it had become unmanageable and I just didn’t want to have to deal with it. Another reason was the fact that the wedding was suppose to start at 7:30pm but given my experience with Brazilians I knew it would start much later. In spite of these reasons, the person who invited me was very persistent and reasoned that I should go to experience a real Brazilian wedding. She also tried to appease me by telling me we would just go to the ceremony. I decided to go.

On the day of the wedding it rained. This was not a good sign for several reasons besides supposedly superstitious one. Cuiaba was in the dry season, meaning it was not suppose to be raining period and also because it is the dry season, when it rains there is a sharp drop in the temperature. Cuiaba is one of the hottest places in Brazil with average temperatures 90-100 F or 37-42 C but that night the temperature dropped into the low 20’s C (60’s F). I did not have anything warm to wear. To say I was freezing was an understatement. On top of the cold climate, the church had the air conditioner on.

When I finally entered the church and was able to find a spot away from the AC and was able to get warm, I began to enjoy the wedding. As you can probably figure out I am very observant when it comes to colors and decoration. One thing that stood out was the fact that many of the guests were wearing black. I don’t know how I would feel if I was getting married and most of the guests showed up wearing black. I might be just a little superstitous.

So in the Brazilian wedding, there's no custom of having bridesmaids and groomsmen. Their equivalent is padrinos or godparents for the wedding. These godparents are usually in pairs and they enter the church as couples, one pair at a time. These pairs are most times married couples but not necessarily. So this wedding had 18 pairs of godparents. When all the guests were seated in the church each pair of godparents entered the church and was seated at the front of the church. You can just imagine how long that took and we had already started late.

After the padrinos entered the flower girls and mini-bride entered. Then before the bride entered a little boy entered the church ring a bell. He was so cute, he was basically tell us that the bride was coming. At that point the whole church stood to watch the bride enter the church. The bride was beautiful. The wedding dress was a typical wedding dresses. The bride, however, did not have anyone to give her away because he dad had died two years ago. One thing a learned about wedding dresses here in Brazil is that most brides nowadays don't buy a wedding dress they just rent them. Very cost effectice I might say.

~ The bell bearer anouncing the entrance of the bride ~

~ The beautiful bride ~

The ceremony was more or less similar to American wedding ceremonies. One thing that caught my attention was that there were two pastors officiating the service. One pastor preached and the other did the exchange of vows. Here in Brazil, the ceremony is separated in three parts. The ceremony off course started with prayer and then there is a sermon. After that the couple say their vows, this was done by the second pastor. After the vows, the ring bears, usually one but in this case two (nephews of the bride), entered the church and then the couple exchanged rings. After they exchanged rings they were pronounced man and wife and they kissed. That was very interesting how everything is separated in three parts rather than everything being together.

~ The two ring bearers enter after the vows ~

After that, a couple sang some songs for the new couple. It was a lovely service. At the end of the ceremony the padrinos each marched out, strangely though, before the bride and the groom. However, before they did, they each took pictures with the bride and groom. Just imagine how long it would take for 18 couples to take picture with the bride and groom. Yeah, that long times two. I don’t know if that was custom to take these pictures inside or whether it was because outside was cold.

Following the ceremony was the reception. So how the reception worked was very interesting. The reception was opened to anyone who wanted to go. The trick was if you went you would have to pay for your own meal. The bride and groom only provided the cake. I thought that was a good idea, very cost effective. I was curious to find out if this was tradition in Brazil because I had never heard of a wedding operating that way. I was told it was not customary. The thing is the bride and groom did not have the money for a reception and were just planning to have the ceremony but the family members and friends convinced them that have a reception with the guests paying for their own meal.

Even though it was cold and a bit long, I really enjoyed the wedding.

Cuiaba, Mato Grosso

I finally arrived to my penultimate location, Cuiaba (cooyaba) located to the west of Brasilia in the state of Mato Grosso. As the most western state, it also borders Bolivia. Cuiaba is said to be one of the hottest cities in Brazil with temperatures get to as high as 48 C or 118 F. I was sort of dreading this place because of these record high temperatures but I couldn’t avoid it for too long. One positive thing about coming to Cuiaba is the fact that I actually know some people here. One of the first person’s I met when I came to Brazil moved here in October.

Regis, who was one of the persons to meet me at the airport when I just arrived to Brasilia, picked me up from the airport here in Cuiaba. I had dinner with his family the same night I arrived and was able to see his wife Adrianna, who was a good friend of mine while I was in IABC. For my birthday, Adrianna and another friend of mine at IABC, had made a cake for me. After dinner I was taken to lodging. I went back to living in a hotel. The hotel is ok but on the possible side it has a microwave oven. Yay! I can have microwave popcorn.

So over the weekend I had an opportunity to do a little exploring of the area where my hotel is. Cuiaba, so far of all the cities I have visited has the most Latin American feel. It has very narrow streets and the streets are mostly on a grade, very good for getting a workout. One noticeable thing about the city of Cuiaba is that it is one of the older cities of Brazil. I was told that this city is over a 100 years old. When it was created with the believe that there was a lot of gold in that area.

My hotel is located on one of the many hills of the city so I have a nice view of the city from my window of my room. I have only been here for only a few days so I have not been to the city center so in future blogs I will share more information on Cuiaba.

Mini Vacation in Brasilia

So as soon as my program in Palmas had ended I was ready to leave the city and go to my next destination. Originally, I was told I would stay an extra week in Palmas before going to my next sight. I was not willing to spend more time than necessary in Palmas because I there was not much to do or see and it was extremely hot there. I spoke to the person who usually did my travel arrangement and she managed to get me a earlier flight out of Palmas. I would stay in Brasilia for 10 days before going to the next place. I was fine with that plan, Brasilia in my book is a more better place to get stuck.

My time is Brasilia worked out great actually. I was able to go back to IABC and get the rest of my stuff since I would be spending my last two months in Brasilia. While in Brasilia I was able to bond with the girls I would be living with during the last few months in Brazil. I also had the opportunity to explore Brasilia and learn more about the city. Several months ago when I was living in Brasilia with Pr. Jairo and Gilza but I was living in the southwestern part of the city but now I was living basically in the center of the city.

This time around in Brasilia I ended living in an apartment. The apartment is very big and modern. There are some drawbacks though. It is, located on one of the main streets in the center so it’s pretty noisy. I also have a very pitiful room. It looks and feels like a prison cell because it is rectangular and only has a bed and a closet because there is no room for any more furniture. When I brought back the rest of my stuff from IABC I had to store them outside my room because I did not have enough space. On the positive side though, I have my own bathroom.

Even though my room is like a cell and I am constantly serenaded by car horns and car before going to bed, I love the location and the ambiance of the area. This area though in the heart of the city has a country-like feel. There are a lot of trees and parks. I love walking so I have ample of opportunities to go walking and exploring at any time of the day without having to feel the full effects of the sun. Also, in the center the apartment buildings are grouped in blocks. Several apartment buildings make up a block and each block is separated by a row of commercial buildings. Everything is really well organized.

So while I was here in Brasilia, I was able to visit some of the city monuments which were not really that beautiful and interesting never the less. Here are the some of them.

In the distance you can see the Brazilian Twin Tower or the National Congress Building!

Here's a close up view.

Here is the Cathedral. Inside it is not that beautiful. But it has perfect austics. Really cool. The building is circular inside so if you something even a whisper close to the wall the person standing at any distance away as long as they are beside the wall will hear it.

I'm not too sure of the name of this monument but it's near the cathedral.

This is the famous Brasilian JK Bridge. It was named after the President that constructed Brazil is over the lake. The rich people in Brasilia live one side of the bridge. As you cross the rich side you can see the large house and even some on the lake.

So let me give you a brief history on Brasilia. Brasilia was constructed in the late 1950’s but was officially inaugurated in 1960’s by President Juscelino Kubitschek also called JK (jota ka). The area where Brasilia currently occupies was bare unoccuppied land so the city was constructed from the ground up. The construction of the city was carefully planned and carried out by the architect who won the contest President JK had for the design of the new capital. The city was constructed in the shape of an airplane. Pr. Jairo and Gilza live at the back part of the airplane and while I was staying on the southern wing of the plane. One of the big things that was constructed was the lake. This lake is really huge and runs throughout most of central Brasilia. The lake was constructed to offset the dry winters of Brasilia.

So here are some cool things about Brasilia. Residential buildings cannot be higher than 6 stories. That is a law in Brasilia. Another thing is pedestrians have the right to use the life sign or senal da vida whenever they cross the road. That means, whenever they go to a pedestrian crossing or as Americans say cross walk, they just have to lift their hands in the air and the cars have to stop so they can cross. If the drivers don’t stop they can be prosecuted but I have noticed that most cars really stop. It’s really cool. Another thing, on Sundays, the main road in the center Eixão is closed to all vehicular traffic from 6am-6pm. This street is right in front of the apartment so I have a large area to go walking.

Well my vacation time is up and now I'm off to Cuiaba. It is supposedly the hottest place in Brazil. I'm going to need help to survive this city if it's hotter than Palmas. I'll keep up dated in future blogs.