Travel for Love

This time last year, actually one year ago today, I was on the plane on my way to Brazil for the first time. There were so many thoughts and emotions about finally seeing Roberto again, anticipating actually being there in Brazil, and seeing his hometown that they all just blended together into a surreal nervous anticipation.

I landed in Sao Paulo after an overnight flight on May 28, 2009. It was so foggy (smoggy?) that morning that I saw nothing of the city, and the captain announced that our 777 would be landing on auto-pilot. At that point I had to exit security and check back in on a different airline to fly to Floripa. It was tough for me to figure out where I needed to go and I was surprised to realize NO ONE spoke English! I had a pretty long layover, including waiting outside security until they opened the check-in for my flight and paying an overweight baggage fee.

Finally I landed in Floripa, which was gorgeous. Roberto was there waiting for me and, just like that, it was as if we’d never been apart. I’m happy to say it’s been that way every time we meet each other after several months apart; we just fall back in place together like normal. I think that’s because we talk so much every day but who knows. We spent one night there in Floripa in a cute little pousada before heading down to Criciuma the next afternoon.

When we finally got of BR-101 close Roberto’s parents’ house it was already dark. Their house is up on a hill, and the whole place was lit up when Roberto pointed it out to me as we approached. My first impression of Brazil was fairly inconclusive and I really didn’t know what to expect at this point. I was nervous!

Throughout the time Roberto was here I kept telling him I wanted to meet his family and see where he came from before we got really serious or decided to get married or something. He’d told me all about them, I’d seen pictures, and even talked to his mom on the phone, but I still had a need to see it all for myself. I had to make sure it was all not so completely different from where I came from. I needed to know if, if I had to, I could live there.

Maybe I expected all this to be crystal clear as soon as I showed up and that’s why I was so nervous. Like, if the house was clean enough, big enough, new enough I would suddenly be ok. Or if it was terribly disappointing then this whole trip would be ruined. It really was a lot of self-inflicted pressure for no reason!

We pulled up to the lit-up house and all sorts of extended family was there to greet me warmly and fuss over me. I walked in to a loud, fun Brazilian BBQ party. As I went in to the house surrounded by the warm welcome of a group of strangers who took me in as family, I felt silly for all the pressure I had put on this visit. For what? It was all so simple and natural – the common bond of people from all over the world was bigger than some quick assessment I could make of a place. How could I be nervous about that? Then again, part of me didn’t feel silly about the pressure because it was all ok. I knew.

It’s not unusual that our most memorable travel experiences are often coincidental events that don’t show up in guidebooks.

My mom and I spent a night in the Le Meridian Pyramids as part of a 2 day tour of Cairo and Giza. I have plenty of other things to blog about from that tour, but first I want to share one of the most memorable (and completely random) things we witnessed in Cairo: An Egyptian wedding!

It was late in the evening after a full day of hectic travel through Cairo. I was intrigued by the hotel lobby when we checked in because there just seemed to be people there from everywhere. We decided to go down for a drink after checking in to our room (with a view of the pyramids! incredible!), and sat back for some good old fashioned people watching. Indeed, we hit the people watching jackpot that Saturday night!

View from the room!

The lobby of the hotel was very “majestic,” with marble floors, a giant chandelier, and a grand marble staircase as the focal point. While we sat in the open lobby bar, we noticed some interesting activity. Hotel employees were setting up big lights on the staircase, people in fancy formal dress were scurrying around, and we started spotting random band members carrying drums or warming up on trumpets.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the lobby lights turned off and the bright spotlights lit up the staircase. A band appeared at the base of the stairs and the drummers began drumming a slow beat. Conversation abruptly halted in the lively lobby and every eye focused on the top of the stairs as a beautiful Egyptian bride surrounded by her bridal party appeared on the open second floor.

The tempo of the drums increased as she made her way to the top of the stairs all lit up by the bright lights. We noticed a crowd had appeared at the bottom and bride’s attendants began to line the staircase holding giant candles. The bride and her dad (and maybe her brother??) paused dramatically at the top of the steps bathed in lights. She wore a typical Western white strapless wedding gown and her hair was down and uncovered.

A slow song began to play as the bride made her way down the stairs, increasing in volume and tempo as she got closer to the bottom. The crowd was getting excited and friends and family were snapping photos and video, as were the other guests in the hotel. I tried to be discrete with my iphone but there were quite a few tourists pushing their way right up front to get a good shot of this ceremony. It was then that we noticed the groom was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for his bride.

All of a sudden, the bride reached the bottom of the stairs and joined hands with her new husband. The band exploded into a loud fast paced song of celebration, all the lights turned back on, and the friends and family cheered and danced around the couple in a frenzy. The music continued for about 10 minutes while the bridal party did traditional dances circling the couple. Old ladies wiped away tears, men hugged and shook hands, and the whole group danced and cheered in celebration of this dramatic moment.

As suddenly as it began, the dancing stopped and the band was lining the stairs. The whole group began a procession up the stairs into one of the ballrooms to celebrate the night away. The lobby returned to normal and it was business as usual, except for us wide eyed guests still marveling at what had just happened.

I think it’s so neat how this wedding was an incredibly public celebration! I am not sure what part of the ceremony we witnessed – was there a religious wedding earlier in the day at a mosque? Was the couple married before the bride reached the bottom of the stairs? What did this ceremony symbolize?

All I know is we felt very special to witness such an incredible celebration and sneak peek into a fascinating culture. And boy were the rest of the folks on our tour jealous when we told them what they’d missed!