We're hitched!

We did it! Minister showed up and everything. It doesn't feel real yet though...perhaps in a few weeks.  A huge thank you to my wonderful family, amazing maid of honor, and all my incredible friends who made our special day unforgettable :)  Started posting photos here

and here

Room service!

Checked into our hotel here in cusco and immediately took advantage of room service. Jose's first time! It was awesome and now we are just resting as much as we can :)

Dinner in Aguascalientes

We had some great tours and a fun dinner in Aguascalientes before heading to machu picchu the next day. Two more days!

Friends in cusco!

Yay! Everyone is in town for the wedding now! We've been traipsing around the city, exploring ruins and eating wonderful food. Yum

in law meet 'n greet

So the in laws got to meet each other yesterday and Jose's sisters and cousins too! We all went out to muse for lunch and had a great time :)

Familia in town!!!

Yay my family is here. We had a huge lunch at muse and tried black beer and roamed the city. It's awesome having them here!!!

cheers to the joys of wedding paperwork in peru

Totally unbelievable.  If I had known it would be this hard...  It is worth it but damn.  I mean on top of the amazing amount of paperwork I had to do in the US, plus all the false info given to me about what I needed, we had to retranslate the paperwork here, then get it notarized by a specific person who is only in the office at a certain time on a certain day, then get it notarized by the school of notaries, then take it to the ministerio de exteriores for their stamp. Everything costs money of course and everyone wants to know why you are doing this, they want to delay, get a bribe, etc. Then we had to present the documents to the ONE minister in all of Cusco and BEG him to marry us on Sunday. He will not tell me what words we will be saying, nor if I am allowed to say my vows. I have no idea what this will be like. Then we had to go to another location to pay the fee, come back for a folder with extra papers in it, get those signed by two witnesses who need to be present at the wedding, then go to the medical clinic to get...oh yes...blood tests, dental check, and a physical done.  Unreal. Totally unreal. And this medical clinic...no gloves. She took my blood with a dirty tourniquet and no gloves. The dentist looked in my mouth with no gloves and a dirty pen that he had stuck in other peoples mouths. Rather shocking really.  Now I have to post our names in the local paper and hope that the guy does indeed show up on our wedding day.  Sounds fun right?

gettin ready for peru!

Getting ready to head down to Peru again! I am SO excited to see Jose again after such a long time.  Bags are mostly packed, plans mostly situated.  Hopefully we will actually get to enjoy being engaged together and have some time to relax before the big day :)

bridal shower joy

Yay for Inca Kola! This is how the party started up in LA this weekend, with lots more fun and Peruvian elements to follow. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful mother who arranged the whole party, complete with games and Peruvian food (with help from a few key players)! It was such a fantastic fiesta and so great to see such good friends, many of whom I haven't seen in years! Click on LA shower album to see some pictures from the event. I'm very spoiled because I also had a really amazing shower down in San Diego too with all my close girlfriends that was organized, planned, and thrown by my incredible maid of honor Jaime! Click on SD shower album to see some pictures. Thanks everyone!

wedding planning

Ah, planning a wedding in Peru...so much more difficult than originally anticipated.  They really do things so very differently down there and there is no such thing as have it your way in Peru.  The location at least is breathtaking and the event itself should be really fun, in spite of any planning mishaps.  Less than four months away! 

another xmas in cusco

I had another wonderful trip in Peru to spend time with Jose and his family. As always it was far too short but we had a great time relaxing and wedding planning. I met him in Machu Picchu after one of his tours and was lucky enough to see the beautiful Incan Ruins a fourth time. It was hard to leave as usual but soon we'll be together again in June.  Click on our Trip Album to see our pics (via picassa) from this past Christmas. You can also access the same photos by going to the photo page and viewing the embedded slideshow there :)