It's Peru, Baby.

The wedding was fantastico! Tito looked devastatingly handsome in his white suit, the man of my dreams. I felt fabulous in my violet/blue iridescent dress, with lots of curls and little pink roses, and a bouquet with masses of lilies. Lots of photos all round town in the much beloved and sexy Celica (we drew quite a crowd - "Look at the models!" they said - ha!), then onto Katuwira for the reception party. Think candles, sand, stars, palm leaves, fairy lights, flowers, snogging, champers... and of course good friends and family! It was just gorgeous. We reckoned the best way to keep it small was to make people pay for their plates (a decision we made after being robbed of our wedding savings), and so there were about 35-40 people in all. We had a local group play rock for the first couple hours (Dire Straits, Clapton, Police, Mana), then straight into a salsa DJ to get everyone dancing. After emotion packed speeches by myself (in Spanish, no less!) and Tito, a dramatic garter-removing-with-teeth spectacle (yes, ladies, my husbands' stripper days are indeed over, I'm afraid), and a good old cheers/salud/kampai/chinchin by Tito's dad, it was dancing all night... we were so happy. We were still up at about 11am the next day, and still having a wonderful time! But, perhaps just to show us that all happiness in life is tinged with sadness, a tragic thing occured. We went to rest, and as the room was stifling hot, I opened the window for a breeze. When we woke up an hour later, little Julito the monkey was dead, still clinging to Tito's arm. He had been totally normal all night, munching mango and pineapple... but he did have a little cold, and so we can only conclude he got a chill. We were totally horrified. After several weeks of changing his little nappy and giving him milk from a syringe, it was heartbreaking. Everyone said he might pass away when we left, as he was so tiny and so attached to us, but we had no idea it would come even sooner. We've come to terms with it now, and just feel thankful that we had such a beautiful wedding with our little monkey guest. As Tito (my husband!) and I move into our new life together, we'll always remember all the super people who joined us to celebrate our wedding. We couldn't have had a better night, thanks to them, and we have endless optimism for a bright, united future.