Angela's Andean Adventures.
The Valentines Day Wedding, 2002.
Well I had a great few days off work - really magic, the wedding being
the highlight of it all. The whole day on Thursday was magic from start to
finish - apart from the look of horror on my face when I saw my finished
hairdo. I did not like it one bit - it looked so old-fashioned and it didn't
help when I got home and Adam said 'Ooh Mum you look just like our Nan!"
As you can guess I went straight upstairs and got busy with tongs, hair
gel etc and did my best to destroy the style. Nothing seemed to work and in
the end there wasn't time to wash it again so I had to do the best I could.
It was better but a pity that such a ghastly hair style will forever be on
their wedding pictures!!!!
John was taking Mum and Tristan so we arrived in plenty of time where
Justin was already waiting outside along with his best man - the Kosovo chap
called Besnik - and his best friend Taj who is from Bangladesh. It was great
to see them both again as I get on well with both of them; they've been to
my house etc and feel really at home there.
 Justin said
he had arrived from Besnik's house by limousine and that the limo had just
gone to pick up Ceri and her family. It was a really sunny and bright day
although bitterly cold, but I still waited outside rather than inside as I
wanted to see them arrive in that beautiful car. John, my brother in law
took photos of us all outside, nice ones of me with all three of my sons,
all of whom looked really smart in their new suits, with my Mum and with
Justin on his own etc. Then the limo arrived and I was busy taking photos as
well as they got out of the car. Ceri looked absolutely stunning in her
bridal gown and her two sisters aged 16 and 11 looked lovely too in their
elegant bridesmaids outfits. Later I took photos of Ceri with her sisters
and parents. They are a beautiful looking family - the 16 year old sister,
Lori, is so beautiful that men are falling over themselves over her already
and the 11 year old as well as being beautiful has the cutest personality
imaginable, really adorable. She adores Justin - they all do. Ceri's Mum
looks on him as the son she never had and they are very close.
The ceremony was lovely, really moving, with Debbie, Ceri's Mum, as one
witness and me as the other. Then afterwards we went into a nearby park and
John took another lot of photos, and it was about 4.30 by the time we got to
Duke's hotel for the reception. What a beautiful hotel - everyone was really
impressed and the room they gave us was perfect for 35 people to sit down to
dinner. The food was superb and everyone had a marvellous time. I had Colin
on one side of me and Besnik on the other and we chatted a lot. He told me
how desperately he misses his parents and sisters. He can speak to them on
the phone but cannot go home because if he did he would not be allowed to
come back here.
The meal ended at 7 pm and we then had to leave as they were getting the
restaurant ready for the Valentine's day diners in the evening. Justin and
Ceri and her family were going up to their room to change clothes (£185 for
one night!!!) so we arranged to meet at Batys. I realised we would probably
have a good half hour before they arrived so Colin and I detoured to an
internet cafe and I read my messages and replied to my favourite friends
before moving on to join them.
We then had a wonderful evening with Ceri's family and some of her
friends. Besnik was very taken with Lori and chatted to her so much that his
regular girlfriend disappeared in disgust after a while! Adam and his friend
Jason also got on very well with her and she was quite taken with Jason (to
his delight as he is very shy, aged 17 and has never been out with a girl
before). She enjoyed the company of both of them and I think the three of
them are going to go to a karaoke evening one evening soon - as all three of
them love singing and were even singing along that night to the music that
was playing. Tristan looked pleased because one of Ceri's blonde young
friends, Anika, was hanging onto his every word, really taken with him, and
although we were going to take him home when we left, he changed his mind
and wanted to stay and said he would get a taxi home. The 11 year old was
enjoying herself as well, persuading the boys to buy her different cocktails
and they were all happy to oblige. She and Adam hit it off tremendously,
with him calling her Sis and he enjoyed chatting to her mother as well. All
in all it was a fantastic evening in great company, the whole day absolutely
magic from start to finish.
I woke up next morning with a bit of a hangover but that was soon cured
with a couple of tablets. It was great to listen to the new Andean music
that arrived (nine new CDs from Stasha on top of the 40 received the week
before from Paco) whilst getting ready for my day out with Colin. He came
for me at 10 am and we drove down to Weymouth.
It was another really lovely sunny day, although still very cold. We had
a lovely journey down to Weymouth, listening to the new music all the way.
Colin had spoken to his daughter earlier in the morning and we would not
after all be meeting her. It was half term week from school and she was
taking the children to a big theme park near Exeter and Colin just caught
her as they were leaving. This had been prearranged with friends of theirs
ages ago so even if he had phoned earlier it would not have been possible to
see them on this occasion.
We decided to go somewhere different for lunch and I suggested the
Smugglers Arms at Osmington Mills, a beautiful old pub right by the sea,
which we had not been to for a couple of years or more. The car park is
actually on the cliff overlooking the sea. I had taken my camera with me as
I had 9 shots to use up in order to get the film developed and we took a
couple there with sea view and of the pub before going in.
Inside we had an excellent lunch. There were so many nice things on the
menu that we have to go again to try them. Colin said we will bring Mary
there for Sunday lunch sometime later in March and I picked up a business
card for the phone number so that we can make reservations nearer the time.
After the meal we decided to drive to Portland which is where my Dad was
born and brought up as a child. Mum had been telling me the day before about
the lovely dream she had had of Dad and my brother Christopher who died at
the age of 6 (and would be about 35 if alive today). Her words must have
remained in my mind because that night I had a dream about Dad too and
although I couldn't remember the details when I woke up, the word Portland
was ringing through my mind. So on the journey down to Weymouth I asked
Colin if we could drive to Portland after lunch and was very happy when he
agreed. Dad died 17 years ago and we all still really miss him a lot.
 Portland was
about a 6-mile drive from Weymouth along a causeway and we drove to Portland
Bill where there is still a working lighthouse, just the place I could
imagine my Dad running about as a boy and we went walking on the cliffs and
the stiff breeze was really bracing but I felt closer to him being there
than I had done for years. Colin also had happy memories of times spent with
friends there dozens of years ago and was enjoying reminiscing as well. We
took some photos with the lighthouse and a passing couple even took a
picture of us together which was nice. Unfortunately the lighthouse was
closed to visitors that day but we could see it was still operational, with
the light flashing to warn passing boats of the dangers.
From there we drove back to Weymouth with our first stop being the
Peruvian shop, Quipu. Colin took one of the last few photos of me in the
doorway of the shop, saving the last two shots to use up on the beach later.
I was delighted to see, as per usual, that there was music available that I
did not have and I ended up buying five cassettes to bring my collection up
to around 990 albums now. Yet again the owner of the shop was not there. She
had just arrived back from Peru on a buying trip that very day (so I knew I
would be emailing her at the first opportunity to see what music she brought
back!).
After leaving Quipu we decided to stroll into the town looking at other
shops on the way. Colin had paid for 3 hours parking so we had plenty of
time to see everything we wanted. We headed first for a charity shop where I
once found a copy of the BBC soundtrack of Flight of the Condor, and to my
amazement we found two vinyl's there - one is Cacharpaya Panpipes of the
Andes by Incantation and the other one by Los Paraguayos. Even though I had
both albums already I decided to buy them anyway as they were only £1 each
and appeared in excellent condition.
We then went further into the town, doing a little bit of shopping on the
way. In one shop I fell in love with an AIWA micro CD player, which looks
like a piece of computer equipment - even the speakers look like part of a
computer. I decided there and then that I would go to the Bath branch of the
store next day and buy it. It was offered at £100 off the regular price, so
only £150 instead of £250, and offered at 12 months interest free credit as
well. It worked out at £12 per month making it very easy to buy it and will
sit on my desk at work and almost look like part of the computer set up, and
I can take my other player home and have something portable at home to use
in other parts of the house. It is CD and radio only but I still have
another portable player at work which I will leave there which gives an
excellent sound on which to play cassettes.
Our final bit of shopping before returning to the car was to buy a
mountain of chicken portions and other ingredients as I would be
making lots of tandoori as our food contribution to the Spanish circle
Valentine evening at the home of a Peruvian lady the following night.
The drive home was pleasant, again listening to the lovely music and
before continuing home we stopped at Ceri's home which is two villages away
from Timsbury, as I had dropped my glasses case in the pub (luckily Justin
had picked these up after I had gone home, realising they were probably
mine, which I had carried in my bag in case my eyes couldn't stand contact
lenses for such a long length of time). At the house Debbie invited us in
for coffee and wedding cake and we saw the first batch of photos which
Justin had got developed that day - a lovely selection of pictures taken at
Baty's in the evening and I promptly gave Justin the money to pay for copies
of 8 of them, which is probably the first pictures I will have if they get
them done quickly.
Back home I got busy and marinated the chicken, first in the juice of
four fresh lemons with mint and then into a mixture of creamy Greek yoghurt
with the Indian spice ingredients and red colouring added which a bit later
I roasted in the oven in readiness for Saturday night. We would also be
taking a couple of bottles of Australian chardonnay to help out. Then I
watched an excellent film on television (although still had my favourite CD
called 2De Los Andes" playing quietly in the background!!!).
On Saturday I went into Bath to take Adam to work for 8 am and stayed on
until meeting Tristan at 1 pm for lunch at Las Iguanas. Before going to the
internet cafe my first stop was to the electrical shop where I purchased
that CD player and then left it in the shop to pick up later. I nearly fell
over with shock when Tristan invited me for lunch as it's so unheard of. We
had a lovely chat though, on our own, whilst Colin went to fetch the car
after the hotel wedding reception and I think in future we will understand
each other better. I certainly hope so. Tristan phoned whilst I was still in
the internet cafe, having arrived in Bath earlier than we'd agreed to meet,
but luckily didn't mind coming to the internet cafe and spending half an
hour in the chat rooms whilst I finished writing my messages. Then the four
of us walked round to Las Iguanas - Tristan - his cousin Andrew, and their
friend Guy. We had a really enjoyable lunch. Tristan and I shared a jug of
beer which I paid for as he was paying for the lunch. It was such fun being
with them that I invited Tristan to lunch there again the following week,
with just a slight proviso that there might be an unlikely chance of me
having to postpone it a week if any of my Andean friends decided to pay me a
visit. (I never plan anything definite any more just in case).
After lunch we went our separate ways as they were meeting other friends
in a nearby pub and I was keen to walk back to the internet cafe. I still
had one and a half hours left of the four hours prepaid that morning, the
first session taken up with reading and writing emails and the second
session was to type in the details of more of my CD collection into my
online database. When my time was up there I walked back to the shop where I
had purchased the stereo - where they had no bag big enough to put the box
in nor any string to make it easier to carry it. It was a long walk from
there to the park and ride bus stop and exhausting trying to carry that
heavy box, stopping wherever there was a place to rest it for a few moments
to catch my breath. Town was really busy by this time and not easy wading
through the crowds so heavily laden. I was relieved to see a bus waiting
when I got to the bus-stop and in no time at all the bus was on its way, I
got back to the car and managed to get home just before 5 pm, with two hours
before going out again.
First job was a quick hoover through the house and a whizz around with a
duster, that being the only housework I had time for that weekend! Whilst
getting ready (I was in the shower when the phone went), Aquiles phoned and
we had a nice chat. His main reason for phoning was to confirm that he and
Claire would definitely be down the weekend of his birthday to play at our
Peruvian evening and I felt really chuffed that he hadn't forgotten. I
haven't mentioned it since I was with them in December, telling them then
that I wouldn't expect them to do it if they or Claire were asked to do a
paying gig, but just that I would be delighted if they could do it if they
were free, and to know he kept that request in his mind and hadn't forgotten
was really pleasing. He told me he was taking Claire to Tito's the Peruvian
restaurant that night as a combined celebration of her birthday and
Valentine's day and I was pleased to know that things are going well between
them. I was especially delighted at knowing they were coming as I would then
be able to tell people in the Spanish Circle that evening.
Colin arrived at 7pm and we drove into Bath and then had difficulty
finding the road where Andrea, the Peruvian lady lived. It wasn't where
Colin thought it was and we ended up going in circles, arriving back in the
same place three or four times trying to find the right road, and we
eventually found it by process of elimination!
Then from the moment we were warmly welcomed in by Andrea and her English
husband we had the most marvellous evening. There were more people there
than at any event I have been to yet and we enjoyed ourselves immensely,
chatting to people we already knew plus to some others that we had not met
before, including some delightful ladies from Peru and Argentina. The food
that everyone had brought made a very tempting buffet indeed. Loads of
people have promised to come to our event in March, so I will probably end
up with equally as big a crowd then as well. To be on the safe side I will
make enough Rocoto Relleno for 50 people, plus make one or two other dishes
as accompaniments and put dishes of snacks everywhere I can think of as
well. Colin is going to do a big collage of all my Peruvian postcards and
all my other souvenirs will be on display, including the baby alpaca
hangings which will look nice draped over the backs of his sofas. And with
Andean music playing all night, and the live performance from Claire and
Aquiles, it should make a nice interestingly different evening for the other
Spanish Circle members. Hopefully I can persuade Colin to move his own music
collection upstairs so that no one can put on anything other than Andean
music.
The whole four days since leaving work on Wednesday were full of bright
sunshine all day long, even though still quite cold. On Sunday it even
seemed quite warm as well under the rays of the sun. Colin and I drove to
Bristol and went to a carvery restaurant near where I used to live.
Excellent food, the only drawback being that one has to queue up for it and
on Sunday the queue was three times as long as it was when we were there a
few weeks previously with Mary. It was worth the wait though. I love the
fact that you can choose your own accompaniments - all my favourite
vegetables as normally the winter vegetables offered this time of the year
are all ones I don't like much.
Back home afterwards I spent some time with Lucy, the dog, playing in the
garden, contemplating mowing the lawn which with all the recent sunshine has
made the grass grow. I asked my neighbour who was repairing two panels of
the fence between our houses if he thought it would be okay to mow the lawn
but he said it wasn't a good idea to mow before a frost and another frost
was predicted for that night, so I left it. That is the trouble this time of
the year - warm bright sunshine in the day means frost at night.
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