Let The Adventures Begin...: The story of our travels, part 3

After a quick weekend break, I am back to tell you all about the wonderful wedding we had in Morocco. Have I mentioned that it was a ton of fun? It was truly one of the best weddings I've attended. Perhaps because the whole family was together, or maybe because we love Daniel and Elena so much, then again it could simply be because Morocco is a wonderful place. For whatever reason it was the best.

So I mentioned that we killed a cow, two sheep and some chickens for the first night, that was Wednesday. Then on the next day we woke up early (relatively) and Elena put on her special henna garment. Those of you who don't know henna is a herb that is mixed with water and something else to create a paste that works as a temporary pigment for your skin or hair. I think you can use it on other things too but it is mostly for those things. One of the Moroccan traditions is that the bride has her hands and feet covered in decorative henna. The detail is so complete it appears as if she is wearing socks and gloves. She sits pampered while receiving this treatment. Then allows the henna to dry and color her skin. It lasts about 3 weeks depending on your skin. Anyway, Elena wore a traditional dress for having henna done and all of us ladies also got a small amount done too.

Around 1pm we ate the first of many feasts. Beef Tagine with olives and prunes. One of my favorite meals. It was spectacular. The men ate on the roof under the tent, and the women ate in our formal sitting area. Many women from the villages we are building in came to join the celebration. There was dancing and singing. Some of the women did some traditional Berber wedding singing and then we also heard some traditional Arabic wedding singing.It was great fun. The men always tell us that the women have all the fun at weddings. The men just eat and run, us girls hang out and have as much fun as possible.

That evening we gathered on the roof for Daniels henna party. Traditionally Elena would not be present, just the family and the grooms friends. We were blending the traditions though and so Elena and all of us girls joined the men for the party on the roof. We ate another feast (Beef Tagine again - YUM!) and then we all danced together. It was so much fun to dance to Moroccan music and some American music too. Since it was a gathering of close friends we were able to be more relaxed and enjoy each others company. It was one of my favorite parts of the wedding.

At the end of the evening we danced to the "hokey poky". It was great! We foreigners did it first and then invited all of the Moroccans to join us. They hesitated at first - this is not something they had ever seen before, but then they jumped in. Oh my word they LOVED it. I remember specifically one guy trying to do the moves and he was laughing so hard that he could hardly hold his "right arm out and shake it all about." It was so much fun we decided to add it to the next nights list of activities.

Speaking of the next night...The last and final night was Friday. It held all of the traditional things we would find in one of our weddings. We would have called it the main event. But I'll just have to tell you about that tomorrow! Ha, sorry to make you wait again, but I want to keep you coming back. See you tomorrow with the final installment of "the story of our travels".

Elena receiving henna, notice all the cushy pillows. Ya, pretty relaxing.

The final outcome, isn't it beautiful?!

My henna. I loved it, but its already worn off! Guess I'll just have to go back to Morocco! ;-)

Here we are minus Benson, he was taking a nap.

Nate, the photographer. He is living in Morocco right now, which was lucky for us. He did all the pictures for the wedding. He does amazing work. Check out his website.