Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

Tucked away in a small pueblo outside Antigua, we had the opportunity to participate in a local wedding ceremony.  In the hill tribes, local Mayan custom runs deep and they are proud of their heritage and traditions.  Here the women and men wear their traditional clothing as part of every day life, and they seek to preserve their customs, albeit difficult with the discrimination they face if they wear their traditional clothing and try to enter a public building and receive service.  Often they are turned away, or refused service.  Despite the discrimination, local hill tribes continue to pursue their customs and traditions passionately.

We participated as the young couple to be married, getting dressed up and moving through each part of the ceremony with the local elders of the pueblo, and another couple of our friends from Canada who played the role of the in-laws.  As the female to-be-wed, I had to give my new mother-in-law a ton of gifts, including a special ceremonial fabric that I had woven by hand loom.  I brought gifts for each of my new family members, gifts of woven fabric, chocolate, coffee and special breads.  I also carried a special ceremonial jug of water on my head (for a nano-second).  On the big wedding day I was presented with the most important gift from my new mother-in-law - a cooking apron, and I proceeded to go directly into the kitchen, following the wedding, with her to learn how to best prepare meals the way my husband was raised to expect his food to taste.  Quite ironic, as many of you out there in the our reading audience know, that cooking is not a skill I have developed very well.  We actually did get to learn how to make tortillas with one of the elderly woman from the village.  They also prepared a very local dish for us called pepian, a tasty mixture of spices, sauce, rice, vegetables and chicken.  Chatting with the women they spoke of how family sizes have decreased from upwards of 12 children to 3-4 today.  Specifically, they cite the importance of providing their children with an education, and that the costs are prohibitive, thus, if they have fewer children, they have a better opportunity of providing education to them all.