While the group were here I had a message from my mum saying that my nephew was getting married suddenly to his Indonesian girlfriend. The wedding was to be in Jakarta. Could we go? Fortunately we had a week in between two other commitments and were able to book flights and a hotel.
First we had to recover from the group visit, tidy up and get back to normal, then we had a long weekend walking in the Spanish side of the Pyrenees (Sierra de Guara) with our walking group here. We left at 6am on Friday morning arriving in Spain in the evening. On the way we visited a sanctuary which is enormous, a place for travellers and pilgrims. Beautiful architecture, mosaics etc. but one does wonder if the money would have been better spent on the people of the area. Anyway the hotel was good with a pool (needed as it was very hot). We walked Sat, Sun and Mon leaving for home in the afternoon. I managed short walks of about 4 hours so was quite pleased, Chris of course did the long ones. Spectacular countryside and pretty mountain villages.
Arrived home late Mon night and were on the plane for Jakarta Tues pm. Jakarta is huge, polluted and noisy. The traffic never stops. We did manage to find backpacker area (the only place where there are bars as far as we could tell). We did a tour of the port which was very interesting, visited the museum and did loads of shopping in the covered clothes market which is huge. So much stuff! To start with we thought it expensive until we realised that the prices quoted were for batches of 12 items!
So on to the wedding. So glad we went as we were 'in loco parentis' for the day as my nephew's parents are hippies and have no money. I had the full make up treatment - even false eyelashes, and hair back-combed and lacquered until stiff as a board. We were provided with traditional dress and then had the ceremony itself. This involved lots of talking among the men agreeing the wedding contract and then the bride arrived and vows and rings exchanged, in all about 1.5 hours. Fortunately there was an MC who translated things into English. After this there was a bit of refreshment and a change of clothes for the evening reception. Baubles, bangles and beads were the order of the day. We as 'parents' were up on the stage receiving all the guests (about 1,000). 2 hours later we got some food and it was all over. A really great experience.
We arrived back on a Tues midday and were off again the next morning to the UK. Had a great 10 days catching up with friends and family (Chris did a bit of work to keep his hand in). Came back several pounds heavier as everyone had cooked yummy food. The weather was foul while in Devon and made us realise why we are here.
So now we are back for 2 weeks before going to Australia for 2 months. Lots of things to organise, people to see, events to go to, so no time to be bored!
The house is having its outside coat on which will hopefully be finished before we go.
Other than that not a lot of progress as no time but would like to tidy the garden a bit before we leave. Next blog probably from Oz or next year!
