Why is it that whenever I am on the other side of the world, I end up going to church?
Yes I am catholic, however not practising. The extent of any church going back at home is to attend the occassional wedding, christening or midnight mass come Christmas time.
While living in the UK quite a few years back, my friend Paul and I were in Paris for Easter. We decided to attend the Easter Sunday mass at Notre Dame. I think Paul thought I would burn in hell forever for actually taking photo´s during the service!
Then a couple of years ago while visiting the lovely Firenze, Italia, my friend Kate decided she would like to attend a catholic mass to see what it was like. Kate is an atheist by the way! But we went along for the service and the Italian church going experience.
Then last night here in Ecuador, I found myself attending mass once again. Marcelo is a local who has been showing me the sights and has been a great source of entertainment since arriving in Otavalo. Yesterday we went for a walk to a nearby community, Peguche and visited the nearby waterfall. When we returned to town, Marcelo in his limited English (although much better than my limited Spanish), asked if I would like to have a look inside the lovely old church in the centre of town. I did not realise having a look inside actually meant attend the mass! But, what could I say once we were in there? So I sat through an Ecuadorian catholic mass. It was much more lively than any other catholic service I have attended. Lots of singing and clapping. There was also a baptism. All very exciting! But it was when everyone broke into the Español version of Simon & Garfunkels, Sounds of Silence that truly made the evening. It was also during this sing along that Marcelo lent over and whispered in my ear, "Roxana, maybe you come back to Otavalo and we will have a grande wedding and many niño´s baptised in this Otavalo church". I almost fell off the pew laughing. Maybe I shouldn´t have....at this rate it could be the closest I come to a marriage proposal yet!
