The Hora

No, that's not bad Spanglish. It's a Jewish dance.

And I think that we effectively tripled or quadrupled the population of Jews in Cuenca for our wedding.

The dance is easy. You join hands and go around in a circle, doing a grapevine. Sometimes you change directions. Occasionally you expand or contract the circle. That's about it.

I do have a nice video of the dancing, but it just won't seem to upload :(  I hope photos will do.

You've probably noticed that there aren't any Ecuadorians dancing. I think that most were just watching the spectacle. We didn't have much room because it had been drizzling a bit earlier and the wooden dance floor was slick. A few people had already slipped. So we decided to dance outside on the brick porch.

Carlos had been to my cousin's wedding with us and saw the practice of being hoisted up on chairs. He didn't like what he saw. It was one Jewish tradition that he was not very thrilled about participating in at our wedding. I assured him that I had never seen anyone fall, but advised him to always keep one hand on the chair.

So we have me, having fun...

...and Carlos, trying not to seem terrified...

...but not masking his relief when through.

With that, it was time for a drink. And some lunch.