We get up early so we can leave by 9:30am. Frances is driving. The wedding will take place at the church where the bride attends, which is quite far away.
We are a little late, but apparently there is no such thing as late in Swaziland. We arrive and see Tendon, our driver from Thursday. He looks very handsome in a suit. Many people are very dressed up in their finest clothes. Luckily, it is much cooler today than yesterday-back into the 70's with a nice breeze.
The church is packed. Everyone from both churches will attend. There are no invitations-everyone is invited. We sit in the back pew so we can leave early. Swazi weddings have been known to go on for 4-5 hours, before the reception.
Rev. Orma arrives and she and Cindy move closer to the front of the church. Fred and I stay back with Frances. We are now packed into the pews and the seat is about the same size as the balance beam that is used for the Olympics. The flower girls arrive, dressed all in white with tiaras in their hair. Only they are not throwing flowers, they are tossing hard candy into the crowd. I mean, they are really flinging it. I duck, not so much that children can get to the candy, but mostly to avoid getting my eye poked.
Next are the bridesmaids and the ushers. Together they dance up the aisle. Frances says that their dancing is quite tame compared to others she has seen. Now the groom comes in to much applause and cheering. He is in a white suit and is just beaming. He makes his way down to the middle of the aisle. Now comes the bride. She walks in with her mother and father on either side of her. Behind her is a young man in jeans, looking sullen and bored. Who else can it be but the younger brother? This entire time, there has been singing, and the singers are terrific.
As soon as the bride and groom make their way up the aisle everyone swarms into the aisle up to the front of the church to see them. They stand directly in front of the couple and they are all taking pictures and videos. It's impossible to see the wedding couple now. A ring of chairs has been placed around the altar so that the wedding party and the family can see.
Now, the priest Father Advent introduces some guests who have come from Botswana.
Then the bride and groom exchange vows, and at this time, all the priests in the church are called forward to give the couple a blessing. Rev. Cindy and Rev Orma go up, and Orma gives the blessing for the entire church.
Now the priest hangs an apple from a string over the heads of the bride and groom and they must each take a bite from it. The bride takes a rather large bite and everyone laughs. She is very lovely.
Then it's time for the speeches and it's time for us to go. Orma walks out with us. She has packed for us snacks and drinks for the long day. It was such a lovely thing to do, knowing that we would be there a long time.
As we are leaving, people fill our empty seats. There are as many people arriving now-90 minutes into the wedding-as there were when it started. People arrive for hours. Many of them walk to the church and it is very far away for the members of the groom's church. You never know how many will show up so there will be lots of food for all.
When we leave, we pass by the stadium. Today is the day of the 40/40. There are many people arriving for that, even though it started almost four hours earlier.
We drive very far north, almost to the border to the glass factory. Unfortunately, the glass blowers are not there today-due to the celebration. We eat lunch there and look at the lovely things they sell. Fred and I buy some glass penguins to remind us of the penguins at Simon's Beach in Cape Town.
On the way home, Frances suddenly stops the car and tells Fred to drive. She tells him that if we are renting a car and driving to Kruger National Park on Thursday, he needs to practice. They drive on the left side of the road so that means the clutch is on the left side.
Fred takes the wheel and does a respectable job of getting us home. Remember, this includes a gravel road, then a dead end, then a dirt road. We make it safely back, where Frances tells Fred that he did a good job but she recommends that we ask for an automatic.
Back at the lodge, it's a bright blue day. The fires in Swaziland have been very bad. There is no fire department to speak of, so the fires just continue until they go out on their own. The air quality has been terrible. So it's nice that the lodge is high up in the mountains.
Fred and I sit on our patio and read and take pictures of the surrounding area. The lodge sits on a besolith-a granite mountain. There are only two in the world, and the second one is in Australia. Apparently, this makes for frightening lightening storms.
But today is gorgeous, and the three resident rottweilers are eating their bones. I take some pictures, and walk down the hill. I see an animal scurry past me. It's not a squirrel-it's a mongoose!
The sun is out, it's 4:30 and the afternoon wind is picking up. We went to a wedding, talked to our children, shopped and had a fabulous day.
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