Wedding Weekend

My boss at UPSA invited Sonya and I to her daughter's wedding in Concepcion, a sleepy town about five hours east of Santa Cruz. The area is known for a set of beautifully restored 18th-Century Jesuit missions. From these sprawling church complexes, the European priests helped civilize the Amazonian Indians by teaching them to read, to embrace Jesus and to play classical music, according to the literature provided there. The Jesuits clashed with Portuguese colonialists who tried to enslave members of their congregations and were eventually expelled from Bolivia. They argued that their flock had become too civilized to serve as slaves (watch "The Mission" to see Robert DeNiro play an anguished Spanish missionary).
The wedding took place in a church built by a Swiss priest -- fitting, the current German bishop who led the ceremony pointed out, because the groom is Swiss as well. The bride's family shipped in tasteful white candles and orchids, a 12-piece orchestra and a an understated wedding cake that Sonya would have picked out herself (except that it wasn't chocolate.) Guests wore stylish suits and dresses.
The reception hall, with bottom-lit white columns of cloth and chocolate buffet -- could have been in New York or L.A. The only reminders that we were in a poor Bolivian town were peering in through the window bars from the outside, watching the first dance and the toasts with smiles as if they were invited guests themselves.