I'm a married man!

[jediknight]

i finally have some time to write a summary of what i did this summer after spending 2 months in barranquilla. even though my profile lists me as having registered in 2004, if you do a search in the 2001 archives you'll see that i began this entire journey in may of that year and have been posting since then.

since that first trip in 2001 when i visited cartagena, barranquilla and santa marta, i've traveled to colombia about 3 additional times, visiting bogota and bucaramanga before going back to barranquilla in 2005 to meet my wife. i wont go into the details again, if you want to read about my trips they are all in the archives but here's a quick summary.

in 2001 i used an agency in cartagena to meet a few young women, one of them really caught my interest and we began to communicate through emails and phone conversations. i flew down to meet her and the other girls but i was lucky that she was honest and told me that she realized that she wouldn't be able to handle a long distance relationship. she joined the agency out of curiosity but immediately removed herself from the agency. we are still friends, she's had a couple of local boyfriends and she was happy for me when I told her I was getting married, she's a good girl. The other girls from the agency were all very nice but not what i was looking for so upon returning to the states I  signed up with amigos.com hoping to meet many girls through that site both here and in colombia, which i did.

the ones i met here were all latinas, mostly colombianas, a couple of puerto riquenas, dominicanas and mexicanas. i met lots of colombianas during my trips back to colombia until i found my wife on amigos.com in 2004. we wrote, chatted, spoke over the phone for about 6 months before i flew to meet her. in 2005 we became a couple and a few months later i asked her to marry me. we began preparations for the big day and a year later here i am.

I flew down on avianca in july and didn´t have a problem at all with service. I was on a new direct flight from jfk to barranquilla so I didn´t have to stop in bogota, this saved me time and was of course more convenient. we got married at the iglesia inmaculada concepcion at 8pm with the reception at the prado at 9pm. there were about 120 guests, all her family, a handful of mine and a few friends. the ceremony was only about 40 minutes long with the reception ending at 2am. the inmaculada is old, small, charming and with a/c. a few days before, the priest who married us insisted that we memorize our vows, so during those last few days we were practicing with each other. luckily we both got everything right. i´ve seen pictures of other weddings and have heard that some people read their vows but the priest wouldn't allow us to do that and frankly i didn't want that either although i thought he would read the vows and we would repeat.

well, the wedding was perfect, my wife looked stunning, everything was just like we had planned.  about the hotel el prado, well like they say in barranquilla..prado es prado. i really liked this hotel, elegant, clean and affordable. the weekend rates were 135,000 pesos a night. the rooms are very nice and my wife and i we lucky to get a room that had been renovated so it looked very modern on the inside. the wedding coordinator told us that the hotel is in the process of redoing their rooms, bathrooms and cabañas so if you decide to book there ask for one  of the newer rooms.

the pool there is very nice and breakfast was buffet style with juices, breads, cereals, eggs, sausage and sometimes empanadas or buñelos. the staff there was very nice and helpful. the cost for the reception was about $3000 USD, which i feel is a steal considering the service, attention, quality and style of the hotel. everything was 5 stars, the food was terrific, the waiters were attentive, everyone loved it. the wedding cake we got at dulcerna, also amazing. a friend of the family who does photography as a side job and an assistant did the pictures and dvd. i was a bit hesitant at first but i saw his pictures, compared them to others in barranquilla and liked his work.  there was one photographer who was very good, judging by his pictures and recommendations from others but he wasn't available the night of our wedding. his name is tino choperena, i don't have a contact number handy but he's in the directory or i could find out if you really need it.

 another recommendation for video is ronald moreno gomez, tel # 377.5048. we didn't use him but we saw another couple who got married and he did the video, it came out very nice, better than ours, unfortunatley we didn't know about him until after we got married. luckily the guy who took our pictures did a nice job and we have pictures and video. Everyone loved the ceremony and reception, her parents couldn´t stop smiling, they were really happy.
At the reception, we entered, everyone greeted us, we ate the cake and then we had our first dance as husband and wife, then everyone from her parents to mine and then everyone cut in to dance the blue Danube, it was a loooong dance. Then my suegro made the toast, it was short and perfect. We all danced, mingled, talked, laughed, ate and drank, so by 2 am we were all a bit buzzed, but in the end there were no drunks, everyone behaved.

after our stay at the prado we flew to san andres and stayed at the el dorado hotel, my wife has a friend that knows someone there and they gave us a discount, all we had to do was buy the plane ticket which was about 400,000 pesos r/t for each of us. we bought the honeymoon package, all inclusive which means that all of the meals and drinks were included. the food was served buffet style, really good suff and the liquor was included too, even at the beach. we wore blue wrist bands that indicated we belonged to the hotel and that we didn´t have to pay for anything so at the beach a guy would bring us aguilas or whatever we wanted. the room was very nice, with jacuzzi, king size bed, balcony. when we arrived the bed was covered in rose petals in the shape of a heart, with champagne, a fruit basket. the first night we had our dinner brought up to the room and the next morning the breakfast also, all part of the package. after that we ate downstairs with everyone else.

we were able to goto the hotel arena blanca around the corner and use their pool and see their shows at night because the 2 hotels are affiliated. we stayed a week and did the usual, shopping, swimming, site seeing, johnny cays, the acuario, el hoyo soplador which is a hole in the ground near the ocean that shoots up air and sometimes water as the waves crashes into the rocks. the aquarium was the best part for me, swimming with the fishes was an experience, crystal clear water, fishes of all shapes and colors. we also did jet skiing and got on this long hotdog shaped inflatable thing that gets pulled by a jetski. we had coco locos, a drink with different liquors, i liked them but expected them to be stronger. anyway, lunch at johnny cays was 20,000 for both and the ride out to the island was another 20,000. at night we went dancing at the disco next to the el dorado.

We were lucky that while we were there, our tour guide told us that they would be filming an episode of los reyes (Colombian soap opera) at the sunrise hotel, so we hung out there having drinks one afternoon and watched them film. The show can be really funny at times, I hope they show it here eventually. After we got back to barranquilla we enjoyed the rest my vacation there as husband and wife, pretty much doing everything that we had done before, going out, eating, movies, shopping, being invited to friends-family house for lunch or dinner. We did the rounds of getting her birth certificates, baptismal records and registering our marriage at the notaria and getting copies of everything and authenticated (autenticado). Saying goodbye wasn´t easy and I really felt strange without, more so than the other times that we had be separted. Lucky for us we are both working and that helps keep our minds occupied, but i'm calling her more than i did before we got married. In the next week or so i´ll be sending the papers for her visa, so i´ll be posting my questions for those that are going through or have already gone throught the process. i'll let all of you guys know how things develop. someone asked in a previous post how does one measure success. well, for me it's an ongoing thing, just like marriage. there are many stages in a relationship and so far i've been fortunate to have found what i want, i hope that my fortune continues and that we are both smart enough to keep things fresh and exciting. good luck to everyone.
JK

[Beattledog]

sounds like you have a great lady for a wife,

sad, beattledog

[jediknight]

yes, she's everything that i've asked God for, honest, affectionate, smart, funny, caring, faithful, a good person, sexy, hot, non-materialistic, religious, family oriented....i mean the list goes on and on. i fell for her before our first meeting and after we met she confirmed that what i had felt was right on. she's always looking out for me, making sure i have what i need. we talk about everything and we understand and respect each other. i've seen that show bridezilla and i thank God that my wife doesn't have a bitch bone in her body, she could never act like that even if she tried. there are lots of great women in colombia, i'm fortunate to have found mine, hopefully all of you have the same luck.
JK

[pablo]

Dan or Catz,

What's up with the Google ads within the thread directly above Jedi's post?  No offense, but I hope this won't be a regular practice from here on out at least not in threads.  I hope you please reconsider this new practice. Advertisements?  We don't need no stinking advertisements!

Along the same vein, why the banner to the RWD.com below this thread?

[doombug]

Dan or Catz,

What's up with the Google ads within the thread directly above Jedi's post?  No offense, but I hope this won't be a regular practice from here on out. We don't need no stinking advertizements!

I just noticed these in another thread and had the same reaction.  They are present in way too many forums nowadays--Google and profit motive are to blame ( ).  Irritating waste of space, if ya ask me.  Though, I suspect there are just enough people who click on the damn things to outweigh the few whining criticisms.

[catz]

What it boils down to is that somebody has to pay for the servers to host this site, the software to run this site, and the bandwith to keep this site available for everyone to post and add pictures, etc. So far, Dan has been covering all of these costs out of his own pocket which adds up to a not so small amount over the course of time. This is just a simple way to help defer the costs of the site and keep it from running Dan to the poor house.

 If you want to discuss it further please take it to the "Feature Requests & Bug Reports" forum so we don't hijack this thread.

Thanks,
 Catz