As many of you have heard we have been followed around lately by a little black rain cloud that has ceaselessly dumped buckets of bad luck upon us! And it was never more apparent than in the journey to get to guatemala to photograph isaac and Elisa’s wedding ceremony. It was almost the journey that wasn’t, but Seth prevailed through flight cancellations, being a ticketed passenger on a non existent fight, lost luggage and more.
After the grueling 36 hour long trip to Guatemala, he proceeded to travel for 4 hours by pickup to the tiny city of Panajanchel and then traveled by ferry to la Casa del Mundo on lago Atilan.. An inland lake surrounded by rugged cliffs and three forested volcanos. Having all of an hour and a half of sleep in two days, Seth, was refreshed by a 30 minute nap and ready to get to work! Casa del Mundo was ‘just a cool place! ‘ the rooms are built into the cliff walls Amazing fresh produce brought in from the local Panajanchel market by boat every morning. Seth walked from his room down several hundred steep rock steps to the ceremony site, past the kitchen where they were preparing the wedding feast of freshly butchered chickens, fresh tomatoes and avocados. Local women, dressed in traditional mayan attire, were carefully putting together the wedding cake. Though the hotel itself is not very old, it has a feel of an old mayan village. The ceremony took place on a patio reaching out over the water and was actually the second level of the patio currently under six feet of water after a recent earthquake. Seth made his way back up the steep steps to Elisa’s room which was a beautiful casita with a view of one of the lakes three volcanos. Her mom, isaacs mom and sister in law were helping her to get ready. Isaac was with his dad and a few cousins who made the journey. Isaac’s dad Tom performed the intimate ceremony which was witnessed by close family and friends followed by the most AMAZING reception food! Stories and congratulatory toasts were shared over the candlelit dinner and for one brief day the dreaded black rain cloud lifted and Seth was able to photograph a beautiful couple with their amazing family in a beautiful and magical place.
The next day we were back to trying to find luggage and more canceled flights…but that’s a whole other story!