The Engagement

In October 2005, Owen and Amy decided to take a three-week trip to Peru. After hiking the mystic heights of Machu Pichu, they traveled to Lake Titicaca (heehee) which is the world's highest navigable lake. One of the islands we visited in Lake Titicaca (heehee) was called Taquile (Ta-kee-lay). On this island, there is a tradition where unmarried men wear red and white alpaca wool hats and married men wear more elaborate colored hats. Unbeknownst to Amy, Owen managed to purchase two of each type of hat. Three days and a hellish busride later, we arrived in Arequipa. Arequipa is a gorgeous dessert town surrounded by volcanos. If you ever get a chance to visit, be sure to taste the freshwater river prawns with locally grown garlic. YUM!

The first night there, Owen and Amy ate at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Plaza de Armas. At this restaurant, we befriended a waiter who was very patient with our broken Spanish. He agreed to bring back a ceremonial beverage called Chicha (local corn beer) if we came back there for lunch the next day.

So the next day, after a morning of white water rafting, Owen and Amy came back to the same restaurant for lunch. Sure enough, our waiter friend was there with the Chicha he promised. During lunch, a random waiter distracted Amy by asking her for advice on English dating slang. This served as the perfect distraction to buy Owen the time he needed to set up the proposal. Using his marginal Spanish, Owen told the waiter his plan and asked him to take photos while he was proposing.

Owen asked Amy to take some photos on the rooftop, and she was very surprised when he handed her a red and white hat (the unmarried hat). Her first words were "Uh-oh" ... They took the photo with the unmarried hats, then Owen dropped to his knee and said "Amy, I love you very much and want to spend the rest of my life with you... if you'll have me?" Amy instantly replied "Of course I will!"

We then donned the colored hats (married hats) and kissed while the entire restaurant clapped. We were both on Cloud 9 for the rest of our trip. For those of you wondering, no, Owen did not carry the ring with him the entire time. he tied a piece of fabric on my finger until we arrived at our final destination in Peru where we bought the engagement ring together.