Did Dr. Vicki Belo and her beloved Hayden Kho get married in Machu Picchu, at 7,970 feet above sea level, said to be one of the world’s highest peaks (it’s known as “Old Peak”)? Watch related video
“No,” Vicki told Funfare yesterday, barely 48 hours after she and Hayden came back from a week-long vacation in Peru. “We went there to fulfill a long dream.”
You see, people were suspecting that the couple, who got engaged in December last year, were scouting around (the world!) for an ideal place to get married in.
“We do have a plan to get married but we don’t know where yet,” added Vicki who looked younger, recharged no doubt by the dizzying Machu Picchu altitude which is said to cause people to hyperventilate.
According to Wikipedia, Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438-1472) and is deemed to be the most familiar icon of the Inca world. It is often referred to as “the Lost City of the Incas.”
“When I was 20,” recalled Vicki, “I read a book by Shirley MacLaine who was all praises for Machu Picchu. She even claimed to have sighted a UFO from there. Since then, I’d been dreaming to visit Machu Picchu.”
Vicki and Hayden have traveled around the world but they’d never been to Peru.
One time, out of the blue she asked Hayden what place he would like to visit and he said, “Machu Picchu.”
What a coincidence!
“I told Hayden, ‘That’s also my dream destination’,” said Vicki. “Sabi ko, soulmates nga talaga kami.”
It was a “cultural trip,” very educational and very “historical,” according to Vicki.
After visiting other places in Peru (Lima and Cusco, among them), the sweethearts checked into the Incatera Hotel for their three-day stay in Machu Picchu, brought there by the famous Orient Express.
“The trip was very memorable,” said Vicki. “Up there, you could hear yourself think and your heart beat. It’s so quiet and you feel nearer to God.”
How about getting married in a place “nearer to God?”
“Hmmmmm,” smiled Vicki. “Ganda nga siguro n’un, ano!” Read related article
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com.)