We're engaged!

Who was going to tell me that the Chilean girl that I met in April 2012 in Livingstone (Zambia) would become my fiancé? What are the odds of a Spanish guy who lived in Ireland meeting a Chilean girl who lives in the US in Zambia? Laura was doing some research work for her doctoral thesis in Livingstone while I was traveling through Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. We met through our friend Merche, co-founder of Zambian-based travel agency Feeling Africa. Just three days before I had to go back to Ireland at the end of my vacation.

Ever since, Laura and I have been in contact via email, Skype, FaceTime. That's how we really got to know each other, through conversations that sometimes lasted up to 4 hours. It didn't take me too long to realize that there was something very special about Laura. I visited her in Missoula (Montana), where she lives, in June 2012. We spent 12 great days together before I had to go back to Ireland. We went back to our friend FaceTime, day after day, until the next time we could spend some time together. This time it was in Boston, on our way to a wedding of one of Laura's friends in Maine in August 2012.

Every time I spent with her, I was more convinced about my feelings for Laura. Every time we had to depart from each other, I didn't feel sad for the distance between us that would follow. In fact, I was happy and felt lucky to have met her. I also knew that there'd be a next time, and that helped me cope with the circumstances of long distance pretty well. We always had and said that FaceTime was our friend!

The next time we met was in Europe. Laura got permission from her university to come to Ireland for over 3 months in November 2012. Writing the thesis is the last stage she needs to complete in order to obtain her Phd. She could work on her thesis from Dublin. We had a great time together. While in Dublin, we visited Rome, spent Christmas with my family in Madrid, and went to visit my extended family in Seville. All this took us to the end of January 2013.

Short after that, I had to start taking steps to break the distance between us. I liked the idea of making a move to the US and be close to her. I suggested this to her and she loved it. For me that was enough to make a final decision of leaving Ireland. And also use the opportunity to take some time off to do something that I had always wanted to do. Travel. What she didn't know at the time is that I also intended to propose.

What followed were weeks of planning and trying to arrange things so that I could propose in the same place where we met, in Livingstone. In the late afternoon of the special day, we did a micro-flight over the Victoria Falls. This was Laura's first anniversary present. The Falls are an amazing spectacle from the ground at the National Park, so massive, powerful, the sounds and sprays created by the Zambezi finding its way down the gorge to continue its course. However, from up in the air, they're even more impressive. You can see them from a completely different perspective. It's spectacular. The first thing that strikes you is the width of the river as it approaches the main gorge at the point where the Falls are formed. The colour of the water, all the vegetation and plains that surround the river and that extend to a point where your eyes meet the horizon, such is the vastness below. The small islands, some elephants drinking from the river and hippos enjoying a bath in its waters. 

As the micro-plane approaches to just four hundred meters of the main gorge, you feel the strength of the water falling, the sprays formed can almost touch your face, the striking sound makes communication with the pilot through the micro-plane's internal radio system nearly impossible. And you can see the total width of the falls at their full splendor, the waters zigzagging through the gorges as they continue their course, and the bungee jump bridge that separates Zambia and Zimbawe. All these marvels from up in the air with a beautiful sunset lightning.

After we landed, we went to the Royal Livingstone Hotel, on the Zambian banks of the Zambezi River, just a few hundred meters from the waterfall. We enjoyed the changing after-sunset orange, pink, violet, red colors as the night fell down while having a cocktail at the sunset deck. 

After that, we wandered around the hotel grounds for some minutes before suggesting Laura that we had dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Laura didn't expect it. I insisted. We were seated at a nice table in the roofed open terrace overlooking the darkened river and the hotel grounds. There was a very pleasant guitar music being played live in the background. A very polite waiter would serve the table for the next two hours. We both ordered Zambian traditional food; grilled whole bream with Nshima and a sauté of sweet potatoes leaves and tomatoes. Nshima is the Zambian staple food. It's made of maize flour mixed with water. The taste is very plain. It's Zambia's everyday bread. As starters, Laura had a salad and I a carrot and pumpkin soup. We watered everything down with a South African coupage white wine bottled exclusively for the Royal Livingstone, or at least that's what we were told.

While we waited for our food to arrive, we saw a group of zebras passing in front of us. This hotel keeps zebras, giraffes and monkeys at their grounds, so it's quite common to come across this sort of parades while you're at their premises.

I still didn't know when I would propose. I was still waiting for the right moment to arise. We finished our main course and the waiter asked us if we wanted to see the desserts menu. We had a look and fancied the plate of assorted desserts to share. As if everything was written in the stars, the waiter advised that it would take 20 minutes for it to be ready. This was the time when I thought that I'd ask Laura to go stretch our legs while we waited. It was such a pleasant starred night. We came to a second sunset deck by the river. We stood looking at each other, hugged, enjoyed the moment. And it was then when I took the ring in its box and placed it on Laura's hands. She looked at it. My heart was beating very fast. It took a few seconds for Laura to react. Seconds that seemed minutes to me. Then she said, 'its a box', and I said, 'Yes, do you want to marry me?' I opened the box, took the ring out and slid it in her finger. It fitted perfectly. A ring that had flown from Madrid to Dublin, then to Missoula and finally to Zambia. She said nothing but kissed me, tears dropping from both our eyes. We stayed like this for a good few minutes. We both knew it. But she hadn't said yes yet. I had to tell her that she hadn't answered. Then she said yes and we kept hugging each other until we heard someone say 'Congratulations', a young woman with a group of two or three others who came to contemplate the river at the deck.

It was very special. I felt so good. Laura told me that she hadn't any idea that I'd propose. Days earlier she had randomly been telling me how difficult it's to surprise her as she seems to be gifted in always finding out about surprises that other people prepare for her. All the waiting, preparation and planning for it to be at the place where we had met nearly 14 months earlier had been worth it. From that moment onwards we were not 'pololos' (in Chile), 'novios' (in Spain) or boyfriend/girlfriend but 'novios', 'comprometidos' or engaged. Or as we decided later, we started calling each other 'my fiancé'. My heart is full of joy. I'm a lucky man! Laura is a wonderful woman!

She's now in South Africa attending a conference before she goes back to Montana. I remain in Zambia where my travels continue.