We both knew it was fate when we met in Salvador, Brazil just over two years ago. We met at our hostel. But fate really stepped in as Jessica had booked another hostel which ended up being located in a not so good of an area. She had booked it for the four days of her stay in Salvador but after two days of staying there not getting much sleep as music played from 8pm-8am outside and she didn't feel safe. She convinced the owner of the hostel to let her break the other two night contract and then booked this beautiful hostel in a nice area close to the beach. As Felipe was beginning what was hopefully going to be a two year travel around Latin America. He was traveling on a budget and normally this nice hostel would not be in his price-range but there was a sale happening and he took advantage of it and thus our paths cross.
When Jessica first met Felipe at breakfast where he had not had a good night sleep she initially thought he was rude and didn't think anything of him and continued her exploration of the city. Later that morning their paths crossed again and after a week of not speaking any English she was happy to be able to talk to someone and they spent the rest of the day together.
They wandered along the beach where Jessica verbally threw up her life story, past relationships, challenges with work and so on as Felipe patiently listened and every now and then quoted a Buddhist proverb to help her as she felt lost in life.
As it came to the end of the day and both were leaving to head to opposite sides of Brazil Felipe decided to take a chance and leaned in and kissed Jessica before their paths parted. And that was the beginning. Jessica didn't think anything of it and continued on her travels until it was time to go back to Vancouver where her flight got canceled in transit in Columbia as the pilot decided to not show for work . After hours of struggling with the airline she got another flight but needed to enter Columbia to get her ticket. As a tourist visa was needed to enter and the airline would pay for it chaos ensued. After more than two hours at customs stranded with the staff saying that someone is coming to pay her visa and know one showing. She began to text and vent to Felipe about her experience while he tried to calm her down. Until many hours later all was resolved.
From then on for months Felipe and Jessica kept in contact almost everyday sharing dreams, worries and everyday life. Until one day Jessica told Felipe that she was heading to the Mayan Riveria in Mexico to escape the rainy Vancouver weather. Felipe then joked that he could go for some Mexican food and she innocently invited him to come along, not expecting that he would but was always up for traveling buddies.
Shockingly with the encouragement of Felipe's best friend he actually bought a ticket to Mexico and flew for 24 hours to meet Jessica once again after only having spent one day together in Brazil. There began their first 9 day date in Mexico full of many challenges of cars breaking down, food poisoning and so on. Realizing that they both barely knew each other and were able to overcome these challenges and take care of each other they decided to become officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Doing the long distance relationship for about 9 months traveling to see each other when they could. Felipe decided to take a leap of faith and move to Vancouver so he and Jessica can be together. After many challenges they both have faced here they our ready to begin the next big adventure of marriage.