Cassandra and Mariana were both trying to learn the other's native language and turned to an app, Hellotalk. Mariana sent a, "hello"....that at first went unanswered. Cassandra had already made some friends and was progressing in Spanish, and wasn't really looking to juggle a new friendship with anyone else. But then, Mariana sent another message. This one landed. From day one, even though they couldn't understand each other very well, they never stopped talking. Every morning was a chance to be the first to say good morning to each other and every night was spent falling asleep together, falling in love, through a screen. After Cassandra's first trip to Merida, she went as often as she could, moving there in 2018, where she realized Mariana was the person she was meant to be with.

Cassandra used a friend's wedding as a guise for a surprise trip to Merida. With the help of some of Mariana's friends, Cassandra rented a small place on the beach where Mariana's friends were to bring her. Another group of friends helped Cassandra line the walkway to the beach with luminaries, where she would be waiting at the end of the runway to surprise Mariana. But as it tends to do, life had other plans. As they were setting up the candles, a dark cloud crept closer and closer overhead. Cassandra and group hoped and prayed that the cloud would hold off, but things weren't meant to be that way. Mariana, in all her wisdom, had by now figured out that a surprise was waiting for her at her destination. And she had surmised as much, that the surprise may just be Cassandra, making the long drive out ever more anxiety-inducing. When she got to the house, the rain was falling so hard, they couldn't see anything but faint outlines in the distance. But in between lightning strikes, Mariana saw Cassandra and took off running towards her. As the thunder boomed and the waves roared, it seemed no sound was louder than Cassandra's nervous heart as she knelt down to ask the question that had rattled her mind in every variation possible for the last 4 years. Not a single word was able to escape her mouth before Mariana was saying, YES! and hugging Cassandra so fiercely, she nearly dropped the ring in the sand.