Ana`s Familia!

We left this morning at 5:30 for San Salvador, El Salvador after a slight mishap in which the darkness, our tiredness, and a very short step conspired to ruin 3 gifts for folks back home. After 6 hours on the bus, during which they played the same movie twice, we were kindly greeted in the capital by a pupusería. We then promptly caught a bus to the beach town of La Libertad.

Turns out, though, that we were supposed to go to Santa Tecla which is in the County of La Libertad. 20 minutes of backtracking brought us to Santa Tecla where I called Ana to come pick us up. It turns out that her aunt runs a shop that was directly across the street from where we were, so we chatted with her until Ana came! It was perfect, and now we`re at her mom`s house where we ate lunch, played with her daughter Jamila, and chatted with her mom, grandma, cousin, and niece. Christie and Eli are napping as I type, and I am just glad to finally be caught up with our travels!

(later that night...)

We passed a lovely evening with Ana´s family Monday night, chatting, eating pupusas (bean and cheese-filled tortillas), and dancing salsa and merengue with a neighbor. Ana´s family includes her incredibly sweet mom, her cute (and surprisingly agile) grandma, her grandpa, her aunt who met us at the bus terminal and seemed to be interested in finding me a Salvadoran man, her cousin Haydee in whose house we slept and ate in (and who is incredibly hospitable), her 9-year old niece Valeria, and her college-aged cousin Monica (almost always accompanied by her boyfriend Oscar). It was quite the chaotic, yet wonderful, night meeting everyone and just getting to share their lives.

And now, aside from Ana´s wonderful family,let me just say how much I LOVE El Salvador! As soon as we crossed the border, we noticed the difference in the friendliness of the people. I can´t exactly explain what it is about them, because there are still the creeps and there is still plenty of crime, but overall, every single interaction we had with people on the streets, in shops, and even with bus and taxi drivers were encouragingly positive! I highly recommend this country for anyone who is thinking of travelling Central America.