Central America

Noé and I just got back from three weeks of visiting family and friends in El Salvador and Guatemala.  We stayed with his parents in San Diego and my friends Reyna and Luis in San Miguel Ingenio, and got to stay with our friend Amelia in Guatemala City.  Click here to see all the photos.

Tara and Noé at Arely's quinceañera party

We spent most of the time just visiting with friends and helping Noe's family (for example, we made a cement walkway between the gate and the house and latrine).  Arely (our niece) had her quinceañera party a couple days after we arrived and we also got to eat tamales on Josué's birthday (our nephew).  For Jimmy's birthday (Noe's brother), Aunt Carmen prepared a chumpe (turkey), so we got to eat lots of birthday foods.  Unfortunately at Arely's party, everybody got food poisoning (!) which caused the San Diego soccer team to lose 0-9 the following morning in the tournament...

Streets of Antigua, Guatemala

El Gnomo visiting El Lago Atitlán in Guatemala

In Guatemala we visited Antigua for the first time, which was great!  It's such a beautiful colonial town with great restaurants.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see the surrounding volcanoes due to the low clouds / fog.  Then we bussed to Panajachel on the shores of Lago Atitlán, where we zip toured through the jungle and relaxed at the side of the lake.  This is where we met up with some friends who gave us a ride back to Guatemala City, where we stayed with Amelia, a friend of Noé who studies at a college in Washington.

Our godson Melvin taking the chicken to grandma

In El Salvador it's currently the rainy season, meaning daily downpours in the afternoon and night.  One night, at Reyna's house, the lightning was so close it electrified the house, sparking on the lines and shocking Reyna with a buzz that she felt from her toes to her knees, twice!  It also buzzed her son's feet.  The rest of us had shoes on, thank god!  She was making tortillas barefooted in the kitchen, which has a dirt floor.  After we got to El Sal the canícula began, which is a week or so of dry days in the middle of the rainy season, so we enjoyed some days of drying our laundry out on the lines.  Then it rained again, and we were able to see how the new cemented walkway at Noe's house really benefits the family.

We almost made it for elote, or corn-on-the-cob, season but that comes later on in August.  There were a few families who had elotes already and we were able to try some.

Noé enjoying an elote