Back in ES

Returning to El Salvador to Yeka and Edenilson's home felt like we were coming home. Maybe it’s because we had stayed with Yeka and Edenilson the last time we came to El Salvador and so we felt that much more comfortable staying with them. And maybe because we also knew that we were going to be staying with them at least a week and that sounded really nice after moving around so much. I was surprised at how excited their kids were to see us (Yesenita, 9 yrs old & Ede, 11 yrs old) so that made it that much more fun being there because they felt really comfortable with us.

Ede is a video game aficionado and he immediately wanted to have a Wii tournament. When we finally did have our tournament a couple days after arriving he of course won (Ario placed 2nd!). See below for some action shots of the tournament!:

Yesenita's scoreboard

Yeka hitting hard

Yesenita ready to hit a home run

Ario staying hydrated

Ede and Yeka battling it out

Top Players

Our week with them was really relaxing. One of the afternoons I went with Yeka to the San Miguelito Market where she was shopping around for the best prices for tiaras and batons for the upcoming Independence Day parade on September 15^th. There you can get everything for a birthday party, wedding, fresh produce, clothes, flowers and much more. I quite enjoyed all of the excitement!

I also went and spent a morning with Yeka at her daycare/preschool in Chalchuapa (the town where Ario is from which is about an hour from San Salvador (where Yeka and Edenilson live)) and had fun hanging out with the two years old class.

At the end of the week we headed to Chalchuapa to stay with Ario’s Mom and family. So that you will be able to follow who I’m talking about I’ll give you the run down on the fam now: Betty (Ario’s Mom), Diego (Ario’s half brother, 21yrs old), & Sonia (Ario’s half sister, 13 years old). Then there’s Ario’s sister Jenny who has four kids who also live at the house as Jenny works in San Salvador and only comes home every two weeks. They are: Ario (16 yrs old), Vanessa (13 yrs old), Francisco (12 years old) and Lili (3 yrs old). In a separate apartment connected to the house lives Ario’s other sister Jacqueline with her two daughters: Karen (15 yrs old) and Karla (22 yrs old).  So with the fam, we took the bus into town to spend the day enjoying the Patron Saint Festival which was taking place. We saw a little parade where witches came and scared us (by us I mean Sonia and Lili):

The Parade (one of many that took place during the festival days)

Sonia hiding from the witches

Diego keeping it real

Santiago Apostol, Patron Saint of Chalchuapa

And we enjoyed some frozen fruit and coffee drinks in the park:

Vanessa, Francisco & Sonia after enjoying their frozen drinks

Lili, til' the last drip!

Vanesas, Kat, Betty, Francisco, Sonia, Lili, Diego at the fountain in the park

Then came a HUGE downpour where we were forced to wait at a pizza stand undercover and enjoyed gaseosas aka sodas. To entertain ourselves we took pictures and my hat became quite the statement piece:

Finally the rain let up so we were able to bus home and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing a soccer/foosball type game, checkers, Loteria (bingo) and Jacks:

On Thursday the kids didn’t have school so we took advantage and went to the Jicaro Pools in a neighboring town with Ario’s Mom’s friend Lily. Ario’s sister in-law, Ana was also able to join us. We all had so much fun that we didn’t take any pictures. We all got sunburnt (me of course the most) and I still have quite the suntan line to prove it. I’ll probably where a t-shirt next time to protect my skin.

We also did a bit of home improvement and painted Ario, Vanessa, Francisco, & Lili’s room a lovely Mango and green color. Here we are in action:

Lili is also just so damn cute that I couldn’t help taking a few extra of her:

I really enjoyed being back in El Salvador and I especially enjoyed being able to spend time with Edenilson and his family, Ario’s Mom, siblings, nieces and nephews. I told him that I wanted to stay in El Salvador and after the long trip from Nicaragua to El Salvador we both knew it wasn’t going to be as easy going back and forth like we thought. So we began the search for a place to live, hoping something would work out for us in El Salvador!