El Salvador Day 2

I get woken up by someone knocking repeatedly on the door. I jump up and look at the clock, it says 11 am. How is that possible?! To top it off, I feel like I'm not quite sober yet. Great. I look through the peephole and see it's my Aunt Soraya and she doesn't look happy. I try to wake up my dad and he asked "what happened to the wake up call we asked for?" Uhhh... The phone is off the hook and lying on the ground. Honestly, that was probably me. Anyone who has ever tried to wake me up knows how difficult it is.

In a rush we packed up our stuff and headed downstairs, where I found out it really was only 7 am. That explains a lot. We eat a big breakfast of pupusas, tamales, coffee and watermelon juice. I don't know why we don't have watermelon juice here, because it's delicious. After breakfast we are whisked off to my aunt and uncle's house in San Salvador where I have exactly 40 minutes to sleep before I need to get ready for my other aunt and uncle's 25th wedding anniversary.

After an hour drive through the countryside we arrive at the party. There are about 80 people there already. My dad takes me around and introduces me to a bunch of relatives who all say variations of the same thing: “Wow, she’s so beautiful. She looks nothing like you!” or “Wow, she’s so tall!” That’s right, in El Salvador I’m considered TALL. I loved it.

My family!

After drinks, pictures and introductions we went to the church located on the property where my aunt and uncle renewed their vows. The service was in Spanish and I only caught about 2/5ths of it, but it was still touching. It is obvious that they are still in love after a quarter century together.

Next we had a big dinner with lots of toasts, and a huge cake. Afterwards the young and old broke it down on the dance floor. Let me tell you, my grandma can out dance me any day.

My grandma dancing with my uncle

Taking a break from dancing with my great uncle (In his 80's!)

Once the party began to wind down we headed to my grandparent’s house and I finally got to see my grandpa. Last I had heard he had not been able to leave the upstairs of their home for weeks, so you can imagine my surprise to see him sitting in the living room without having to use oxygen! It made my heart smile J

My cousin was nice enough to translate my English into French (my grandpa’s first language), to make things easier for us both. Yes, she speaks four languages fluently, it’s disgusting. Before too long we headed to bed; we were all beat, including los Abuelitos.

I just loved her outfit.