Navidad Salvadoreno - Part 3

Tazumal
There are only 3 archaeological sites in the country that are open to the public: Joya de Ceren, (the Pompeii of El Salvador,) San Andres, (a small, poorly-preserved pyramid,) and Tazumal.  Tazumal is at the northwest tip of the country right near the border with Guatemala.  It was a long drive for the baby, but we were rewarded with the largest and most interesting ruins in the country.

There were 2 pyramids that appeared to be connected by levels of stairs and walkways.  A small section of narrow, underground corridors had also been excavated.  We also saw what appeared to be shallow, narrow channels lined with smooth stones (rain gutters??) and stairways that led down into rectangular structures.  There were no maps to assist the uninformed tourist, and where there were signs they were too faded by the sun to read, and what you could read was frustratingly vague.  ("This is an important archaeological site used by the Maya.  It may have been ceremonial in nature.")

It was sweltering, and after a couple of hours I was soooo done.  Mario haggled for some beautiful jade pieces, and we were on our way home.

Ilobasco
The town of Ilobasco is the best place in the country aside from the airport, (no joke,) to find artisanal souvenirs.  We were on a mission to get a well-made, traditional but not-too-Catholic nativity.  I almost bought the one pictured here,  meanwhile Tio Jairo and Windham tried out a marimba in a gift shop.

We did find a perfect nativity, but unfortunately for Tia Xiomara, her perfect nativity had been bought by someone else while she browsed other stores.  Come to find out, WE had bought the nativity she had her eye on!  Oops.  We settled the awkward dilemma using "Finders, Keepers."

Pollo Campero
What trip to El Salvador would be complete without visiting Pollo Campero?  You may turn up your nose when I describe Pollo Campero as the Salvadoran KFC, but consider this:

1.  It's the only building in the department (like a county) with AC, and it was summer in El Salvador
2.  It's the only restaurant in the department you know won't make you sick
3.  It's the only restaurant in the department where you can actually get good service from kind, helpful servers

Not too shabby, right?  Plus they gave Windham a crown. 

Navidad Salvadoreno - Part 2

We spent the majority of our time with Mario's family in a town called Sensuntepeque.  It's a small town with not much to do in the way of vacationy stuff so we spent the time eating amazing Salvadoran home cooking, walking around the centro, (park in the middle of town,) and visiting with family.

Sensunte market at Christmas

About the middle of our stay we were running low on diapers and ventured to the one grocery store in town, Super Selectos.  It's located near the outdoor market, which in the days immediately preceding Christmas, is a madhouse.  Everyone from surrounding small towns floods Sensuntepeque to buy last-minute Christmas items.  Cars and pedestrians filled the street, and we had to weave between cars spewing black exhaust.  Inside Super Selectos it was so full the check out lines were backed up down the isles.  A speaker right at baby ear-level blasted music and ofertas.  We made it there and back unharmed, but needless to say it was our first and only family trip to the mercado.

Reyes family cousins and Tia Xiomara

Windham did remarkably well with the 20+ family members wanting to hold and play with him.  But when he was done he'd always come to mama or dad.  He especially loved attention from Tio Jairo, who chased him around, carried him endlessly, and let him play with his phone.  Jairo was a wonderful host and drove us all around the country from the airport to the beach to the ruins.



 

Navidad Salvadoreno - Part 1

Tucson at the Gran Via in San Salvador

We braved crowded airports and cramped planes to visit Mario's family in El Salvador for the holidays this year.  Mario grew up in the U.S. and we try to visit every year.  While Mario and I have both been to El Salvador several times, this was Windham's first time visiting the country and meeting many family members.

We spent our first several days in San Salvador with my gran amiga, Yeymi, and her kind husband.  While the food in this picture left much to be desired, we can never get enough of our wonderful hosts.

One of our biggest trip highlights was visiting the San Salvador, El Salvador LDS Temple.  Mario and I took turns going inside while the other stayed outside on the grounds with Yeymi and the baby.  It's not an exaggeration to say it is the most beautiful and well constructed building in the entire country.  (Perhaps excepting the ruins in their prime???)  Although we were only there a short time, it was well worth it. 

Windham Turns 1!

Someone got busy during the holidays and forgot to publish the post from Windham's birthday...

December 8, 2012 was Windham's first birthday!  Despite the date being sandwiched between Mario's birthday and Thanksgiving and Christmas and my birthday we decided to throw a party.  Our amazingly talented artist friend, Jess Smart Smiley, designed the invitations and other party goodies.

It was robot-themed.  We destroyed a Transformer pinata, constructed candy robot-krispies, and extinguished an adorable robot cake.  Same time next year?

Busy November

Xiomara's Homecoming
November has been a busy month for us.  On the 2nd, my sister-in-law, Hermana Xiomara Ruiz, came home from her mission in Montevideo, Uruguay.  We missed her so much, and it's wonderful to have her home.

Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving, Mario's parents, brother, sister, and grandmother came to dinner.  Although I've hosted several Thanksgivings before, this was my first time doing basically the entire dinner myself.  Xiomara came a few days early to help me.  I absolutely couldn't have done it without her!

Yosemite
The last Friday in November, Mario said to me, "Let's go to Yosemite--tonight!"  He booked a hotel, Xiomara drove down, and we were on our way.  The drive there was very creepy and uncomfortable.  The GPS took us through dark, winding country roads.  There was nothing but orchards, and fog set in.  We were completely alone in the middle of nowhere.  We all agreed this would be the perfect place for a hitchhiker to murder us.  Add to that the fact that I got really car sick and Windham woke up and screamed to be let out of his car seat for an hour and a half, and you can imagine how relieved we were to reach the hotel.

We began the day by hiking up to Bridal Veil Falls.  Translation: Xiomara pushed the baby in the stroller up the trail, Mario scaled the boulders up to the falls while carrying Windham, and I just tried to keep up.

We spent the rest of the day in the valley doing some short walks, playing in the leaves, having lunch in shadow of El Capitan, and perusing the disappointingly tacky souvenirs at 2 different gift shops.  On our way out, were lucky enough to see a bear cub up a tree, and a doe with her fawns.  Mario, of course, took some fabulous photos, none of which are pictured here.

Despite the discomforts of getting there, it was a wonderful trip.  It wasn't too cold or very crowded, and we didn't get eaten by bears or wolves.  I'm actually looking forward to our next trip!

For more photos of our busy November, click here.

Love By Numbers

2  Naps a day
8 Teeth, and counting
7 Baths a week
1 Left Thumb he sucks a lot
3 Meals a day
12 Months size of clothes
About 100 Kisses mama gives baby every day
3-5 Kisses baby gives mama every day
1 red stroller we go everywhere in

Infinity times infinity is how much we love him.

Better Than Ice Cream

Chicken, rice, and kale.  Also better than ice cream.

Your love is better than ice cream
better than anything else that I've tried
and your love is better than ice cream
Everyone here knows how to fight

And it's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way down to the place where we started from
 
Your love is better than chocolate
better than anything else that I've tried
Oh love is better than chocolate
everyone here knows how to cry
 
It's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way down to the place
where we started from...

"Ice Cream" by Sarah Mclachlan

I was thinking of this song yesterday when Windham fell asleep for this afternoon nap nestled next to me.  Our naps are one of the most precious experiences we share.  Having that special time together is more valuable to me than anything I could possibly accomplish during that time.

On another note, Windham is walking!  Mario totally called it:  Ten months.  He's a pro now and walks most of the time.  It's great.  Less messy, and I feel like he enjoys the freedom.  He's also eating 3 meals a day and doing really well learning how to drink from a cup.  And he has 8 teeth: the front 4 on the top and matching ones on the bottom.  Speaking of teeth, we're still working on the teeth brushing thing.  For some reason he doesn't like it when I shove a plastic thing in his mouth.  He clamps is teeth shut and won't let the toothbrush past.  I'm hoping his frequent chewing on the toothbrush brushes them enough...  We already cut his hair and clip his nails while he's asleep... I don't see how I could add tooth brushing to the list, too.

Mario and I love watching Windham walk around, although it's made church more difficult.  But it's a wonderful thing.  It's very fulfilling for me to see him learn a new skill from getting off the bed to using a spoon to trying a new food.  It's a seemingly never-ending stream of exciting firsts, and every day is an opportunity to explore, cultivate good habits, and strengthen our family bond.