Salvadoran Thanksgiving

Not quite sure how to describe Thanksgiving in a foreign country. First of all - it's just not here. For Salvadorans, Thursday was just another day. In an effort to escape the homesick blues, we left town. We went with two other families to the mountains (where it was suprisingly cold) near the Guatemalan border. We rented a beautiful house near the town of Ataco.

On Thanksgiving Day, we ate tamales for lunch and pupusas for dinner. Maggie and I helped our dear friend Maria prepare wild rice and apple stuffing before we left the complejo, so we did have some traditional leftovers waiting for us when we got home. In the absence of parades and football, James went on a coffee plantation tour and the kids went horseback riding. I upheld tradition and took a Thanksgiving Day nap.

We got home on Saturday morning and turned around for a quick beach run. We finally took Mags and Will to our favorite restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The view from Cafe Zunzal was the reason I wanted to move to this country in the first place. It's that beautiful. We went swimming in November - hard to believe. On the trip home, we managed to get in a political parade. The locals just looked confused.

As we pulled into town, "Sleigh Ride" came on the car radio. I can't seem to convince my body that it is not still the month of July. And I can't begin to comprehend that we are headed home for three weeks and it is going to be COLD there. We'll be staying at my mother's house from December 19 to Janaury 5. Hope to see lots of friends and family while we are there. Can anyone loan me a sweater?