#3. FROM HUTS TO HEARTBEATS
A WEDDING IN EL SALVADOR
Upon our return to Belgium from our first trip to El Salvador, we took the bull by the horns and contacted two real estate agencies to find us a home. Our interests were broad, but we had a strong desire to reside near the beach, yet not too far from civilization since we also planned to start a business in El Salvador.
In April, we boarded the plane back to El Salvador. Our friend Manuel, of course, picked us up at the airport and took us to the Holiday Inn in San Salvador. Being an IHG Gold member, I had amassed enough points that our stay was nearly free. We were already familiar with the city from our previous visit, knowing we were close to our favorite restaurants. We booked the hotel for the first five nights of our stay. Where we would stay the next 5 days was still undecided. We were sure we would find something nice on the spot.
During that first week, we spent two days house hunting with the agencies, visiting various properties. The last house we saw, more like a large hut really, was absolutely perfect for us! We fell in love with it, despite its price tag being significantly above what we had budgeted. As practical and determined as we were when we started, this house made us dream, perhaps clouding our judgment a bit, because later, when we were back in Belgium, we realized that there was still a lot of work to make the house livable.
Two days later, one of Jim's best friends, Dirk, came to visit. Dirk had been living in LA for 20 years, so we hadn't seen him in a while. Since LA isn't far from El Salvador, we asked him to join us for a few days. He agreed, and Manuel went to fetch 'Crazy Dirk' from the airport. It was delightful to see Dirk again!
But then, I suddenly fell ill... I had experienced something in Belgium just before our trip (which I won't delve into further), and in El Salvador, things went south. Our friends Luis and Cristina (whom we communicated with regularly but had only met in person twice) connected me with a doctor. Unfortunately, I needed hospital admission and emergency surgery.
This gave me a firsthand experience of El Salvador's health care system, a question often posed back in Belgium: "But what if you get sick there?" Well... I was genuinely impressed! I had a clean, nice room with an Alexa at my service, and the nurses and doctors were incredibly friendly. The food was incomparable to what I experienced during my subsequent surgery back in Belgium. Here, I was served a plate of fresh potatoes, carrots, peas, and chicken (in Belgium, I was under a paper blanket, eating a Granola bar). And Cristina... Cristina, Cristina, my angel! This woman, whom I had met only twice, spent the entire afternoon and evening by my side, comforting me and translating for the medical staff. The next day, when they came for me at 6 AM for the surgery, there was Cristina again beside my bed. And when I returned to the room post-operation, yes, there she was once more. Unbelievable, what she did for me! I didn't know how to thank her. But she said: "Don't worry, Nancy. This is El Salvador. Here, we help each other when needed."
Jim felt terrible that he couldn't be there for me, but we had to check out of the hotel, so he had no choice but to organize our move to our new temporary home in the mountains, at Los Naranjos Town Houses. Thanks to Cristina, I was in good hands while Jim and Dirk prepared our new accommodation. Manuel helped with the move, did some shopping, and then picked me up from the hospital, bringing me to Los Naranjos where a delightful barbecue awaited. Given the late hour and the treacherous roads to Los Naranjos in the dark, we invited Manuel to stay overnight with us.
The next day, in daylight, I truly appreciated the beauty of this location! At 1600 meters above sea level, surrounded by stunning nature, the resort had about five charming vacation houses, beautifully maintained with vibrant flowers and plants everywhere. The owners were incredibly friendly, helpful, and flexible. I couldn't imagine a better place to recover from the previous day's surgery.
And recovering was very important because the next day was the plot Cristina and I had hatched; by then, Manuel and Dirk were also in on it.
Without Jim knowing, Cristina and I had planned our wedding at their beautiful lake house at Lake Coatepeque. So here's our fairy tale:
Cristina and Luis invited us to spend the weekend at their lake house. Manuel picked us up from the Town Houses and brought us there, where a BBQ was scheduled for the late afternoon. I had seen a picture of the lake house before, but nothing prepared us for the breathtaking villa by the water upon arrival. It felt like stepping into a romantic movie...
Luis was tasked with distracting Jim, so he took Jim and Dirk for a boat ride on the lake. Meanwhile, I slipped into a $15 white beach dress from Shein, applied some mascara, and pinned my hair back. In 15 minutes, the bride was ready. The priest had arrived, and the gardener made me a bouquet from the garden's flowers. We waited for the men to return from their boat trip. With trembling knees, I stood with Cristina, my beautiful maid of honor, on the terrace of the lake house. Just before sunset, the boat docked, and the men walked up to the terrace. Jim, engrossed in conversation with Luis (probably about Bitcoin), noticed nothing until he saw me standing there in my white dress, with flowers, next to Cristina and the priest.
His chattiness stopped instantly, and with tears in his eyes, he walked towards me. And so, at sunset, in the most beautiful place on earth, with Cristina as my maid of honor and Luis and Dirk as Jim's best men, we had our dream wedding. We didn't understand a word the priest was saying, but still, it was perfect, the perfect start of the next chapter of our lives.
We spent the rest of the weekend with our friends. But then, much against our wishes, it was time to fly back to Belgium. However, we made plans to invite Cristina and Luis with their 2 children to Belgium for Tomorrowland. And Dirk would also come back to Belgium for the event. We were all looking forward to seeing each other again!
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