Babalonia Family Reunion

Our Puerto Rican sister Tita (Marisol) with her uncle Toño Mendez at the Babalonia family reunion. Sr. Mendez is 102 years old.

Sunday we got to be part of one of the oldest and largest families on the island. Our wonderful friend, our Puerto Rican sister Marisol invited all of us to the Babalonia family reunion.

The family first came to Puerto Rico from Spain and Italy in the mid-1700s. One side of the founding grandparents had 25 children, the other side had 23 so it's a BIG family. There were about 400 people at the reunion and they had to turn away more than 100 who wanted to come at the last minute. More than a hundred came from the mainland just for the reunion.

The party was held at a rental hall up in the mountains in Moca, where the family settled. At one time the family owned huge tracks of land spread out across the mountains. In true Puerto Rican tradition, over the years pieces were sold off for this or that or traded for something the family needed. Family members still have holdings up on the mountainsides.

There are more pictures from the family reunion on Flickr.

Thank you, Tita, for inviting us into your huge extended family.