Dia de la Independencia (Independence Day in Costa Rica)

On September 15th Costa Rica celebrated it's Independence, 193 years of Independence to be exact. The holiday has its history just like any other nation gaining its freedom. Here's a link with a short and sweet, condensed version of the whys and wherefores of the holiday. http://costarica.com/blog/independence-day-in-costa-rica/

We woke up early (6:00 a.m.) to join the throngs of "Ticos" on the streets. The main event of the day is a parade featuring children who represent their schools by wearing their school colors.

Students from Colegio Metodista carry the Costa Rican flag 

We were invited by the school our boys attend,(more on their school in a later post) to meet at a certain location to enjoy the festivities. We've been here a little under 2 weeks and walked or taken the bus to what we think are pretty straightforward destinations. We knew we'd have to take multiple buses to get to this pre-determined meeting spot, so we opted for a taxi, our first one since living in San Jose. One of the reasons we haven't taken a taxi yet, is there are five of us, and most of the red cars with yellow triangles that whiz past us, (honking to let us know they're available) can only hold 4 passengers. 

Official Costa Rican taxi


Our plan was that Richard would run out to the corner, hail a cab and ask him (I've yet to see a female cab driver) if he could call (our phones have yet to work properly) the company and have a van taxi (we've seen a couple) to come pick us up.Well, of course this guy wants our business, he's having to work on Independence day after all when most people have off. He tells us he can fit all of us, so much to the offense of my delicate, safety conscience sensitivities, we all pile in with Richard in front and Wesley on my lap. Only half of us are wearing seat belts, including the driver. 





Needless to say, we all made it to the parade safely. I'm really glad I brought my "real" camera with me as we viewed the Independence Day celebrations. So far I haven't wanted to chance taking my bulky Cannon as it just screams "rob me, I'm a tourist!", but 1/2 the Tico population had cameras around their necks today so I didn't feel too out of place.  Here are the results of taking that chance:

school girl holding a "lira"

These last three photos highlight a Costa Rican instrument called a lira. I've seen so many of these over the past 2 weeks being carried by school girls, as they walk to and from school. Carson commented that the most common instrument played in the parades were drums. That's all we've heard through our open windows these past two weeks, as kids out in neighboring school yards gear up for this parade.

For those who have more time on their hands, I'll post some of my favorite parade pics. 





The Costa Rican Boy Scouts




This is the school that the boys attend

These are the older students from Colegio Metodista. We would see them practicing this dance in the parking lot after school. Here the girls are the boat and the boy is rowing.










Wes in his Independence Day hat. The emblem is of a typical "carreta" or cart that Costa Rica is famous for.


To end the day we went to downtown San Jose to catch a bus to Cartago, which is the old capital of Costa Rica. This is the farthest from home that we've traveled since we've been here. The ride took about 45 min. and cost us each 575 colones, (just a little over a dollar one way) 

everyone was gathered at the basilica

 http://www.govisitcostarica.com/blog/post/costa-rica-celebrates-virgen-de-los-angeles-day.aspx

The drums were deafening until they started started throwing them up in the air, then we got a little respite.

We're always on the lookout for a good soda (a soda in Costa Rica is a small family operated restaurant with good, cheap, home cooked food) This one was literally a hole-in-the-wall, but so clean and the food was surprisingly good and the cheapest we've found yet. It cost a little over 8,000 colones ($16.00 for our whole family).

Reynolds enjoying fresco natural de sandia (watermelon juice) at Soda Gladys

A typical "casado" rice, beans, chimichurri (a salad like pico de gallo) and maduros (fried sweetened plantains)

Wesley pretty much orders a hamburger everywhere we've gone. Hopefully by the end of our trip his tastes will expand, but in the meantime this was one of the better looking hamburgers we've found here and the cost couldn't be beat. 500 colones for the hamburger (just under $1) and 500 colones for the fries. 

Leave it to me to end this post talking about food. I'll try to get better at posting more frequently and thus, not have such long posts. Thanks for sticking with me to the end. Hasta pronto!