Independence day

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Quince de Septiembre is independence day in Costa Rica I believe it is the same in Mexico and some other central American countries are around the same time of the year even though they gained independence in different years. Apparently September was a bad month for the Spanish empire

September 14th is the eve of independence day aswell as the birthday of many special people in my life.
• On the 14th I went to an independence day festival on campus where all the gringo’s got paired with a tico buddy who is an English student, and we ate food talked and watched a group of señior citizen women dance with the typical swinging dresses.
After boxing the tico and gringo buddies met up at the central church and then walked around the town which is the tradition, children carry lanterns. Apparently this is because after Costa Rica gained independence a women with a lantern walked around spreading the news (kinda similar to Paul Revere) we then went to a “soda” (a Tico word a for small restaurant) that roasts chicken and I purchased half a chicken with my newly functioning bank card.

After being up to late I was woken by the independence parade passing my house. I ran outside to see it then me and some friends followed the parade to the center of town. It was very nice to watch, other then the fact that it was in the morning (because that’s when the sun is out) I like the bands a lot and the Costa Rican dances and costumes. There also isn’t the same stigma that we have in the U.S. that if your not extremely good at something you shouldn’t do it at all. There were kids and adults dancing in the parade.

After eating lunch we decided to head out to the river which I was really happy about, it was very hot. Me my neighbors Juan Man, Fabi, Beth, Mango and Fredo drove through the western mountains, for the first time I really left San Ramon, Through the foggy jungle, through extremely rural towns which had much simpler infrastructure including the police: three guys in a pick up truck that read “policia” in white paint, we later saw why as the newest car by about ten years was a brand new Chevy that also read “policia” on it but looked like it got the worse end in an accident with a tree.

We parked by the road walked through a field and crossed the beautiful green river which the Tico’s thought was freezing but in contrast to California snow melt, and the 80 degree weather the only justifiable way to describe the beautiful clean water would be: perfect. I dove in right away. There is a little sanding beach upstream a beautiful view of tropical leafs, trees, and flowers, leading back up to the giant grean mountain. Across from the beach is a cliff covered in moss but still manageable to climb to a good 15 foot jumping point. When the afternoon rain came it actually did get pretty cold, so we hung out under a Guava tree and ate tons of guavas and an occasional leach.

Apologies again for the delay.
I'll try and get my trip to the mountain's, and first boxing match up tomorrow.
Shout to the worlds greatest man happy b-day and congrats!
pura vida

Lets go Giant's

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Comments

[sam]

nice post!
Keep em coming.

[Grandma Mil]

Independence day
loved reading about your day and seeing that you are having a great time, learning alot and experiencing a whole new culture. I am learning from your experience too Love, Grandma. P.S. Thanks for the postcard; I might use the butterfly for a scarf design.

[G Looty]

Grandma I'm very sorry I just got this comment. Glad you can follow this! Sorry I have pretty much abandoned it but hopefully you'll see the photos from my last trip. love you!