Happy Halloween Y'all!

When you live in another culture, holidays can be hard. But, I am a firm believer in not only embracing new cultures and holidays, but also trying to hold on to the ones you know and love from home. Halloween is no exception, and this year I was able to find a real pumpkin here! So, Anna, Bryson, and I carved a pumpkin, roasted pumpkin seeds, and made some pumpkin guts bread to celebrate! Enjoy the pictures.

Happy Halloween from Costa Rica!

-Amber

Cauhita

After the parade in Limon, we headed about 45 minutes south to the sleepy beach town of Cauhita. We spent the night here and then got up at a reasonable hour the next morning to go into the Cauhita National Park.

The town was very laid back and very small. There were a few restaurants, a small grocery store, and a few souvenir places. And, that's about it!

The food on this side of the country has lots of Carribbean influence. Even the rice and beans are different - and super yummy with a coconut flavor! 

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but it definitely does not require seriousness...

This is the only park in Costa Rica that I know of that does not charge at least $10 to get in. They do gladly take donations though. The park is a 3.5 kilometer trail that runs parallel to the beach and ends at a point out on the coast. The walk was easy and beautiful and the weather was perfect with a really nice breeze.

 After spending most of the day on the beach we enjoyed a yummy meal before making the 4 hour trip back to San Jose and back to reality.

-Amber

Carnavales de Limón

Last weekend I was finally able to make it to Puerto Limon and the Carribbean coast of Costa Rica. It is amazing how different this side of the country is from the other parts I have visited.

Puerto Limon is a port city and the capital of Limon Province in Costa Rica - which covers most of the Carribbean side of the country. This port city takes in a lot of the goods that are shipped to the coast of Costa Rica and then trucked in to San Jose. It is also home to Costa Rica's Afro-Carribbean community. A majority of the population here traces their roots to Jamaican laborers that were brought in in the late 1800's to work on the railroad that connected Puerto Limon to San Jose. Until 1948, the Costa Rican government did not recognize Afro-Carribbean people as citizens and therefore restricted their movement outside of Limon Province. They could not even travel to San Jose. Due to this, the community became firmly entrenched in this area of the country. While they do speak Spanish, most families also speak a creole version of English in the home. 

My friends Anna, Justin, and I went down last weekend to take part in the final parade for this year's Carnavale celebration. Think Mardi Gras, Costa Rican style. We set up shop at a small soda (restaurant) on the parade route and were able to watch much of the festivities from there. 

Our view of the parade route:

It was incredibly hot there, and, of course, the parade was late getting started. This is how we felt:

You gotta keep your head cool in the Costa Rican sun!

There were tons of people in the streets, all waiting for the big show to begin:

I am always amused when there are clear similarities to how things are done in our culture and other cultures. This parade has some definite parallels. There were lots of vendors in the streets selling balloons and little toys for the kids. There was also face painting and street food - all things we have at our parades!

Buzz and Woody made an appearance. Although, based on the double chins they were rocking, it looks like they have been spending their post Toy Story years hitting the bars here in Costa Rica...

Finally the parade began! There were bands, and dancers, and lots of high, feathered, head dressses!

 

I found this balcony full o'gringos to be amusing. I think they were scared to be down in the streets in all of the chaos.

 The parade was chaotic, loud, colorful, and all around a really good party! The culture on this side of the country is very laid back and a lot of fun. I'm glad I was able to experience it and hope to get the chance to experience it more of it soon.

-Amber

La Catedral de Sal

On my last trip to Colombia, I was lucky enough to have some extra time to visit a salt mine in the town of Zipaquira, just outside of Bogota. Zipaquira is a very colonial looking town that has an autonomous economy due to the salt mine located there. The special thing about this salt mine is that they have built an incredibly large cathedral in the mine - 200 meters below ground!

Keeping in mind that this is a salt mine, so everything is salty. The walls mostly look like rock, but where there is water, you actually see the salt crystals forming. Like on this wall:

Around 1932, workers in the mine carved their own sanctuary out of the rock as a place for daily prayers. Eventually, it was decided to create a larger salt cathedral in the mine around 1950. Apparently you could drive your car right up into this cathedral to attend services. But, the engineers did not factor in what the vibrations of cars would do to the structure. Therefore, it ended up lasting only about half as long as was originally projected. This cathedral was shut down around 1990 and then collapsed about 3 years later. (Good call on shutting it down!)

In 1991, construction of a new cathedral began about 200 feet under the old one. This is the one that I visited...obviously...

Once you enter the mine, you begin walking past 14 cross stations. The stations are places where the rock has been mined to the max and they cannot mine that area anymore or risk structural instability. In each station a cross has been carved in the salt/stone. These stations represent the the events of Jesus' last journey. Examples include Jesus being condemned to death, Jesus falling, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. At each station there was an intricately carved cross and usually kneeling stands for people to pray. Again, it's all done in the salt rock - aka halite.

After the 14 stations you come to the main cathedral, complete with 3 naves. This is Daniella and I in the choir loft of the main nave.

View from above of the main nave. It is massive!

Overall it is an amazing feat of architecture, art, and culture. Definitely a journey worth making if you ever find yourself in Bogota. And of course, I couldn't resist...

 -Amber

Sometimes funny things happen...

...especially when I travel. Currently I am in Bogota, Colombia for work. The other day, I came back to my hotel room in the afternoon to find dry cleaning laying on my bed. My first thought was "uh-oh, they accidentally left someone else's drycleaning in my room." But then I got closer and realized...

...nope. No mistake. They just dry cleaned my pajamas. My old t-shirt and sleep shorts were neatly pressed and protected carefully in a plastic bag. I have no idea why/how this happened. It's just one of those funny things I am not going to even try to explain. However, I can say I recommend the service - my pj's were super soft after this. :)

-Amber