Semana Santa-Holy Week in Costa Rica

Easter in Costa Rica

In many Spanish speaking countries Holy Week is also called Semana Santa.  Holy Week in Costa Rica is very special and an important time for families to spend time together. Most workers get off from Thursday through Sunday. Good Friday is celebrated with family and a meal. Some new Costa Rican friends (Christian and Charlotte) invited us to their family dinner for Good Friday.

Our new friends in Costa Rica at their family Good Friday dinner. 

 Christian's father built this house and all the beautiful furniture and wood work. 

We had noticed during a trip to San Isidro this week 'logs' being sold along the road and the farmer's market. These 'logs' were about 3 feet long and approximately 8 inches in diameter. Since we hadn't seen 'logs' being sold before we realized it had something to do with Semana Santa.

Turned out the logs are from palm trees. They are cut lengthwise and the heart of palm taken out to make a special dish for the family dinner. Christian’s mother made a traditional Good Friday meal with one of the dishes being made from heart of palm. The meal was very tasty. We really enjoyed the meal and time with their extended family.

We came home in the dark, driving through the mountains from San Isidro to Serenity. The amount of people walking home from family dinners was as heavy as the car traffic. John had to be extra cautious on the dark winding roads because around the bend might be a family on the side of the pavement.  They don't walk on the shoulder but on the pavement because there likely is no shoulder. We came across a family walking home with their two goats. Then as we drove through Pejibaye there was a procession with Biblical characters; Jesus, Disciples, Mary, Roman soldiers, friends and enemies of Jesus, etc. It was a very interesting day and evening.

During an outing one day, we kept seeing booths along a mountain road with wooden trays and bowls. I thought one of these wooden bowls would be perfect for fruit and veggies so we stopped at one. The produce in the wooden bowl ((I am sure they have a special name but I don’t know it) shows some of the lovely produce from our weekly trip to the farmer's market.

This little fellow wanted to come up on our front porch. He was about 1.5 feet away and almost made it up but became camera shy and took off.  He was about 15 to 18 inches long from nose to tail.   The more common Costa Rican Iguana has a heavier body; this guy was skinny and had a flap on his head that looked like a leaf.

Missing Michigan

Now that the weather in Michigan is turning warmer, I find that I have times when I long for Davisburg, my old house and all the loved ones we left behind.  It was really hard to miss Michigan when Northern America was consistently in single digits or below 0 degrees and getting tons of snow.  It was a good time to skip out on winter, what a brutal one it was!!

 

But once another beautiful day is underway, I have had my coffee, been able to sit and watch 6 different types of hummingbirds come to my feeder, I am cheerfully excited about our adventure here in Costa Rica.  There are certainly people I miss and can say, "Michigan, I do miss you."  (In the better weather.)