Stacks of unrefrigerated beer wrapped in black plastic and labeled.
Alcohol sales are prohibited on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday of Holy Week in Costa Rica (you should see the sales on Wednesday!). To be sure that no one breaks the law, police tape refrigerators closed that contain beer and wrap plastic over unrefrigerated alcohol stock in stores. These photos were taken today at a grocery store in Atenas.
Refrigerator taped shut and posted with a warning.
Posted in Life in Costa Rica
Tagged alcohol sales, costa rica alcohol prohibition, easter week, Semana Santa
Slurpy fruit ... delicious!
Granadillas are about the size of a lemon and, when ripe, have a crisp, orangey yellowish shell. By pressing a fingernail all around the middle of the outside, you can easily break the shell into two pieces. Each piece will be filled to bursting with ripe seeds surrounded by a mucilaginous liquid. (Warning: Don’t conjure up other images at this point or you won’t want to proceed.) You can voraciously slurp the seeds straight from the shells or delicately spoon them out. Either way, they are a delicious, tasty treat.
Posted in Life in Costa Rica
Tagged costa rica fruit, granadilla, passion fruit, seedy fruit
Just in case you missed it, here’s a recent article from the New York Times extolling the virtues of an adventure in Costa Rica. http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/travel/22CostaRica.html?pagewanted=1&emc=eta1
Posted in Life in Costa Rica
Tagged adventure, costa rica, fun, New York Times, pura vida, vacation
Last night we were treated to a few sprinkles of rain and the smell was wonderful! Lo and behold, the parched yard responded with a few green blades of grass this morning. The rain can’t come soon enough for me – enough already with the dirt, dust and heat!
Hopefully, the dry season will end soon!
In addition to masses, communions and prayer services, the following processions will take place in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia.
The church in Llorente de San Joaquín is located east of Intel on the road between Intel and Heredia. The central church is in San Joaquín proper – 2 blocks north of the main road between Alajuela and Heredia.
FRIDAY, April 10
9:00 am
Procession of the Stations of the Cross (Santo via Crucis) begins in the church in Llorente (Templo de Llorente) and proceeds to the central church (Templo Parroquial)
3:00 pm
The Passion of Christ (Celebración del Pasión del Señor) at the central church followed by a procession with the corpse of Christ (Procesión del Santo Entierro)
SATURDAY, April 11
7:00 pm
Vigil (Vigilia Pascual) followed by a bonfire (Fuego y del Cirio Pascual) at the central church
SUNDAY, April 12
3:00 pm
Communion (Eucaristía) followed by a procession of the risen Christ (Procesión del imagen del Resucitado) at the central church
Posted in Life in Costa Rica
Tagged Easter, Easter processions, Holy Week, procesión, San Joaquin de Flores, Semana Santa
Bush with bugs
There’s a pretty little bush in the patio that constantly puts out bright yellow flowers. The other day, I noticed a large swarm of black insects circling and zeroing in on one particular flower and branch. The flittering crews covered their landing sites, some even settling in on top of each other. Usually, these uninvited guests are swarming around the passion vine (that persists in trying to take over the entire patio), but this time they were in new territory. I took a few photos, went to farmers market and came home. When I returned, they were gone. What were they doing there in the first place? Laying eggs? One of those great mysteries of life (in Costa Rica), I guess.
This video is of a female elephant in Burma that was saved from an abusive situation. She learned to paint and helps pay for her care and that of other elephants through the sale of her paintings. Incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk
President Barack Obama
January 20, 2009
Invocation given by Bishop Gene Robinson to begin the Inaugural Weekend:
“O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears – tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless this nation with anger – anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.
Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.
Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.
And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.
Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace.
Amen.”
What's all the buzz about Costa Rica? 