Dia de Independencia -- Go big or go home

It amazing how I keep saying to myself that I am going to post about one think or another and even sometimes sit down to do it, then something comes up and it never happens....so needless to say I have a LOT to catch up on with here. But for now, I am just going to address today:). September 15th is Costa Rica's Independence Day (Dia de Independencia), although they for the most part celebrate it all week long. Today, 9/14/2011, we kicked off the festivities with a torch passing activity. There is a torch (like in the olympics) that starts off in Nicaragua and gets passed along by groups of students from Elementary schools and high schools from town to town all the way to the Panama border. Well today at 7:30am myself and the students from the elementary and high school took little buses about 11k away to a town called Tres Equies (not sure how to spell it but it means 3 x's)...after waiting about an hour and a half (hora tica), the students running the torch to us arrived and our journey began. Lucky for us there was no rain, but instead we had the opposite, lots and lots of sun with noooo wind...Running/jogging the steep rocky hills was not all that pleasant to start. But with motivation given to me by all the hard charging students and the supports along the rural roads the time began to fly passing houses decorated with the Costa Rican flag and residents cheering as we passed really gave us the boost we needed to get up some of those crazy hills. Then as we were rounding the bend to our town center we are greeted by the Pacayitas residents ready to do the acta civica (civic act), which consists of singing the costa rican anthem, bailes tipicos (typical dancing), and some really good eats such as a soup called pasol, another with mondongo (basically the intestines and inside the stomach of a pig), arroz con leche, galletas tipicos (made from coconut) and much more. It was a great experience. Now it was time to go home and get cleaned up, but as my host brother and I decided, what better way to do so then swim around in the river below our house:):), QUE RICO!! Now with plenty of resting time for all the kids, we are winding up for round two, a night of festivities to include more amazing typical foods, dancing, singing, la banda (the band of drumming), teatros (little plays), art work, fireworks, and more I am sure. But I of course can not forget, today isn't even the actual holiday, so tomorrow its only going to get even bigger. What a great culture and a patriotic people. Very fortunate to be able to participate in these celebrations with them. Pictures to follow:)