Category: Children

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Portraits of an Atenas Parade (Post 3 of 3, Children Focus)

My third and last post on the Independence Day Parade 2016 in Atenas, focusing on Children:


You don’t have to be in the parade to enjoy it!


Two boys who watched the parade across from me. 



Watchers wear traditional clothing too!

Reluctantly in the parade.

Papa helps me see the parade better!

Carrying School Sign

A Tiny Watcher in Costume

Primary School Girls love to dress up! 

And boys love to play the drums!

And there were many drummers!

Role-playing a Farmer

And watching dressed as a farmer!

See All of the 2016 Independence Day Parade Photos in one place in my gallery.

AND


I went for birds and photographed many plus a whole lot more!  🙂
And yes, we have lots of beaches this un-crowded on both coasts.
How can you not love it here?
PURA VIDA!



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Atenas Oxcart Parade Today!

And this small child stole the show as she led her toy oxen in pulling a toy oxcart!

In fact there seemed to be more of an emphasis on the children this year in what has always been a family affair to celebrate and remember the important part boyeros (oxcart drivers) played in the history of Costa Rica as the first land shippers of coffee and bananas to the two big port cities for shipment to the U.S. and Europe.

The parade still had the colorful oxcarts! And the big oxen!
And most included the whole family as usual. A Family farm affair!
But many were led by children this year as the Oxcart Leader or Boyero.

And a few even had young oxen!

While others had their hands full!

But all accepted their responsibility with pride! 
Goat Carts were in parade this year for the first time, led by kids of course!
Pun intended! 

And there are more Women Boyeros each year! 

And the whole time the Central Park is filled with tents, entertainers, arts & crafts, food & drink vendors, a playground, and plenty to do if you get bored with the parade.

A Rooster on Stilts!
and . . .

. . . and another on foot, representing Gollo, a big furniture/appliance store.

Someone leading the children in games before the parade started.
And of course all the food, drink, balloons, etc. available to buy! 

The parade always starts with police and horses, one carrying the
Costa Rica Flag:

Red, white and blue patriotism!

I watched the parade with 3 friends, Anthony, Jean and Carolyn and then afterwards we went to La Finca for pizza and pasta. A fun day! And if you want to see photos of the bigger oxen being led by men and other views, see my photos from last year’s parade at:  2015 Oxcart Parade  on this blog.

Another happy day in Costa Rica!

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Thanksgiving and Angel Tree Completion

Our Angel Tree still had 6 left yesterday a.m.
but by afternoon all 6 were taken!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday I am one of about 4 volunteers staying at Su Espacio to receive the gifts as they are brought in. They are kind of trickling in with still 99 not here yet out of the 300, but Ticos do everything at the last minute David keeps reminding me – so by Monday or Tuesday most will probably be turned in (Sunday is the deadline). We have plenty of money to buy gifts for any children that are missed and until next Saturday, Dec. 5. I got more deeply involved in this than I really intended, but it has been fun with a purpose helping a lot of poor children get some nice Christmas presents – possibly the only gifts they will receive this Christmas. So a good thing! And I like to do good!  🙂

Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner at my neighbor’s house next door Thursday.
Don & Lynda on right are from Oregon & live across our shared driveway.
The lady and her daughter on left are “snowbirds” from Wisconsin
renting a house 2 doors down for 2 months. 

Snowbirds are beginning to arrive, though some wait until after Christmas. One Canadian couple I was with in the apartments are already here and will stay until sometime in January. Others will come in January. It kind of reminds me of my two years in Miami where the population increases in our summer or your winter with the cold weather residents. And I’m sorry to say that the rain seems to have stopped. We will probably get a few more showers up into December maybe, but “Dry Season” has started.

One good thing about dry season is that I won’t have to put my leather shoes out in the sun to keep them from growing mold! And I recently found a new place for mold to grow – on the sweat bands of my ball caps. They are now hung upside down to help the sweat bands air out! And I have been throwing some of them in the washing machine too! Pura Vida!  🙂
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15th of September Post 1: CHILDREN!

I’m still sorting the 600+ photos from a wonderful nearly 3-hour parade for Independence Day here with lots of bands and flags and children. Tonight I share just a few of my children shots, some in the parade and many watching it. This satisfies what I wanted to photograph in last night’s lantern parade and did not accomplish. Children are so photogenic!

Watching the parade with me at Gelly’s

Representing one of the schools in the parade

Nicole, 6 or 7, is already a drummer in a band!
Son of my Spanish teacher, in band I raised $ for.

Some of the dancers weren’t so good, but
this group was great, with traditional dancing!

I watched this boy sneak under the railing to sit on curb for closer view!
The red, white & blue traditional dress is most
typical for Independence Day and I’ll show
adults wearing them another day.

And this is the typical traditional dress for boys and men.
I wore a hat like this but no bandanna, just a red, white & blue shirt!
Another traditional dress for 15th of September!
All of these are made by parents or a seamstress,
you cannot buy them in stores.

And finally, a father-son bonding moment on the parade route.
This may be my favorite photo from the parade.

I have lots of photos of a lot of bands and really a lot of flags I’ll share a few of, plus some adult costumes and some “different” things in the parade in future posts.

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Festival de Artes, Escuela Los Angeles de Atenas

I’ve gone from visiting two high schools to a primary school today. I’m helping them with promotion of their garage sale in October, raising money for a playground.

A younger class represents favorite storybook characters in a skit.
Some creative Mom’s with these costumes!
This was the first program in their new outdoor auditorium/theater with covered stage here and covered bleachers.
It did rain for part of the program and they invited me to sit in the VIP tent.  🙂

Nicole, son of David & Corinna at Su Espacio.
He’s front & center in red as they sing a song.
Snow White tells her own story
complete with magic mirror behind her and basket of poison apples in hand.

Another class has skit on recycling and sorry my photo does not include the
girl in a really cute dress made out of newspapers.
A guest band from a school in Alajuela marched in, played concert,
and then here they marched out of the outdoor arena (after the rain).
They were very good and kind of like a New Orleans Dixieland Band.
A common style band in Costa Rica seen at most fiestas & with dancing.
That is Nicole and his mother Corinna on far right clapping.
And the girl snare drummer was a fave along with a girl sax player!
Disney is dearly loved here! This mural is in the entry hall of the school.
A child’s smile is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.
~ Author Unknown

And after all that, plus hiring a maid who starts next Tuesday, I get a dinner sunset like this! PURA VIDA!

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Resurrection Morning Mass & Processional

The Priest leads congregation behind the costumed children and statue of Christ.
Iglesia Catolica San Rafael De Atenas, Costa Rica
After the 9 AM Easter Mass, April 5, 2015

I finally did it! I went to the beautiful Catholic Church for worship instead of the evangelical church I have been attending and it was wonderful, though still in Spanish and not generally understood. The standing room only 9:00 AM Mass had an unseen choir of young voices leading the congregation in singing a few songs/hymns/choruses accompanied by a single acoustic guitar. Beautiful! I will never miss the loud, rock-style “Praise Band” here or anywhere else. The music was so much more worshipful at the Catholic Church – but I’m not yet ready to become a Catholic! There was a small processional into the service and a grand one afterwards that led the whole congregation around the Central Park as shown in the photos. 


Altar Boys and Girls Lead the Processional

Followed by a statue of the Risen Christ

A haphazard collection of unorganized shepherd boys (disciples?)
with family members and others following along with them
(The Mamas did great job on costumes! Probably Dads who didn’t organize them.)

And the girls, the only organized ones
marching in a straight line (Love the girls!)

Followed by the priest and as many of the congregation who wanted to follow
the march around the central park block (on left). 
The 9:00 AM Standing Room Only Easter Mass before procession.
There were also masses at 6 AM, 11 AM, and 5 PM
Sorry about low-light cellphone photo – It is really beautiful!
The room was made for worship and prayer. It helps you to do so.
Someday I’ll get a good photos inside with tripod, etc. 

Another interesting observation was that there were many more young adults and children than old people, which might have been related to the time and/or processional with children included. Never counted, but the Iglesia Biblica worship services seem to be about 50/50 older/younger adults with most children leaving after the hour song service for a children’s church. Both congregations are very family oriented with even teens sitting with their parents. This mass was a little over an hour long while the evangelical service is always at least two hours long with more than an hour of music and a 45 minute sermons, while the priest’s was maybe 15 minutes. Both churches are made up of very happy, friendly people, typical of Costa Rica! 

CHECKED OUT A LOCAL HOTEL
After this Easter Morning experience, I walked the half block to La Caretta’s for a brunch omelette to supplement my earlier bowl of cereal. Then walked to the upscale Roca Verde housing development and the nearby Colinas del Sol Hotel to check it out in case any future visitors want something different from my house or the Vista Atenas B&B I have already used. Colinas is larger, offers more services, and is within walking distance of the Central Park – for me, at about 12 blocks estimate. But Vista Atenas has the best view! You just can’t easily walk from there, up on a mountain top 2+ miles. And of course one person or a couple can stay for free in my guest room like Kevin just did with both view and within walking distance!


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Lunch at Park Again & Two New Birds!

Looking out the Open Air Window of Don Tadeo’s at lunch Saturday,
Central Park is always a hub of activity for locals

I tried Don Tadeo’s Sports Bar and Grill for lunch yesterday and had a really good lunch of their day’s special, Lasagna and Salad, plus enjoyed watching these girls climb the tree and many other people socializing in Atenas Central Park, from teenagers stealing kisses to old men sitting and talking. It is what small town life in Costa Rica is.

I did not post this yesterday because our internet service was down until about noon today because some employee did not turn something on when needed. Management of the apartments is the biggest blip in my tropical paradise, but a new manager has been secured from Holland and hopefully he will be efficient! Patricia, the girl I’ve been working with, has already been let go. I wrote a letter to the new management with my issues and what it would take for me to sign a long-term lease. We will see. 
Now for yesterday’s birds, both new and Thrush from my front balcony with Wren seen from back balcony in a Mango Tree. As always, click to see larger image. And in my photo galleries there is one titled Birds Photographed at Apartment if you want to see all the birds I’ve photographed from my balconies, up to 12 now! This was something I had hoped for about the apartments, but the reality meets my expectation even if not Macaws or Toucans! For even more birds from Costa Rica and all of Central and South America, see the bigger gallery Central/South America Birds. and soon I will create a gallery for all of my Costa Rica Bird photos separate from these.
Clay-colored Thrush, formerly known as Clay-colored Robin

Rufous-naped Wren

Went to church this morning and the novelty has worn off. I’ve got to improve my Spanish a whole lot quick to fully worship and learn from the sermon. But I will keep loving the people! Today was the day that early and late services were combined into one at 9:00 AM and always two hours long! Today I slipped out quickly at end of service and walked to Central Park again and today ate by myself at Antano Restaurant, some great rice with vegetables and shrimp.

Came home and drank a Guanabana for desert. I buy the Guanabana (soursop) pulp at grocery store and mix it one part with three parts water or sometimes with milk for a really rich smoothie! It is a big green, spiny fruit with white meat inside that is usually used in a blender for yummy drinks. It is also known as the “cancer killer” in some circles for natural remedies.