Pre-parade Dancing is Most Colorful!

In some ways this was my favorite part of the parade today because it was so colorful and new! We did not have this during the last two years’ parades. I love latin music and dance and the color! Nice!
Music is the best cure for a sorrowing mind.
Latin Proverb

2017 Atenas Oxcart Parade

Just a sample of nearly 300 cart entries:

Most cart are filled with family members!
Atenas, Costa Rica

Errrrrr, hmmmmm, son, this is an oxcart parade!
Kids pushing their limits everywhere! 🙂
And here, people just say “¡Pura Vida!”

And the line goes on and on!
Three years of these and I’ve had enough, leaving early for lunch!
They used to all be so unique, now they all look the same! 🙂

Hey! You need to get in the spirit of the parade!
Cowboy hats and belts!

As with all fiestas here, the Central Park is filled with venders selling
everything from food to arts & crafts and even kitchen utensils!
I had a caramel-filled churro and a Churchill to drink. See below.

Costa Rica Churchill, is sort of a drink and a dessert found in lots of fiestas across the country, but mainly associated with Punterenas, the port city on the Pacific. Click the title to read an article about them and started in my birth year, 1940. Mine here was a little different than the one he describes. It was about 1/3 vanilla ice cream, 1/3 red snow cone (strawberry I think), and 1/3 canned fruit cocktail, not the fresh fruit in the article. Needless to say, Ticos love sugar! Me too! Like, would you ever find a churro in Mexico that is relleno with caramel? Costa Rica is just a sweeter place!  🙂

And little town kiddie thrills! A bouncy house too!

Blog Post on 2016 Atenas Oxcart Parade  some of my favorite photos made last year
Photo gallery of past oxcart parades in Atenas