Happy New Year!
Last night (new year's eve) we went to a lovely party! We met some new people and caught up with some old friends, too :). There was plenty of talking, laughing, and joking. We took the guitar and banjo, and spent a little while playing and singing. All through the evening, but especially at midnight, there were a *lot* of fireworks! It seemed that each house had a gathering, and each gathering had its own fireworks display! These are the kind that shoot up into the sky and burst - the kind we only get at community events in the states. They were *great*! Several rained debris (fortunately, not on fire) on the roof of the house - that is how close they were!
Also at midnight, we all opened our package of grapes. This is a Costa Rican tradition - you pack up 12 grapes and tie it with something red, and attach flowers that you gather from in front of a rich person's house. Then at midnight on New Year's Eve, you eat all twelve grapes. And you keep the flowers and red binding. This is how you make sure you have a prosperous new year. We joked that since our flowers were gathered from in front of the alcoholics anonymous building, we would have a drunken year...
Today, we followed at least one of my family's traditions - we had soup. It wasn't stone soup, but it was good anyway. And we didn't hike up the mountain, but we *did* "hike" to the central park. We saw a lot of Ticos doing the same, so we got a good mix of traditions :).
We saw a clown performing for a crowd in the park, and I took a couple of pictures...
Last night (new year's eve) we went to a lovely party! We met some new people and caught up with some old friends, too :). There was plenty of talking, laughing, and joking. We took the guitar and banjo, and spent a little while playing and singing. All through the evening, but especially at midnight, there were a *lot* of fireworks! It seemed that each house had a gathering, and each gathering had its own fireworks display! These are the kind that shoot up into the sky and burst - the kind we only get at community events in the states. They were *great*! Several rained debris (fortunately, not on fire) on the roof of the house - that is how close they were!
Also at midnight, we all opened our package of grapes. This is a Costa Rican tradition - you pack up 12 grapes and tie it with something red, and attach flowers that you gather from in front of a rich person's house. Then at midnight on New Year's Eve, you eat all twelve grapes. And you keep the flowers and red binding. This is how you make sure you have a prosperous new year. We joked that since our flowers were gathered from in front of the alcoholics anonymous building, we would have a drunken year...
Today, we followed at least one of my family's traditions - we had soup. It wasn't stone soup, but it was good anyway. And we didn't hike up the mountain, but we *did* "hike" to the central park. We saw a lot of Ticos doing the same, so we got a good mix of traditions :).
We saw a clown performing for a crowd in the park, and I took a couple of pictures...
I even delayed posting this because we were just too exhausted to do too much - and all the internet cafes are closed on the first... What a good excuse!
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