Costa Rican Holiday

Image via Wikipedia August 2 is a holiday in Costa Rica. Everyone gets the day off. It is not presidents' day or veterans' day, but the it has to do with a young girl. The story of how this became a holiday goes back some time. A young girl, Juana Pereira, went out to gather firewood. She found an image of the Virgin Mary about eight inches high. She took the image home. The next day she saw another image and took that home. She thought she now had two images. When she got home, the image from the preceding day was not there. Juana kept finding images and they kept disappearing. She gave an image to the priest and it also disappeared. When the priest went into the woods, he found the image on a rock. She wanted to build a church on the spot.
This traditional story has become a symbol of equality in Costa Rico. The Virgin Mary is a symbol of equality of all people regardless of the color of their skin. A beautiful byzantine church was built in the area in Cartago. On August 2 the day that commemorates Juana Pereira's story, people flock from all over the country and walk to the great church in Cartago. People who cannot walk to Cartago have local walks to their area churches. The highways are full of pilgrims walking to their churches. Traffic slows down and moves along with the pilgrims.
This is just one way that the people of Costa Rica express their spirit and their traditions. All people have their local customs. Understanding customs helps us understand others and ourselves.

What it feels like to be a Millionaire

With just 21 years of age I arrived to Costa Rica and was quick to become my families first millionaire. I have to say life has been good and living in the tropical paradise running a tour company I cant complain. Being a millionaire came easier than I expected. I did not find myself with a big house or fancy cars. I noticed I was still eating rice and beans every meal and living off tips from being a river guide on the river.

Today is your lesson on Costa Rican currency. It turns out that Costa Rica uses the Colone which was named after a sailor who first arrived on the Limon side of Costa Rica named Christopher Columbus. His name in Spanish is Cristobal Colon for which the currency was named. Costa Rica has moved through the years from using everything from the Cacao fruit as currency to the many different size coins that they have today. The largest bill of the colone is 10,000 colones which is worth around $18.50 US Dollars. Today the exchange is around 550 colones to the US $1. This my friends is how I became my families first millionaire. To say it correctly I am really only a thousandaire and on some days probably just a hundrednaire. This was your lesson on the Costa Rican currency and to let everyone know that you dont need a fancy car and nice house to live the life of a millionaire. Just a few rice and beans, nice people, and natural beauties is what I consider living the high life.