Wow, can it really be almost Christmas again? It seems like we just got through celebrating 2007. I guess time really does fly when you’re having so much fun. I have always enjoyed Christmas in Costa Rica. It is a magical time to be here. Being in the tourist business, it is a very busy time for me. Christmas is considered the “peak” season here not only for the foreign tourists that arrive each year, but also because of all the Ticos that take extended vacations (usually to the beaches) this time of the year with their pockets flush with cash from the “aguinaldo” (the annual legally mandated Christmas bonus that all employers must pay). Why is Christmas so special in Costa Rica? Well being a predominantly Catholic country, the Costa Ricans celebrate Christmas with an extraordinary intensity. Christmas here is about the kids and children play a special role in all celebrations. There is the festival of lights that is a parade downtown with floats that are ornamentally adorned with brilliant lights. This festival usually draws some 1 million people to the streets. It is quite an event. In San Jose there is also the festival at Zapote, which is like a state fair back in the states and features all kinds of activities and shows, the highlight of which is the bull run where the people will get into the stadium ring with bulls and be chased around and sometimes brutally gored (sounds like fun, huh?). The city is always beautifully lit up. There is a spirit of festivity that is in the air and every-one’s mood seems to become a little lighter. During Christmas week, while everyone is at the beach, the traffic in San Jose vanishes and that is always very nice. But just like in the U.S. the festivities and shopping and gifts have the tendency to distract us from the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place. That is, to celebrate the birthday of the King of Kings. God who became man in the form of Jesus Christ and felt our joy and pain and endured the ultimate sacrifice in order to bring peace on earth and goodwill to men.
Nevertheless, still being a “kid at heart” I thought I would take the liberty of posting my Christmas wish-list for 2008……
1. I wish for 1,000’s of readers of this blog who all become Package Costa Rica customers that make me filthy rich!
2 I wish that the rotunda of Juan Pablo Segunda would magically be fixed so that I can get to work on time.
3. I wish that Barack Obama really is the “second-coming” and therefore will be able to fix the economy in the U.S. so that I will get 1,000’s of customers and become filthy rich!
4. I wish that leadership of the FARC, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez would get absolutely nothing this Christmas (except maybe some brains and a Spanish translation of Bill Bennett’s Book of Virtues).
5. I wish that Costa Rica could stay green and gorgeous forever and develop into the number one eco-tourism destination in the world.
6. I wish the criminals and delinquents that roam our streets would get a life and take a break to remember what Christmas is all about.
7. I wish for peace on earth and goodwill to all…..
Lest We Forget…..
The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel–which means “God with us.”
Matthew 1:23 (NIV)
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Christmas in Costa Rica • Package Costa Rica
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