Semana Santa y la península de Osa

Holy Week in Costa Rica was in early April, and is a much bigger cultural deal in Latin America than in the United States.

The community had a lot of events that we were sad to miss, as we were traveling until late on Good Friday. However we were happy to be in town for Saturday and Easter Sunday!

But first, a few highlights from our trip! (Our longest family trip in Costa Rica with just our immediate family). We went to the Osa Peninsula, one of the most remote parts of Costa Rica, closer to Panama, where many Costa Ricans haven’t visited. In fact, there were a lot of Germans in the town of Drake Bay where we stayed. We took a boat an hour through the mangroves to get there! Mangroves grow in salt water and have tons of ecological/ climate benefits.

The town was full of macaws, and our little cabin had a porch with a view and AC, which we sure appreciated on the coast! This is the hottest month of the year (with very high humidity) and warmer than usual.

This was as remote as we’re going to get here in Costa Rica and we loved seeing dolphins and tapirs, and sea turtles!

Drake Bay was both remote and small – and had a lot of foreign tourists. We were struck by how many more foreigners there seem to be on the coast (we stopped at a few different places along the way), and we are glad we live in Atenas.

As part of our road trip, we got to spend two nights in Esterillos and visit a Free Methodist church on the beach! And hang out with the awesome pastor and family. Ethan and Luke even got to surf, a big accomplishment for Luke, but Ethan could have used bigger waves.

Back in Atenas, we got to attend a few Easter services, including at our church Sunday evening, a Saturday night vigil, a special kids-focused Catholic mass, and a procession, common in Latin America, like a parade celebrating Jesus’ resurrection! The most elaborate ones are in Guatemala as we understand, but most of the town turns out here as well. There were twelve disciples dressed up and a Jesus figure carried along the parade. The services included singing, Psalms, the Lord’s Prayer, holy water and incense. Ethan thought he was have a reaction to the incense, but then we found out the local volcano (Poas) was letting off steam and sulphur, so we think it was that:)

We invited our friends for egg painting and hunt between services. 🙂 Our church included a drama with black lights and familiar worship songs. All in all a very special, ecumenical and memorable Easter.