Life is a Picnic

This was a great weekend to celebrate Independence Day, complete with high waterfalls, daffy birds, a picnic and fireworks.

On Saturday we headed north for the third time to see the La Paz waterfall park, about an hour’s drive from home. It turns out that the area was heavily damage by an earthquake about a year ago, which explained why half the road was missing (the outside half). We enjoyed seeing the aviary, butterfly garden, hummingbird patio and hiking down the along the waterfalls. We left as three busloads of American college students showed up. Don’t ask how they drove those large cruisers on that lousy road – we were just happy we didn’t have to pass them on their way in.

The 4th of July in Costa Rica is just the 4th of Julio. Independence Day is in September. However, we celebrated at the American Colony Committee 50th annual Independence Day picnic, which began at 8am Sunday morning at the cerveceria (a brewery with a picnic grounds) within walking distance from our house. The food was traditional – hot dogs, cole slaw, popcorn and lots of beer (all before noon on Sunday!), but the bagels were a bit unusual – buttered and served with cubes of various cheeses. We thought we would spend the morning “speaking American” but there were Ticos there in large numbers. One other odd bit – we stopped at the Republican’s abroad booth to fill out applications to receive absentee ballots from MN when the time comes. We’ll see if they make it here – we both put down different versions of what we believe to be our address!

The evening was capped off with an unexpected fireworks display from the Marriott Hotel down the street. The view from our upper deck was spectacular and the reports were thunderous, causing every dog and car alarm in Belen to spend the rest of the night barking and blaring.