Another holiday and a birthday party

Last Tuesday was another holiday in Costa Rica, el Día de la Virgen de los Angeles. In a really fascinating tradition, about 1.5 million people walk to a church in Cartago to pay homage to Costa Rica's patrona, the Virgin of Los Angeles. The legend of "La Negrita" is from 1635 when a young girl found a stone carved like the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus. She took it home, but it returned to the rock where she found it. She took it home again - same thing. She took it to a priest who locked it up, and it still returned, so the priest said  the Virgin wanted a church built on that spot.

The stone - "La Negrita" - it's now ensconced in gold 

Romería a la Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles

Apparently it takes about 6 hours to walk to Cartago from where we are - it would be really interesting to do some day. If you're curious, here's an article about the romería this year. For this holiday, Claire didn't have school, but we did, so one of the teachers from her school spent the morning with her.

This week at Intercultura we were back with the marvelous Jesús and three other lovely students. Next week is our last week there (kind of sad!) and we'll have Jesús again. Another student we had class with last week - Kyle (the redhead) - was in our class again this week and will also join us next week. He's an English teacher at Intercultura so joins Spanish classes on occasion. Really nice guy. We just finished the Advanced 1 level so will finish with Advanced 2. There are five advanced levels, so at some point we might decide to return for the last three - who knows.

Our class this week: Cecilia (New York), me, Jesús, Kyle, Graham, and Joe (Miami)

Today Claire had a birthday party for a boy in her class who was turning four. Juliàn had a Handy Manny party at his house and Claire loved jumping on the trampoline, the balloons, playing with the toy tools, coloring, the piñata, and, of course, the cupcakes. (Rather, the FROSTING on the cupcakes.) A fun time was had by all. A few pictures of the fiesta:

Bouncing on the trampoline with Gabriel and Santiago and lots of punch-balloons 

 Handy Claire-y with her custom-made tool belt

Taking a whack (very softly) at the piñata

Speaking of birthdays, Claire's is at the end of this month and people have asked me about sending gifts to her. There isn't an easy way to do it, but there are a few options:

1. Send her something via USPS in a plain or international envelope (make sure it's NOT domestic packaging, for example, for US Priority Mail). This takes about two weeks.
2. Send her a package via UPS, DHL, or FedEx. (Small and light is good.) This hasn't been attempted yet with us, but we hear it works (although it's not the regular mail address for us, it's different). We also hear it's TREMENDOUSLY expensive. If you send a package to our regular address via USPS, it may or may not get to us entirely intact and may take upwards of 6 months, we hear.
3. Send her money via PayPal (mindeeforman@gmail.com) - you can tell us what to buy for her (or not) and we'll e-mail you a picture of her with it. It's a bit strange, I know, but we can't use gift cards here even for U.S. companies. For example, we have Walmart, but U.S. gift cards don't work there. Donations for her 529 college fund are also great.
4. Give her small things when we visit the U.S. in October.

Sorry about the hassle... Really and truly, she doesn't need anything. This information is only if you feel greatly compelled to do something. We looked at getting an address in Miami that would deliver to Costa Rica, but the fees are ridiculous. To send one book or movie you're looking at the normal cost plus an additional $25-$40 in taxes and fees. Here's the calculator for shipping if you're curious - it just didn't seem worth it.

We hope you're staying cool this summer - the weather in much of the U.S. has been insanely hot. You're welcome to come hang out with us - it's been in the mid-70's and incredibly pleasant here. (Again, for anyone who's planning a visit - check our availability calendar and let us know so we can block off the time to spend with you. =) )

The Spanish summary:

El martes pasado fue otro feriado de Costa Rica, el Día de la Virgen de los Angeles. Está un feriado muy interesante – 1.5 millón personas caminaban a Cartago en honor de la patrona de Costa Rica, que la gente se llama “La Negrita.” La leyenda se inició en 1635 y es una historia única.

Esta semana nosotros tomamos las clases de Jesús otra vez en Intercultura, y tuvimos clase con tres otra personas muy simpatico. La próxima semana vamos a tener Jesús una vez más – ¡nuestra última semana!

Hoy Claire y yo fuimos a un cumpleaños para un amigo de escuela que se llama Julián. ¡Nos divertimos!

El cumpleaños de Claire es este mes, y unas personas me preguntaron cómo enviarle los regalos. No es fácil, pero es posible. Hay opciones si usted realmente debe.

Nosotros esperamos que ustedes se enfríen este verano, especialmente en los Estados Unidos. El clima aquí está maravilloso – ¡nos visitan!