This year my wife and I spent Christmas in Costa Rica. She grew up there and many of her family members live in San Jose. In past years we were with my mother and father in Tennessee. I always enjoyed the snow and cold weather around the holidays, but this year we wanted to share the love with her family and friends.
I did not know what to expect, but I assumed their holiday traditions were similar to us “Gringo’s”. Man was I wrong. Christmas is more like a New Year’s celebration. December 24th was a day of cooking, drinking, dancing and laughing. The entire family, including all the kids stayed up through the night. They cracked open a pinata around 11 pm and then at midnight we passed out the gifts.
By the next day I was dead tired. I thought Christmas day would be spent sleeping. Well, I was wrong again. There is this place called Zapote near San Jose. Here, they have a fair, a sea of open air bars, disco’s and a big bull ring. For those who are brave, they can run with the bulls in the ring. This was the damn craziest thing I have ever seen.
I’m not talking about baby bulls. I mean BIG, MEAN and UGLY bulls with sharp horns. It starts with around 50-100 people in the ring jumping around. They pick one bull at a time and then let him loose in the ring. The people run and jump over the wall or scramble behind a barracade when the bull charges them. Each night people were ran down and thrown up in the air like rag dolls or stomped on after they tripped and fell.
This goes on for about a week or so and is televised each night. On the last night, I returned in a crazy attempt to have my turn with the bulls. But, thankfully there were too many people trying to get in and I did not have a chance. Apparently, god was looking after me because on the last night they release the meanest and deadliest bull of all. What was I thinking?
Costa Rica High School
My wife, Isabel, arrived in C.R. a few weeks before me. During this time she made our donation to the high school in Pavas. The school, Colegio Rincon Grande, is in a small poor area of San Jose. They have many needs and we have donated in the past. 10% of sales from my book, Finding Your Costa Rica, is given to the school. They are always very happy and grateful for our help. If you would like to support them, purchase your copy today at www.findingyourcostarica.com. Or, you can contact the school directly at 011-506-2-213-0104. The director’s name is Sra. Emilia Fernandez.
Timothy Laskis, Ph.D. is the author of Finding Your Costa Rica: 5 Powerful Steps to Personal, Professional and Financial Success. He can be reached at www.findingyourcostarica.com or at tim@lex-t.com.
