Dia de Independencia Costaricense

The students of the friends school ran and carried the torch up the mountain. It came all the way from Guatemala. 

Every kid got to carry it. 

Liam's turn.

Reid's turn.

Nuestra profesor de español. 

That was all the day before. 

The night before, there is a lantern parade. 

Katie's homemade morpho butterfly lantern. 

We got flags. 

And we watched the excellent parade. These are middle schoolers. 

It was lovely. 

Unlike the independence traditions we are used to in the states, this was focused on peace and tranquility. It CELEBRATED peace instead of war.