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Showing posts with the label Cartago

A Pilgrim in Cartago

   Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles (Our Lady of the Angels) Every year on August 2nd, it is estimated that a million to two million pilgrims converge on Cartago to celebrate the fiesta of La Negrita (Black Madonna). On the eve of the feast day, pilgrims walk from other parts of the country to the Basilica (in what is called a romería) to give thanks or petition for favors . La Negrita is the patron saint of Costa Rica and adored by devotees for her healing power. Main Altar It is said that a peasant girl found a statue in the woods of a female figure with a dark complexion and carrying a child. She took it home with her but when she woke up the next day, it was gone. She found it on the rock where she had first discovered it. She brought it back home only for the statue to return to the rock. She told the priest about her experience with the statue and he took it from her and locked it up but the next day it was back on the rock. When several earthquakes destroyed the constru

My Amazing Ride - 2021

Pismo Beach Pier, California Traveling during the pandemic was  quite different from my previous last minute trips with no hotel reservations and lots of taken for granted expectations. There are health disclosures to fill, vaccination cards to show immigration, covid tests to take, and in some cases, travel insurance and confirmed paid hotel reservations to show the border police. Thankfully the airports were quiet at the beginning of my European trip in June but by the time I got home in July from Paris, travelers were back in droves that it took me close to three hours to get to my gate. The same was true in December when I returned from Costa Rica. LAX was full of Christmas travelers, it was hard to find any seat at the gates let alone, breathing space. Enough whining! After all, I visited 7 countries in 2021 plus the Arctic Circle, Interior Alaska and Las Vegas and had reunions with my close friends in Michigan, Amsterdam and Vienna. It was an amazing year of travel! April. After