In Costa Rica they celebrate Independence day, just like the U.S. celebrates the 4th of July, but Costa Rica did not fight for their independence, they signed a paper with Spain. In Cobano there is an Independence day parade, which I was very excited about! All the schools in the area were in the parade. All of Central America celebrates Independence Day. Although Sept. 15 is the day when independence was declared in Central America, it took a month for news to arrive in Costa Rica on Oct. 13, because the messenger had to travel by horseback from Guatamala with the official notice. At the parade there was traditional dancing, bulls pulling a cart of kids (one of the bulls actually stopped to pee and it was a small river)! The police threw candy from their cars and a band of kids played drums and other instruments. I loved the parade! The Costa Rican candy is delicious and the schools performances were great (by the way Cobano is a town in Costa Rica about 30 minutes from Santa Teresa). The night before independence day the whole country sings the national anthem, though we didn't have a radio or a TV so we didn't hear it. When we were at the parade we all had to use the bathroom, the closest bathroom was a little school. The school had a playground made out of wood and the bathroom was the smallest I've ever been in! After the parade, we set off to find some lunch. We checked a little pizza place but they only had two kinds my family had never tried. Then we kept our search for food going, and got lucky, there was a man at a cart selling pork kabobs. My parents had gotten the same kabobs before boarding the ferry to Santa Teresa and really liked them, so we ordered about 6 kabobs. My dad asked the guy for the kabobs in Spanish. Yum, those kabobs were so delicious! They came with a tortilla, I gave my tortilla to Lucas, because that's like all he would eat. I really enjoyed Costa Rica's Independance Day, but now its time to go back home to Casa Escondida.