For Spring Break 2018, my family of four traveled to Costa Rica and spent one full week at the Andaz Papagayo. To read about why we chose Costa Rica with kids and booking logistics, visit Costa Rica With Kids (Part I): Why Costa Rica and Booking Logistics.
As Catherine has posted before, attending Mass on vacation is one way in which we regularly immerse ourselves in the local culture when traveling. When traveling, I also jump at any opportunity to visit local schools or villages, such as our visit to the Ndebele homestead in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. During our recent visit to Costa Rica, I was thrilled to celebrate Easter at the local Catholic church and also to participate in a service project in conjunction with Crescendo Juntos, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to education and training in the Guanacaste district.
Easter Mass at San Antonio Padua
One of our first orders of business upon arriving in Costa Rica was to check with the Concierge regarding the nearest Catholic church and times for Easter Mass. As I mentioned in my review of the Andaz, the Concierge was extremely helpful. Not only did they have this information readily available, but they gave us advance warning that it would be an open air service.
On Easter Sunday, we got dressed and drove to San Antonio de Padua in Playa Hermosa. Located approximately 30 minutes from the hotel, it was an easy drive and we arrived with plenty of time. I was delighted to see that the church was truly “open” – no closed walls. Although we’ve attended Mass in many different cities and even countries, I’ve never attended what was intended to be an open air mass (my unintended open air mass was Easter 2017, when I ended up outside the Carmel Mission with an angry toddler).
The service was conducted primarily in Spanish and the Priest and servers were extremely friendly and welcoming, although it was clear that very little, if any, English was spoken. My favorite thing about the Mass was that they chose Easter Sunday to be a baptism day for infants and young children. Typically, the 40 days spanning Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday are very somber and the only celebration is the welcoming of catechumens into the Church. I’ve never, in all my years, participated in an infant baptism on Easter Sunday, but I really appreciated welcoming these young babies into the Church. My children, having seen many infant baptisms, were also familiar with the service and I was glad for the opportunity to be part of the larger Church. Pro-Tip: Although the service was supposed to start at 10AM, it did not actually start until 10:15AM as one of the families who were participating in the baptism arrived late. Nobody seemed flustered or concerned, except for those of us who were clearly foreigners used to a rigid Mass start time.
Our Service Visit to Escuela Pacifica Garcia Fernandez
Prior to our stay at the Andaz, I learned that guests were welcome to bring backpacks filled with school supplies to donate to a local school. I immediately jumped at the opportunity and reached out to the Concierge at the hotel to schedule our visit.
The night before our scheduled visit, I received an email with directions to the school. The Concierge also delivered a printed copy to our room, complete with full color map, which was greatly appreciated. We were told that we would be met by an individual from Creciendo Juntos, who would help facilitate the visit.
The morning of our visit, we loaded up the kids (and our filled backpacks!) and drove the 30 minutes to the school. The individual from Creciendo Juntos met us at the front of the school and, unfortunately, she did not speak much, if any, English. The first 5 minutes or so of the visit did not go well, I’ll admit. My preschooler had fallen asleep on the drive over to the school so he was rather cranky at having been woken up, and my older son was mostly just shy and feeling awkward and unsure of why we were there. And, the language barrier was really preventing us from communicating in any meaningful fashion.
After a few harrowing minutes of trying to communicate, the volunteer took us straight to the English teacher’s classroom – hallelujah! The English teacher took over and introduced us to the group of fourth graders she had in her classroom and had us exchange introductions with the students. We played a rousing game of hot potato and then the teacher suggested that we take the kids outside for some soccer. The soccer game really broke the ice and my son had a great time. The kids played soccer for about 20 minutes and my son was quickly red-faced from the heat and humidity. While my oldest played soccer, the Creciendo Juntos coordinator took my youngest to the kindergarten classroom, where he enjoyed playing with the classroom toys. When the kindergarten kids came back, we moved to the playground, which my son also enjoyed.
At some point, the bell rang and I realized that recess was over. Not wanting to further disrupt the kids from their school day, we signaled that it was time to leave. The English teacher brought us back to the classroom where my kids had the opportunity to present their filled backpacks to two children who had been selected by the teachers to receive the backpacks. Check out this PDF on the Creciendo Juntos Volunteer Program for more information.
We really enjoyed our visit with the school and my older son said, on a number of occasions, that he had a great time playing soccer with the kids. I wish we had been given more information prior to our visit. I learned, after the fact, that we could have prepared a short lesson or project to do with the kids. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have loved to have done a little presentation on Washington, DC and come prepared with photos or mementos to share with the children. It was awkward to just show up with our backpacks, but we really had no idea what to expect. Overall, the experience was a positive one and I am glad we did it. The Creciendo Juntos coordinator was extremely friendly, despite our language issues, and the school children and faculty were all welcoming and open to our visit.
For the final installation of our trip to Costa Rica, check out Costa Rica With Kids (Part VIII): Diamante Eco Adventure Park…