Patriotism, pride, colour and children sum up Independence Day. We love it, and all the more as Costa Rica was colonised by the Spanish not the British, so we can stand alongside Ticos without the discomfort we’ve experienced in other parts of the world!

Although independence was declared on 15th September 1821, the torch symbolizing liberation arrived in Costa Rica a month later. That symbolism is recreated every year with students carrying the flame from the Nicaragua border, spreading across the country, even into very remote communities.

It’s a great honour to be chosen to guard the liberty flame; our dignified lads were not sure if they should smile for the photo or not!

Here in San Isidro, children from the centre for special education always lead the parade, a respectful gesture which I greatly admire. But its probably practical too – with 25 school groups and 11 bands participating, it’s a mighty slow process and the kids get exhausted.

The parade stops and starts, and hangs around while individual groups perform for the spectators. Over two hours from start to finish in the heat of the day, it takes stamina – why boots are the fashion quite defeats me, their little feet must be roasting.

Thanks to a bit of serendipity, I felt an extra identity with Tico patriotism and pride this year. Earlier in the week we had a small group of National University students here – they have to find a family from an English speaking country, interview them and write a study on the customs of their homeland.

They arrived bearing bread; in return we provide the coffee, a lovely tradition. When they discovered John was Welsh and I was a Scot, they decided not to do ‘The UK’ but to concentrate on our countries – similarly small and mountainous with lots of forests and rivers, and lovely people (we think so anyway!).

One student had seen the movie Braveheart and was bowled over to see a real kilt, while another has been watching The Tudors on TV and wanted to know if we (or King Henry VIII to be precise) really did ‘hang, draw and quarter’ people and stick their heads on spikes in London. Oh yes, he did!

We talked about the great choral tradition of the Welsh and the male voice choirs; the Welsh and Gaelic languages; and the clans, kilts, bagpipes and highland gatherings of Scotland. And what cultural traditions did we still observe here? – Guy Fawkes night at Jaco and the annual Burns night in San Jose.

The contents of a haggis didn’t appeal to them! And predictably, since they were so interested in our history, we got onto domination and suppression by the English, and the eventual union of the ‘Crowns’.

We weren’t exactly colonised but many similarities can be drawn; the Scots and Welsh are fiercely patriotic in a way that the English are not. Drawing a parallel, they were clear they could never anticipate Costa Rican being but one country in a federal union of Central America.

Lovely young people, so passionate and proud of their homeland, we felt ‘at home’ here, and with them, on Independence Day.

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