Feting Guanacaste 184 Years On

By Zoraida Diaz

The exaltation of the Guanacaste identity reached its annual climax on Friday, marking the 184th anniversary of the annexation of the province of Guanacaste to Costa Rica.

Patriotic festivities extended from Nicoya, the heartland of the annexation (Guanacaste was referred to as the Nicoya Party leading up to its annexation), all the way to Santa Cruz and Tilarán.

© Zoraida Diaz

As Guanacasteans ignored the government’s “rescheduling” of the holiday to the following Monday, locals took to the streets in full sabanero regalia, with carnivals, cultural exhibits, topes (horse parades) and, of course, marimba music.

President Óscar Arias and his Cabinet held court in Nicoya, where the good doctor presented his plans for Guanacaste for the remainder of his administration.

© Zoraida Diaz

Other high-ranking officials, like the Minister of the Environment and Energy Roberto Dobles (left), toured the area, meeting with Urbano Gómez Gómez and José Luis Gutiérrez at the Diriá National Park in Santa Cruz.

Mr Gutiérrez, a neighbor of Arado, shows the Minister a photograph of himself as a young man. A closer look reveals Arado and a band of hunters with a jaguar they shot within the 4000 hectares of forests inside the park.

© Britton Jacob-Schram

Things just aren’t like they used to be, that’s for sure.