Pilgrims to Cartago face weather and traffic dangers
The three-day weekend stimulated hundreds of pilgrims to start their walk to Cartago a little earlier this year.
A steady stream of walkers was arriving at the Basilica de los Ángeles Sunday under partly cloudy skies, 90 percent humidity and temperatures that reached 32.5 Celsius or about 90.5 Fahrenheit.
Wednesday is the feast day of the Virgen de los Ángeles, the patroness of the country, and a legal holiday. Nearly two million persons are expected to have paid their respects by then. So some walkers expressed the desire to avoid the crowds by making their pilgrimage Sunday.
The annual religious event already has been marred with one death. A walker, Cristian Rodríguez Alvarez, 27, died when he was hit by a vehicle in Curridabat Sunday morning. The driver fled. A companion of the victim was hospitalized.
Police and emergency personnel were out in force. Not everyone was traveling by foot, and neither are the police. In addition to motor vehicles, there are police along the routes on bicycles, horses and motorcycles. Some pilgrims or romeros, as they are called in Spanish, were on horseback Sunday, too.
Although other roads lead to Cartago from the east and south, the principal route for walkers is the Autopista Florencio del Castillo between that city and San José.
The Fuerza Pública is being joined by the Policía de Tránsito, the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias, the Cruz Roja Costarricense and the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia, the child welfare agency.
The Cruz Roja has three aid stations set up along the autopista. The major complaints are blisters and cramps. More than 100 had been treated by Sunday night.
Also involved in providing security for the romeros are the Ministerio de Salud, the Instituto Acueductos y Alcantarillados, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad , the Policía Municipal, Seguridad Presidencial, la Municipalidad de Cartago, Hospital Max Peralta, the Cuerpo de Bomberos, the Junta Administrativa de Servicios Eléctricos and the Comisión del Santuario de Cartago.
Security will be cranked up Wednesday when national officials, including President Óscar Arias Sánchez, show up for a 9:30 a.m. Catholic Mass at the basilica. By that time, the plaza in front of the church will be filled with hundreds of thousands of the faithful. The event will be televised.
The statute of the Virgin itself has new security. Three bungling crooks tried to hijack the statue, known lovingly as La Negrita. So basilica officials had what amounts to a small safe constructed. The small statue still is above the main altar of the basilica, but the heavy steel in which it is now contained can be closed to secure the statue of the Virgin during off hours.
Wednesday the Virgin will be taken down from the lofty perch and carried through the faithful.
Many Catholics here consider the Black Virgin, La Negrita, to be the Costa Rican manifestation of the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe. A youngster in 1635 found the dark stone statue said to be of the Virgin Mary. The statue mysteriously kept returning by unknown means to the site where the basilica stands now in Cartago some 23 kms. (about 14 miles) east of San José, according to legend.
The actions of the statue were interpreted by church leaders as a desire of the Virgin Mary to have a church built on the Cartago site, and one was.
There also is a spring just south of the church where the faithful descend to obtain bottles of the water. The statue was found close to the spring.
Both the police and the weather bureau have suggestions for the romeros. The Mininsterio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública suggested that walkers bring nothing of value, including cell phones, to tempt thieves. The pilgrimage also attracts the less religious.
Nevertheless, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad said it was beefing up the cell stations in Curridabat, Tres Ríos, Ochomogo and Cartago in anticipation of a lot of cell phone use. The telecommunications giant said it moved in mobile switching stations.
The Instituto Meteorológical Nacional said that the best time to walk is in the mornings because afternoon thunderstorms are likely this time of year.
The weather bureau issued a special report for the romería Friday in which it said temperatures can dip to 16 degrees Celsius or 61 degrees Fahrenheit overnight in Cartago at the basilica grounds where many persons camp out. That’s cold for Costa Ricans.
The instituto also warned of sunburn danger, heat stroke and lightning. The rains swept in Sunday around 2 p.m. and continued off and on through the night. Sunday was better for pilgrims than Saturday that had heavy rain all day.
The institute said that low pressure areas exist on both sides of the country and that moisture is pouring in from the Pacific. The afternoon and evening showers are likely in all parts of the country.
There is probably no phenomenon like the annual pilgrimage in Costa Rica. There is no real organization. It just happens. Some persons walk from Panamá or Nicaragua, Each either is fulfilling a promise made to the Virgin or has a request. One man, a fireman, was walking to Cartago Sunday in full, heavy gear, including helmet. He said he was completing a promise he had made. Others were disabled and in wheelchairs or on crutches.
For some, the romería is an outing. Young men and women holding hands can be seen in the mass of people.
To be invited by a young man to join him on the romería is equivalent to being a prom date elsewhere, a prom with spiritual overtones.
Today is the relocated anniversary of the Annexation of the Partido de Nicoya, the time in 1824 when residents of Guanacaste decided to join with Costa Rica. The ceremony marking the event took place Tuesday, the actual date, July 25. The three-day weekend is a creation of a new law.
With Wednesday being a national holiday, too, thanks to the Virgin, not much official activity will take place Tuesday. In fact, Tuesday will be the day that pilgrims change from a stream to a flood headed to Cartago to be there in time for the Wednesday morning ceremonies.