Independence eve is the day with the most ceremonies
Today is the day before the DÃa de Independencia, but it is the day with the most ceremony. The parades are Friday.
Somewhere between San José and Liberia today school children are carrying the torch of liberty that began its trek Sept. 1 in Guatemala. The torch passed into Costa Rica from Nicaragua about noon Wednesday at Peñas Blancas.
A special session of the Consejo de Gobierno, the president’s cabinet, has been called for Cartago tonight at 6 p.m., as is traditional. Cartago is the colonial capital. The meeting will be in the Palacio Municipal de Cartago.
President Óscar Arias Sánchez will be there with his cabinet to greet the bearer of the torch and begin the celebration.
Friday is a legal holiday, and Costa Ricans again have a three-day weekend.
The Fuerza Pública said it has 315 patrol cars and 266 motorcycles earmarked to protect student runners and those who participate in parades all over the country Friday. The flame is replicated as it travels, and a torch comes to most towns in all seven provinces of the country. Thousands of school children participate.
For example, two teams will leave the Ruinas de la ParroquÃa de Cartago tonight, one for the Provincia de Limón and the other en route to the border with Panama.
Tránsito officers and Cruz Roja workers are on the job, too.
A.M. Costa Rica will publish Friday even though the day is a holiday, and staffers will keep watch for any pressing news over the weekend.
The carrying of the torch has been going on for nearly 50 years, and the event is a highpoint for high schoolers.
One event tonight will involved special education students from six schools. They will gather at the ContralorÃa General de la República in Sabana Sur about 4 p.m. and take a train to the Liceo de Costa Rica in downtown San José. There they will sing the Himno Nacional, as is traditional all over Costa Rica at 6 p.m.
Then the students will board another train for a trip to Los Yoses to witness the anticipated passage of the torch on its way to Cartago.