Cartago Pilgrimage

Whew…work has been insane this past week, wrapping up all my projects, translating them all to Spanish and preparing my presentation to the entire Habitat office down here tomorrow (Friday)…so I haven’t had the chance to update the blog with the once in a lifetime experience I had on Monday night. Wes and I pulled on our sneaks and headed out to the streets to take part in the pilgrimage of more then 1 million Ticos (out of a country with just over 4 million people) from San Jose to Cartago – a 25 km or 14 mile trek. We left at 10 pm and walked through the night for 5 hours on a 4 lane highway up and over the mountains between the two cities. The 4 lane highway was packed 20 people across and the line of walkers snaked as far as you could see in front of and behind you. Why do people do this you may ask?...see the below article from the Tico Times

As many as 1.5 million Costa Rican residents, slightly less than a third of the country's population, are expected to gather at the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles in Cartago, east of San José, throughout this weekend and into Monday night. They will walk along the sides of roads and in lanes blocked off for their pilgrimage. Some will leave from San José Sunday and Monday evening, while others have already begun a much longer trek from cities and towns throughout Costa Rica and Central America. Authorities base the estimate of the turnout on years past and have begun preparations for the exodus from the capital and the surrounding towns in the Central Valley.

The legend goes that on Aug. 2, 1635, an indigenous girl named Juana Pereira found a dark-skinned statue of the Virgin Mary on a rock. She hid it in her house, but it disappeared, reappearing in the same spot in which she had found it. She took it twice to a local priest, and both times it reappeared in its original site. Taking it as a sign to unify a racially segregated flock, the priest called for the construction of the basilica on the site where the statue was found, and now La Negrita, as the statue is called, sits on an altar in the massive, 1926 Byzantine-style basilica near downtown Cartago.

Each August at this time, hundreds of thousands of faithful Catholics make the pilgrimage in honor of Costa Rica 's patron saint, Our Lady of the Angels.

However – it seemed more of a festival atmosphere then a religious ceremony. Lining the streets were vendors for drinks and food and clothing and religious idols. Sometimes riding through the crowd were trucks blasting Christian rock music. And the vast majority of the pilgrims were teenagers or young 20 something’s out to have a good time with their friends and walk through the middle of the night. Of course we also saw barefooted men, women with rosaries saying prayers for the entire journey, and people stopping to rest because they had come hundreds of miles from the far reaches of the country and had been walking for days and not just a few hours. When we finally did get to Cartago around 3:30 am, we waited in a huge crush of people (oh by the way – wes and I were the only two gringos in the entire crowd of around a million people) to get inside the Basilica de los Angeles. After an hour, and a few elbows in the ribs by overzealous, tica grandmas we were at the archway leading into the high vaulted ceilings of the church. The doorway on the right allowed people to walk through the church, while the center doorway where we entered was for the true believers to crawl on their knees up to the Altar of La Negrita – the miracle working representation of the virgin Mary. With the crush of people, we had no choice and entered on our knees. Now most, if not all of you, know I have had knee problems since a major growth spurt as a kid gave me Osgood Schlatters and two huge bumps on the patella tendons just below my kneecaps. SO after walking for 14 miles, I crawled painfully on those knees for about 50 yards through the basilica at 4 am…I know, I am now officially insane :o). After leaving the church we decided that we didn’t want to try and rest and stay for the Mass in the morning; but wanted to get back to San Jose and sleep in our own beds and take advantage of the fact that Tuesday was a national holiday and we didn’t have to go to work. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of other people had the same idea, so the line for the buses snaked back and forth around multiple city blocks adding at least another kilometer of walking. The lowpoint of the night was when we finally got to the last straightaway of the line and saw hundreds of people completely disregarding the line all together, and just walking to the front, cutting everyone who was waiting and forcing their way onto the buses. The ticos all whistled their disapproval and shouted at the cutters, but to no avail, as the policemen just watched. It kinda took some of the luster off of the whole event, that after such a profound walk, and a pilgrimage into the church to see the tiny statue that people would eliminate all the goodwill by blatantly disrespecting all those who waited in the line. We finally got on the bus as the sun was rising, and I was home in bed by 6 am, and slept till midafternoon. I wanted to take some pictures, but no one else was, and it seemed inappropriate to do so, as this was a religious event.