At first glance, it didn’t seem like there would be a whole lot of action when we pulled up to The Festival Of Lights event this year in Cobano. Small pockets of chatter & intensity are sprinkled across the main drag. Vendors selling red Santa hats with flashing lights on them. We set up camp in front of Super Maya and sit down on the curb. Anna & I figure it’d be nice to check out the holiday scene while Violetta parties with a few of her schoolmates, kicking off her Summer vacation with a bang. A definitively festive buzz swirls in the air, and rather quickly that buzz morphs into a frenzy of color, music, flying candy, and fevered dance performances. Sidewalks and street corners fill and pack in with a deceptively exponential swell as the front hem of the crowd spills forward onto the glittering asphalt course. Out of the joyous masses, my daughter manages to pluck a few sugar plums. Several of her friends happen to be on the same stretch of observance. No formal plan or rendezvous had been made. Warm greetings amongst the parents and playtime commences. The dazzling procession rolls out 45 minutes late, led by a couple of Jeepmas Trees adorned with vibrant Christmas lights. Bus loads of band members march melodiously, forming a pulsating musical snake which stretches to the back of town, tail coiling around the community center, the birthplace of the parade. Drumming the holiday into proper perspective, trumpeting in the start of Costa Rican Summer and the ecstasy of vacation. Marching bands from all over the country traveled to Cobano as did performers from Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Each band bringing tremendous passion and flavor, with the Hondurans being especially saucy to close out the show. What an extravaganza!!! Once the gyrating tail of the musically lit BoaConductor disappears around the corner of the main intersection, the elated crowd begins to slowly disperse. Hoping to beat any likeminded patrons to the proverbial punch, we hug and kiss our tribe goodbye and streak across the street to snag some crispy fried chicken with tangy hot sauce and soft corn tortillas. Seated and served the “food crack” first and just ahead of a gaggle of half-starving stragglers, satisfaction reaches a pinnacle. Ice cold beer to wash it all down and we skip and sing all the way back to Tambor Beach. Traffic thick with the sugar of celebration, the music from the gargantuan collection of after-parties on the main road booms across the landscape as children ricochet within bubbly bounce-houses and adults dance the night away on shiny tiled floors, lights flashing overhead. The warm glow of the holiday season washes over everyone in attendance, and we are truly blessed to be counted in that grouping. We will certainly be making formal plans for The Festival of Lights next year- a rendezvous has been earned 
What a beautifully powerful event for the whole family- my senses are still tingling with joy!!! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Kwanza, Happy Holidays, and Festivus For The Rest Of Us – to you and yours from The House Of The Rising Sun, Tambor Beach, Puntarenas, Costa Rica!!! PEACE 
