Juan Santamaría: National Hero
I totally forgot to mention this, but on April 11 (a Monday), we didn't have class. We had a holiday, and it was for Juan Santamaría, a war hero. Since Costa Rica hasn't had an army since 1948, being a war hero is kind of a novelty here.
Here's the story: a US citizen, William Walker had a mercenary army in Central America in order to try and establish a slave trade. After having success in Nicaragua, Walker took his army south into the Costa Rican province of Alajuela. He and his troops were sleeping in a hostel when a poor drummer boy decided to do something about the soldiers staying in his province. Young Juan Santamaría set a fire to the hostel where many of the troops were, killing many of the mercenaries, but himself as well. His heroism is celebrated every year in April with a parade and a ceremony in the capital of the province.
We had passed a statue of the hero as we went to Volcán Poás, and one of our directors told us the story of their national hero. The pride that she has for both her country and the hero showed on her face and you could hear it in her voice as she recounted the details. Pretty neat little piece of history!