Nosara’s fiestas have begun with bulls, dances, concerts and a horse parade. They will last until next Monday, January 27, having started this past Wednesday with a parade. The children of the “Escuelita de Verano” (Little Summer School), accompanied bytheMoraciapuppet troupe, marched with banners about subjects that they had learned about, such as pollution, respect for animals, speed limits and other messages to alert the community.
The parade was scheduled for 4 p.m. but they began an hour late so people could come out to the street. Upon arriving at the festival grounds after the procession, they put on a show including dances, a mime and the reading of an original work titled “Lost Legends.”
This is the second year that the procession has been done, according to Vanessa Vargas, who organizes workshops for children. “It’s good that there are parents who came to seem them; it’s important that they feel their goal was met and they had their moment,” said Vargas.
“La Escuelita de Nosara” (Nosara’s Little School) is a three-week program in which children and adolescents from Nosara participate in workshops. This year it was again staged at Serapio Lopez School from January 6 to 24.
Sarah Antonson of the Surfing Nosara Foundation, who organizes the school, says that they had around 200 children between ages five and sixteen participate.
The project aimed to teach children about respecting life, animals, the environment and themselves. They participated in workshops on theatre, yoga, sports, dancing, first aid, and recycling, among others. The parade was their opportunity to put into practice what they had learned.
The children from ages 11 to 14 made trips to the Recycling Center, where they learned about environmental management and the reuse of recycled materials. During the parade, they wore masks, hats and hula hoops that they had created during workshops based on recyclables, which were collected or brought from home.
With support from Guanacaste Community Fund and the enrollment fees, $10,000 was raised for the project. The cost of enrollment was 2,000 colones ($4), a symbolic amount, Sarah says, as some families have limited resources. Those funds were used to cover food costs and to buy school materials which will be given to the students during a party at the end of the course.
“This year we had a very successful fundraiser, and we kept records so that in the future other communities can be motivated to do something special in their town as well,” says Sarah Antonson.
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