Happy Halloween - Hannah

Halloween was a little different this year. It's a pretty minor holiday around here, and though we saw a few decorations in stores, for the most part it's just another day for Costa Ricans. So we had to make our own Halloween.

On the day before Halloween, we visited the local cemetery. Many of the graves are above ground, and we saw some that were open as well. It could be a great place for ghost in the graveyard, but we preferred to visit during the daytime and simply look around.

Despite the general lack of festivities, Jonah's school did have a costume party. Jonah was able to borrow a costume from his friend Reed and was looking forward to the party. 

But as things tend to go for us, when we got to the school no one was there. We looked around and eventually found a note explaining where the party had been moved to. I was able to translate the note with Michael's help, and I thought I knew where the location likely was. But we didn't have a car that day--we were getting the alternator fixed--and since I was too lazy to walk we ended up going home and hanging out with the other kids who were also home because of the car situation. Jonah was a trooper though, and didn't mind too much. He enjoyed being with his brothers and sister. 

Later in the day we dressed up in impromptu Halloween costumes. As a family, we were a fruit salad. Caleb was a plum, Julia a banana, me a kiwi, Michael a mango, Dylan a blueberry and Jonah a strawberry.

Afterwards we carved coconuts. Well, mostly Michael did. The carving involved a screwdriver, steak knife, and machete. We have seen pumpkins here, but decided coconuts would be a little more Costa Rican :).

It looks a little like he's drooling

I think he looks like one of Robin Hood's merry men

Creepy red guy next to Jonah's creation

This guy had a pre-made face--no carving needed!

The final festive display

During the carving Michael took a break to catch this guy. We thought of making some Halloween toad stew, but instead decided to let him go after the photo shoot.

We ended up the evening with a little trick-or-treating. The kids came to the front door to trick-or-treat, we gave them some candy, then they walked around the house and came to the front door again for another round. After a few more trips, we finished up by enjoying our candy. We got a relatively small supply of the good, expensive American candy so it was muy delicioso.