Day 2 - Dancing through Costa Rica
After a very solid night of rest for everyone, we awoke for a delicious poolside breakfast featuring plátanos maduros (plantains), local fruits, and rice and beans. We then had a brief rehearsal to prepare for tonight’s concert before boarding the bus for a city tour led by our guide Imalay. Throughout our walk through central San José, we saw many beautiful sculptures by the renowned Costa Rican sculptor and architect Jiménez Deredia. Other sights included the National Stadium and the National Museum, another former military site converted to a cultural center. We ended up with our friends the Chattanooga Boys Choir at the National Monument: a statue which celebrates the victory of the Costa Rican military over William Walker, an American who sought to conquer and re-introduce slavery to Central America during the 19th century.
We then embarked on a scenic drive up into the mountains surrounding San José, navigating many narrow streets filled with lush greenery with the extraordinary driving of our bus driver José. After driving past several coffee plantations, we arrived at an open-air restaurant with stunning views of the valley and city below. We gathered with the other international choirs (from Nashville, Chattanooga, and Trinidad and Tabago) for the inaugural festival lunch. Although the grilled meats and tres leches cake were delicious, the highlight was definitely the dancing! A live brass and percussion band with a very exciting drummer marched in to surprise us, while the massed choirs joined in an impromptu conga line. Masks were passed around to different singers, and the game was simple: if you got the mask, you had to dance. Everyone was impressed by the dance skills of our fellow participants!
After a brief stop at the hotel to change into our concert clothes, we were off to the Museum of Costa Rican Art for the opening concert. This was our chance to hear several of the Costa Rican choirs participating in the festival, who sang everything from traditional dances to contemporary Baltic music. We were the final choir to perform, and sang from the beautiful wooden balcony of the museum to the audience gathered below. The acoustics were gorgeous, and despite the heat our singers delivered a top-notch performance - absolutely one of the best of the year! The other conductors commented on the discipline, polish, and energy of the choir.
We returned to the hotel energized by the concert to enjoy a delicious dinner of Costa Rican steak (Costa Rica is a major exporter of beef to other American countries), pasta salad, and roasted vegetables by the pool. Now it’s early to bed before our 6 am wake-up call. Tomorrow we’ll be heading to the countryside to sing a school concert, and then attending an evening program to hear our new friends from Trinidad and Nashville. Signing off!
