Mother's Day, the Costa Rican way

Wednesday was Día de Mamá (Mother's Day) here in Costa Rica.  I could tell right away that it would be a big deal because we had the day off school, and my family told me that on Father's Day we don't.  Plus, practically every store here has some kind of mother's day display in the window, and there have been Mother's Day commercials for weeks.

I wanted to do something special for all three of my moms here: my host mom, my host grandma, and my AFS liaison, Digna.  All three of them have been so wonderful this past month (can you believe it's been a whole month?!).

I decided to frame two pictures from the day we all went to church together, since they turned out so well.  I gave this one to my host mom, because we are her two daughters:

Me and Melany

And I gave this one to my host grandma, becasue we are her three new daughters this year:

Erica, Melany, and me

For my AFS liaison, a bunch of us exchange students chipped in to buy a bouquet of flowers from a little flower shop across from our school.  Then, we surprised her with them at her shop the day before mother's day.  She was so happy!

My house had lots of visitors on Wednesday.  My host mom's parents, sister, brother, and uncle all came from their homes in Acosta.  One family came with a baby only a day younger than Melany.  Then another couple, who I'd met once before, came too.

Everyone celebrating Mother's Day

In the afternoon we made homemade tortillas, and by we I really mean my host mom's mom made them and Erica and I watched.  For all the Ticos, this wasn't a big deal, but I thought it was really cool.  We ate them with something called Natilla, which is some sort of cheese-ish spread.  I'm not quite sure what it is, but it was good.

Making tortillas

Then that night we had cake.  It was a mother's day cake for my host mom and grandma, but it was also a five month birthday cake for Melany.  It's a Costa Rican tradition that the birthday girl or boy has to bite the cake after everyone sings to them.  This time both of the mom's had to do it, then Melany, and then they told me and Erica to do it too.  I told them I wasn't a mom or the birthday girl, but it didn't matter, so Erica and I did it too.

Thursday I went to school in the day, and then Emma came over in the evening to sleepover.  The next morning (yesterday) we had an AFS trip to a place where they make agua dulce, which is a traditional drink of Costa Rica made from sugar cane.

Later today my family is going to Acosta, where my mom's family lives.  We're gonna spend the night and come back tomorrow, in time for me to go to school Monday.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and write about it when I get back.