Catholics vs. Christians

I´ve received a little bit of education on religion here in Costa Rica and I´d like to share it with you. Approximately 5% of the population is Jewish, 60% is Catholic, and the rest are Christians. Woah...wait. Let me state that another way. As my professor stated last week when we asked her if she wanted to have a cup of coffee: ¨I drink neither alcohol nor coffee. I´m Christian. Only Catholics drink.¨

Ok. Obviously, somewhere along the line, the definition of Catholic has somehow mutated to the point where it´s no longer part of Christianity. Just to set the record straight, being Catholic doesn´t give us the right to drink. In many cases, being Catholic REQUIRES drinking! How else can one quell that little voice that we so affectionately refer to as ¨Catholic Guilt?¨ If Christians don´t drink, then they either don´t have enough rules or don´t have strict enough consequences. Either way, they obviously have it far too easy. I think I´m going to write a letter and complain.

So here we are in Easter Week, or ¨Semana Santa¨ in Spanish. On Wednesday afternoon, businesses start shutting down and won´t re-open until sometime next Monday. There´s no school all week and the hotels on the coast have been booked several months in advance. I´ve seen a couple processions in the evening with people carrying crosses and singing...very interesting stuff (and I´m told those are the Catholics, not Christians by the way). I think we´re going to hang out here in Heredia for the weekend...especially since bus service is shut off for the week. Maybe I´ll color eggs. I´ll go to Central Park and strike up conversations with locals about the giant rabbit that is going to leave me candy during the night and hide the eggs all over my house and yard.

The Christians would surely KNOW that the Catholics were wacko at that point. Must be the booze.