Celebrate Guanacaste culture and traditions on Costa Rica’s big holiday of Guanacaste Day at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.
Guanacaste Day, Costa Rica’s big holiday celebrating the annexation of its northwest province, is coming up at the end of July. To celebrate Guanacaste culture and traditions, the best place to stay is Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.
Guanacaste Day 2017 on July 25 commemorates 193 years since the region voluntarily chose to be part of the country of Costa Rica. Once belonging to Nicaragua, the area known as Guanacaste united with Costa Rica on July 25, 1824, now celebrated annually as a national holiday all over the country. The region officially became a Costa Rican province in 1848 and was renamed after Costa Rica’s national tree, the Guanacaste.
As a public holiday, on July 25, banks, schools and government offices will be closed in Costa Rica. There will be big “fiestas” in Guanacaste’s principal city of Liberia all the weekend prior with parades, concerts, folk dances, cattle and horse shows, fireworks and traditional foods. Costa Rica’s national instrument, the marimba, will feature prominently in traditional music.
At Hacienda Guachipelin, you can listen to the “living legend” of marimba music, Justo Pastor Sanchez Castillo – known affectionately to all as “Don Justo”. For more than 50 years Don Justo has made magic with his music on the marimba, the foundation of Costa Rica’s traditional folk music. He entertains guests with his colorful songs on his legendary marimba nearly every night in Hacienda Guachipelin’s bar, and is planning a great show for July 25.
Guanacaste’s rich traditions of ranching and cowboy life are deeply rooted at Hacienda Guachipelin, dating all the way back to the ranch’s beginning in 1880 at the base of the magnificent Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. One of the most popular things to do in Guanacaste is to go horseback riding around Hacienda Guachipelin’s 3,400-acre ranch to waterfalls and natural hot springs. And the hotel’s Adventure Center offers numerous other Guanacaste one-day tours like zip-lining, mountain biking, hiking, river tubing and more.
Contact Hacienda Guachipelin for reservations to enjoy the Guanacaste Day holiday by the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park.
Article by Shannon Farley
