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Cartago Was Beyond Expectations
This Year
There is no way of measuring the
number of faithful who visited
the Basilica in Cartago over the
weekend, however, organizers say
that it was beyond their
expectations. Some went as far
to say that almost 2 million
came from all over Costa Rica
and beyond.
Officials say that since August
2 was so close to the weekend,
may took the time to make the
annual trek and had to increase
the number of security and first
aid posts.
The majority of "romeros"
arrived Monday night and were
still coming when the 9:30am
mass started Tuesday morning,
which was presided by Monseñor
Hugo Barrantes, Archbishop of
San José.
The exodus from Cartago
continued well past midnight
last night.
The Red Cross says it attended
to 3.700 romeros during this
year, down from last year's
number of 4.394, that mostly
complained of sore muscles. Only
10% required medical attention
and four were treated for
intoxication. In total only 36
persons had to be sent to a
hospital.
For their part, the Fuerza
Pública (police) were happy with
the results of this year's walk
with only a few incidents
reported from the 1.450 police
officials on hand along the
route from San José to Cartago.
The press office for the
Ministerio de Seguridad reported
that 12 people were detained in
Cartago for committing obscene
acts and robberies, and the
confiscation of minor amounts of
marijuana, crack and cocaine.
The only major incident reported
by police is the arrest of a
minor and youth attempted to
assault a woman walking to
Cartago near the area of the
Indoor Club in Curridabat.
Undercover officers were able to
foil the assault.
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