Today’s Enlightening Entertainment will be presented in Spanish, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

We are in front of the Gold Museum of San José, Costa Rica. Here, you will find many examples of the skill of the pre-Columbian indigenous people, who turned golden metal into works of art – invaluable works of art. For many, this museum holds the key to the name of our country.

Actually, in the year 1502, during his fourth voyage, Christopher Columbus sighted the Atlantic coast of our country and called it a “Rich Coast” (Costa Rica). For many people, this name is derived from the gold that was used by indigenous peoples. However, history has proven that the real wealth of the country was not their gold.

Here at the national museum, we will show you the true wealth of the country. We are in the recreation of a traditional house of the 18th century. Humble, with solid and noble furniture. The furniture is like the inhabitants of this house: simple but strong, well-polished, durable (the life expectancy of the Costa Rican is among the highest in the world), practical, stable (the democracy is the second-oldest in the Americas), cozy (from almost 5 million inhabitants of this country, 1.5 million are immigrants, and in its vast majority are refugees).

The inhabitants of this house live on agriculture, are quiet, and carry their children to school on foot. They go to Mass on Sundays and at six o’clock of each day, they pray the Rosary: they are people of faith.

In fact, the architecture is a response to the culture, the idiosyncrasy, the ideology, and traditions, etc. of the people. These corridors not only served to protect the building, but are also related to the idiosyncrasy of the Costa Rican. A mostly open society, we are calm, etc., with a rather low profile; nevertheless, we are sociable.

We go to the Caribbean, to the Central Valley, and the small corridor, circling the whole building with an “L” shape, or with different shapes and typologies, but always the corridor, because it was a tradition sitting in the afternoon to be there, to spend the afternoon, waiting for the night to come, and waiting for the people who were passing by during the afternoon, coming back home, because they spent some time talking, greeting, and the children in the street and the sidewalk, playing with the neighbors. I would say, that is a peculiarity of our cities, that horizontal outline where the cultural part of the buildings prevails along with the landscape and the environment.

Costa Ricans do not like fighting in any way, and even though it has been 300 years since the discovery of Costa Rica, they do not have an organized army. Certainly, there are many schools already, and towns called by saints’ names, which develop around churches and chapels.

Here, God is a daily presence and the Marian devotion is already a tradition. The Basilica of the Angels illuminates the Cartago landscape.

Here in downtown Cartago, the former capital of Costa Rica, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels stands out as testimony of the unshakeable faith of Costa Ricans. The simple and kind people of Costa Rica have a simple and kind faith. And it is in the Virgin Mary, the simple and kind mother of Jesus Christ, in whom they have found their refuge and rock.

She is “the bright morning star,” “the comfort of the afflicted,” “the savior of the Christians.” And the simple peasants of the village come en masse each year to seek refuge in the soft and always open arms of the “negrita.”

Having appeared in 1623 to the young indigenous Juana Pereira, she has since been the mother of Costa Ricans. Queen of compassion and kindness, she is a sweet reminder that God loves us with the strength of a father and with the love of a mother.

Then, there is a historical reason. This is rooted in the heart of Costa Ricans. But apart from that, there is a reason of faith. Of course, each one comes with a special intention. They come because they want to precisely move with all their heart toward the mother of God. And that is what makes many Costa Ricans peregrinate many kilometers to get here.

Every year, more than 2 million people, almost half of the national population, travels by foot toward her on the anniversary of the apparition to convey gratitude and filial love.

This love has been translated into the Costa Rican love of the neighbor and through a solidarity that is transmitted between generations, and as a result, into an intuitive search of a peaceful resolution to conflicts.

On this site, a former barrack house, Costa Ricans, people of farmers, simple and honest people, wrote the most memorable page in the history of the world, of the last century.

Here, at this wall, on December 1, 1949, President José Figueres Ferrer ordained the abolition of the army, giving constitutional form to one of the most characteristic features of the “Ticos” (Costa Rican natives). This people who never wanted to sustain or perpetuate a standing army got rid of it forever, banning it in the constitution, and thus became the first and only country in the world to prohibit the army in its constitution.

A little bit less than 10 years ago, Panama did the same, and today Costa Rica and Panama are the only countries in the world that prohibit as states the army. In exchange, Costa Rica is neutral permanently, promotes the peaceful settlement of conflicts, guarantees freedom of expression, assembly and religion.

She also guarantees in the constitution the same treatment for foreigners and nationals. This implies that every inhabitant in this country has access to universal health, social universal security and the right to an education free, compulsory, and covered by the government. For this noble policy of abolishing the army, Supreme Master Ching Hai has honored Costa Rica in the person of President Oscar Arias Sánchez with the Shining World Leadership Award.

We are in Buenaventura Corrales School, which is based in the so-called “Metallic Building,” a centennial historic monument and one of the many schools that portray the national landscape, which owes its existence to the fact that Costa Rica never had a standing army, and abolished it totally in 1949, being able to allocate more financial resources to education and health.

The strength of this structure could be an allegory about the strength of the national education system, because 40% of the current population is enrolled in any of the levels of primary and secondary education. And if we add to this the university and technical people, this figure increases substantially.

Education in Costa Rica has emphasized not only coverage but also quality, reinforcing the more characteristic values of the Costa Ricans… …like solidarity, respect for the rights, respect for others’ rights and freedom of speech, part of everyday life.

According to tradition, it was here 509 years ago when Christopher Columbus first spoke of a “Costa Rica” (Rich Coast) and with that name the country was associated with the gold and riches. However, time and history have proven that this coast is rich – in nature prodigal and lush, beautiful and harmonious, and with its people, strong, simple, happy, believers in God, friendly from that nature that encircles them and which has protected them, declaring more than 25% of their territory as national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

The Costa Ricans are calm people, happy people, people with hope, for whom the right way of living is to respect and be respected, it is each one doing one’s duties, it is each one staying in one’s own place but respecting the place of others, in the end are people of peace.

Thank you kind viewers for joining us. It was a pleasure to have you with us in Enlightening Entertainment. Coming up next is Words of Wisdom, after Noteworthy News, on Supreme Master Television. May God´s peace be with you today and always.