Christmas event at San Joaquin de Flores
This is my second year attending a Christmas event organized by the residents of Central Street in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia. This time it was November 23th 2025.
It is a small celebration that combines Christmas lights and Costa Rican street food.
I’m going to share some details that I saw that might motivate you to attend in person.
In this community, they celebrate Christmas in a more intense way, as evidenced by the striking lights that are now rare to find in Costa Rica.
Christmas Lighting
As I mentioned before, some of the families on this street take decorating their homes for the Christmas season very seriously.
Every part of the front of the house becomes a place to display decorations, including trees, gates, furniture, and windows.
One house in particular decorates its windows with models representing Christmas scenes. Other houses display their porches.
In some houses, not even the roof is spared from Christmas decorations.
Street Food sales
Many families set up stalls (known as porches) in front of their homes to sell homemade food.
Among the dishes you can find are:
– Corn on the cob with or without butter.
– Gallos (a simple dish of tortillas with some other ingredient or prepared dish) made with potatoes, chorizo, or salchichón.
– Tamales.
– Rice with condensed milk, a sweet dessert.
– Chifrijo, a dish made with beans, pork, and chopped tomatoes.
– Vigorones, a combination of boiled yucca, chopped cabbage, tomatoes, and pork.
– Ceviche, raw fish marinated in lemon juice with chili, onion, and cilantro.
– Rompope, a type of punch made with eggs, milk, cinnamon, cloves, and a little liquor.
There are also hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries with sausage, coffee, among other things.
What is most striking are the very affordable prices. From 1,000 colones for potato balls to 2,500 or 3,000 for a vigorón or a chifrijo.
There is also ice cream, cotton candy, caramel apples, among other sweets.
Personal thoughts
When I attended in 2024, I think it was a Friday, and there was a reasonable number of people.
In 2025, I went on Sunday after Mass, and it was almost impossible to walk. There was a brief performance by a band.
I noticed how a couple of merchants set up shop on the street, unlike the neighbors who use the hallway of their house. Personally, I feel that if more merchants from outside the community arrive, it will not be a good change.
I had to wait about 45 minutes for a potato and a vigorón. So probably in 2026, if I’m still alive, I’ll attend again on a Friday.
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