The traditional romería, an annual pilgrimage of Catholics to the Costa Rican city of Cartago, has been canceled for the second straight year due to the pandemic.
The Catholic Church of Costa Rica has asked faithful to join an online celebration rather than making the pilgrimage to Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago.
Many pilgrims come from afar to make good on different types of promises, such as Franklin Arturo Garita Quirós, from Paquera, Puntarenas, who was sued by the Environment Ministry in 1986 after he was accused of deforesting his property. He made a promise to the Virgin of Los Ángeles, known as "la negrita," that if he won the case, he would walk every year to her statue in Cartago, as he's done for the past 29 years.