(CNN Spanish) – Niagara Falls will be illuminated on Saturday with the colors of the Costa Rican flag to commemorate the 203 years of independence, reported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Central American country.
The event will begin at 8:15 pm (Costa Rica time, 10:15 pm ET) when the colors white, blue and red are projected for 15 minutes on one of the most popular natural attractions in the world, with a drop of approximately 50 meters.
The ceremony also aims to symbolize the ties of friendship between Costa Rica and Canada, added the Costa Rican authorities.
The interim Chargé d’Affaires of Costa Rica in Canada, Víctor Porras, extended the invitation to Costa Ricans to “join this celebration and share this moment of national pride,” according to a statement from the country’s Foreign Ministry.
The lighting will be broadcast live and can be seen at the following link: EarthCam – Niagara Falls – The Falls Cam
As part of the celebrations, the Independence Torch, one of the national symbols of Costa Rica, began its primary journey this Friday, the Ministry of Public Education reported in a statement.
The authorities reported that the journey began in the hands of Dubank Ruiz Chávez, a tenth year student at the Barrio Irvin Professional Technical College, the first of the nearly 22,000 students who will carry the fire on the main route.
The young man received the torch from the Minister of Education, Anna Katharina Müller Castro, in a bilateral event held on the border line in Peñas Blancas, on Nicaraguan soil, with the participation of the Minister of Education of Nicaragua, Mendy Arauz Silva.
The students will take a route that totals 378 kilometers from Peñas Blancas to the city of Cartago. In addition, there are secondary routes “that will brighten the streets, educational institutions and communities of the country,” added the press report.
The torch celebration has been held since September 14, 1964, thanks to the initiative of Alfredo Cruz Bolaños, a Costa Rican physical education teacher, who promoted the so-called “Independence Torch Race” to commemorate the journey of the news that was originally given in 1821 in Guatemala, where independence was announced and would be echoed in other Central American countries, ending in Costa Rica.
With information from CNN’s Djenane Villanueva.
