Costa Rica is a small green country located in Central America, only 51,100 square kilometers. It has immense beautiful tropical forests, all types of flowers and plants like hydrangeas, orchids, jade trees, lantanas, monstera deliciosa, and even more!

Costa Rica has 5,300,000 inhabitants of which approximately 1,000,000 are foreigners. The national flower is the Guaria Morada, a type of purple epiphyte orchid. It represents the natural beauty of Costa Rica, and it brings fortune and good luck.

In a unique calendar alignment, two major cultural holidays—the Hindu festival of Diwali and the Western holiday of Halloween—coincided this year, creating a vibrant tapestry of traditions across communities worldwide! The Hindu calendar is based off the lunar cycle. Because of this, having both holidays fall on the same day, although rare, has happened before, leaving many Indian-American families grappling between the choice of Halloween or Diwali. Many people of Indian-American origin decided to choose a fusion of their two cultures.

Do you like Christmas lights? In Winterhaven they have plenty of Christmas lights. Winterhaven is in Tucson. The Winterhaven Festival of Lights runs Dec. 14–28 this year. The hours are 6–10 p.m.

Quick! Hide! The Wicked Witch of the West is coming! This December, Saguaro City Music Theatre is bringing the magical land of Oz to life! I got a chance to interview Missy Paschke-Wood, who will play the Wicked Witch in “The Wizard of Oz.”