Day 50: Test your Costa Rica literacy with the Simpsons

It’s Friday. It’s the 50th day of my yearlong Costa Rica Daily Boost challenge. And it’s time for you to test your Costa Rican knowledge.

When I woke up Monday morning to the news that the previous evening’s episode of “The Simpsons” had taken the world’s favorite bright yellow family on a trip to Costa Rica, my first thought was, “Oh my God. The memes are going to be intense.” Ticos love memes, and making fun of themselves, and this was going to be irresistible.

Sure enough, an onslaught ensued, and some of them flew right over my head. Here’s the toughest:

Legend has it that Club Sport Cartaginés, the soccer team of Costa Rica’s colonial capital, is cursed because someone once buried a voodoo-style doll, “El Muñeco,” somewhere under the field. Here we have Santa’s Little Helper helpfully digging up the doll to end the curse and help Cartago out in its game yesterday against Limón. (It lost, so this image may be doctored.)

If you’re Costa Rican, these are immediately recognizable –  but for the rest of us, consider this your citizenship test. How many of the places and situations pictured below – most of them by Francela Zamora of La Teja, who unleashed her creativity to make these mashups – can you name? You knew La Teja was gonna own this one. Scroll down to the end for my weekly Boost roundup.

As usual, here’s a roundup of this week’s posts, for those who like to catch up on the weekend.

Monday Motivation: How an angel helped me run a half-marathon. Seriously.

Tuesday Beauty: The art of Carolina Rodríguez got huge, happy feedback from readers.

Wednesday Wellness: All the world needs now is pinto.

Thursday Explorations: On spiders, motmots and Ani Difranco.

Bonus: If you’re new to the Daily Boost and missed how and why it started, check that out here. And have a wonderful weekend!

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).