El Gran Tope de Ciudad Colon

One of the perks of having no life and no friends in a foreign country is that at any moment, if an event with the potential to be interesting arising, you probably don't have nay prior engagements and are therefor free to attend! Ah, the silver lining!

And so when we heard about the annual horse parade in Ciudad Colon, there was no need to check our very busy schedules and were able to attend no problem :) The parade was scheduled to come through el centro around 1pm which in Tico Time means no earlier than 2pm. We arrived promptly at 2pm, batidos in hand, ready for a show. The parade didn't end up coming through until 4pm...as a very punctual person, tico time is starting to physically pain me... Luckily, there was plenty to keep us entertained until the horses arrived.

The ambiance in el centro leading up to the horse parade reminded me of a mix between a New Jersey 4th of July and a hillbilly county fair.... girls with plaid shirts tied at their waist, boots, and cowboy hats... crazy townies with lizards on leashes... vendors selling hats, sunglasses, and little stools to sit on... Pauly D. look a-likes with their giant muscles stuffed into tiny cotton t-shirts bursting at the seems and slicked back hair... music blaring, people dancing, and all sort of shenanigans. Needless to say, it was quite entertaining just to sit back and watch the scene unfold in all its bizarre glory.

When the horses finally did arrive, it seemed like they would never stop coming... hundreds and hundreds. Marlen said baiscally anyone who wants to pay and has a horse can be in the parade, they just have to pay for a bib number... like a 5k. Shortly after seeing the star of Combate ride by on his horse, Jeni and I decided it was time for churros then home. During the tope I asked many people what the purpose for the tope was.... frankly, I'm not sure there is one... just an excuse for people to stand around and watch horses go by.