Tope in Town

So, later on Sunday, we went to church. It was packed. The good thing about the Catholic Mass is that it is so standardized you know exactly what's going on, even when you don't always understand exactly what they're saying. When it is time to shake hands and say "Peace be with you" many people walk all over the church to shake hands, and all the little children go up (or are taken up by a parent) to shake hands with the priest. The priest seems to give very good homilies (sermons), though I can't understand it all quite yet :)

Afterwards, we went next door to the soccer field where there was a fair. It was all to celebrate the Virgin Mary who is the patron saint of Ciudad Colon. We went on a few rides - I think I may have gotten whip lash from the Musik Express and Bumper Cars! The slideshow at the top of the blog shows the girls on a dragon roller coaster.

Next, we bought cotton candy and churros from a street vendor and found a spot to wait for the Tope. A Tope is a horse parade; Ciudad Colon is surrounded by ranches and they don't miss an opportunity to have a Tope, I've heard. It seems "Tope" means everyone with a horse within 30 miles jams their horse into the street while drinking beer. Not really what we would call a 'parade' in the US. The girls and I were sitting right at the edge of the street and had to watch that our feet were not trampled by the horses. Half way through, a horse deposited a 'gift' roughly the size of a small child just in front of us. For the rest of the Tope, we just prayed, huddled, and giggled everytime a horse stepped in it, so scared it would splatter all over us! There are also a few photos in the slideshow of the Tope.