Thursday, December 11, 2014

TOPE Jaco, Solar Power and End of Rainy Season

I can slowly feel it getting busier in my little town, which corresponds totally with the end of rainy season.  From my reading, when they said rainy season was from mid-May until mid-November, I think I kinda thought on November 15, all rain would just STOP.  Nope, still rains SOME, but for very short periods.  Anyway, going into town now, especially on weekends, I can tell busy holiday season is starting as it is sometimes difficult to even find a parking spot.  Tourists from out of the country as well as in country are flocking to my nice beach town!  :).  Kinda like Manistee was in the summer months, except the Pacific Ocean kicks Lake Michigan's ass.  For one reason, Lake Michigan was always freezing and the Ocean is always warm........



A couple weeks ago, Kurt and I saw signs up in town for an event called Tope Jaco.  We had no idea what it was, so I googled it and found a Facebook page and other info online.  To break it down, basically it is a horse parade through town.  Local farms and owners bring their horses into town with fancy outfits and gear, and take the horses through downtown.  It is estimated it is 300+ horses.  The event starts at 200 PM.  This is 200 PM Tico time though, which meant it started at 530 PM.  We went down around 215 PM and decided to park by the gym to store our helmets and walk into town to have lunch.  Ended up at Pajara Pinta and had wraps and lemonade.  The restaurant is right on main street so we sat there chilling until the event started.



 I was a little annoyed it started late as that meant it was dusk and difficult to take pictures.  So, we went and stood on the street for the event and it was pretty kewl!  SO MANY horses.  More than I have ever seen at once in my life.  It was a neat event.  Apparently it is modeled after a parade held in Spain each year with thousands of horses.  That would be awesome to see as well.



I had posted previously that our solar was delivered.  It was sitting in boxes at my bodega as well as in my house.  Well, they are finally installing.  They had to get approval from the municipality for the project and finally got it last week. In typical Tico fashion, first they were supposed to start on Sat at 7 AM.  No show.  Then Monday at 700 AM.  No show.  Then Tuesday at 700 AM.  No show.  Finally, at 1030 on Tuesday they showed.  Installed the two solar boxes in the laundry room and did a little work outside.  Yesterday they showed at 730 AM (most timely they have been thus far LOL) and did more work on the area in the yard the structure is being built to house the units.  Today they came for like a short period to do some more electrical work and are now not coming back until Monday to start building the structure.  I thought it was amusing because at the start of the project the one guy said three days. My project manager said, no way its being done in three days.  Three days Tico time is what should have been said, haha.  Cant wait until its done and I eliminate my electric bill as well as some other bills.



Thanksgiving, we sat around watching football most of the day (GO LIONS!) and then RJ picked us up and we watched the night game and had dinner at Los Amigos in Jaco.  I had shrimp pad thai which was MUCH more up my alley than traditional Thanksgiving food, which I dont really like at all.  It was a nice night.  The next day, Black Friday, places in town had Black Friday sales, which I thought was funny since they dont celebrate Thanksgiving here.  I ended up going into my fav place, Tico Pod, and buying a new piece of art for a wall in the house that needed one.  No lines or the craziness like in the US, so that was nice for sure.



Haskell Law Offices is hiring an associate as long time attorney (and my good friend) Angie is leaving.  Sad she is leaving, but it is what it is and they have to move on.  I am helping Kory collect resumes and go through them.  He is super swamped so hopefully this takes one thing off his plate.  Jennifer has been setting up interviews with the ones I have found thus far.  Hopefully, he finds someone fairly quickly.  And Angie is staying on to help train the new person for the month of January at a minimum so that is really nice for Kory!

OK, pic below is a water pipe that had burst in town the other day!  It was crazy high water!



Not much else going on!  Hope everyone had a nice holiday.

No comments: