Palmares Fiestas

Palmares Fiestas have begun, one of the biggest and most anticipated events in Costa Rican culture. I was lucky enough to have been invited on a girls day out to the Tope, the horse parade on Thursday the 14, the first day of the fiestas. In total it was about 12 of us, all females.

The very start of Palmares fiestas begins with the big horse and cowboy/cowgirl parade. It's a day of fun, drinking, western wear (wanna-be cowboys and cowgirls dressed to the nines in cowboy boots, hats, skirts, jackets, shirts, etc), more drinking and general having of a good ole time.

more on Palmares Fiestas
http://www.costarica.com/culture/holidays-&-festivals/palmares-fiestas/

When I got invited to Palmares, I had no idea what it was, really. I assumed it was just like Zapote. It's similar, with all the rides, but Palmares is maybe 3 times bigger than Zapote fiestas and much more fun. There were so many people. It took me over 30 minutes just to go to Pali (the supermarket, which on a normal day should have taken me just 5 minutes) buy a bottle of water and stand in line. Then to get out of the parking lot of Pali was a whole 'nother story. They ended up closing Pali early... they just did not have the capacity to accommodate that many people all at once.

I had such a good time, except near the end of the night when all I did was wait around. Waiting for 5 females to retrieve the van, 3 girls who went to enjoy the 'fiestas', and 2 missing sweaters. I was very happy I went though. It was good to get away for the day, take a break from my household and motherly duties for a few hours and just hang. I didn't get a chance to drink, like everyone else, but I still had fun just the same. And as soon as I got home, at around 1 A.M, I went to straight bed (after checking on my kiddos first : ).



Look at the amount of people. I left my house before 8 A.M. We got to Palmares sometime after 10 A.M, just so we could find a spot before the parade began at 1 P.M.



A few of the girls.



The parade is about to start...















The famous dancing horses... how they get these horses to dance is beyond me but it is so cool to watch.



















HSBC (the bank) had a lot of people wearing their sashes... I guess they spent a lot of money on sponsorship (and advertisement) for the parade.



Check out the people on the roof. Insane!























A pirate on a horse.







This horse had hearts on it's butt! And 'shoes' on it's hoofs!



Elton-Tico... that's his name (the Tico Elton John). A somewhat 'famous' funny character at the fiestas.



Some of my ladies were brave enough to get on a horse, or 2.














Yeah so I told this guy to take a pic of me and my ladies; well he took the liberty to snap this pic of his friends with MY camera. The nerve! Oh well, I saved it so I could post it here. LOL.



Pic with the ladies... although 3 were missing.



And without fail, when you mix booze with a crowd, you get a fight. Not to worry, there were a million cops on hand; and it happened right in front of the red cross to boot.



The 'toro': this is one big bull.



The parade ended at 6 pm, then the fiestas REALLY began. Again, look at the crowds.













Still having fun.... but the waiting game was wearing on me, I was ready to head home.

If you get the chance, check out the Palmares Fiestas:

Palmares
Capital: Alajuela
Km from Palmares to San José: 54 km

Try not to miss it!