¡Viva Palmares!

Yesterday, Jorge, my friend Amy and I went to a famous Costa Rican celebration known as Palmares. On my way there, I wasn´t sure what to expect, especially when I see a bunch of "microbuses" (think VW buses) porting along loads of rowdy college-aged kids.

Palmares is famous for a parade called "tope" which features some 5,000 horses. Unfortunately, we missed tope (it happened on Thursday) but we got to experience the rest of Palmares, which turned out to be an interesting hybrid between the California State Fair and Mardi Gras.

There was plenty of revelry, especially since the event was sponsored by Imperial, the ubiquitous Costa Rican beer. Amy, Jorge and I steered clear of that and instead cradled glasses of iced tea and bottles of water. It was a bit on the crazy side for me, but there was a nice concert and some pretty sweet pyrotechnics, so I was satisfied!

On the way home, the Costa Rican police had set up an alcohol testing checkpoint along the highway. Every car was thoroughly checked -- glove compartment, trunk, front and back seats -- and the drivers were interrogated by an officer toting a frightening AK-47. Although the driving here is pretty crazy, they are tough on drunk driving. The legal blood alcohol limit here is 0.49 (in California, it´s 0.8) and the cost of a DUI is hefty -- your license is suspended for 2 years and you pay a big fine.

But my favorite part of the DUI rules was something I saw in the newspaper yesterday. If you´re caught drunk driving, they confiscate your car and write in huge, white letters on the windshield, "BORRACHA" (drunk).

At last count, according to the paper, about 60 cars this weekend lay impounded along the highway with BORRACHA windshields... Ouch.