Transit Police will be on the lookout in 164 patrols throughout the metropolitan area during and after the tradtional “Tope” today. A tope is a parade on horseback and the Chrismas Tope is the largest in the country.

Paseo Colon and Second Avenue will be closed to traffic at noon to make way for the parade.

From noon Saturday to noon Monday, the toll booths will not be manned and the roads will be toll free.  The same measure will be in effect for the New Year, from Saturday noon to Sunday noon on January 1st.

The suspension affects 5 routes - Florencio del Castillo (Curridabat-Cartago); General Cañas (San José-Alajuela), Próspero Fernández, (San José-Santa Ana), Bernardo Soto (Naranjo) y Braulio Carrillo (hacia Limón).  The measure is to allow personnel stationed at the toll booths to spend time with their families on the holidays.

As Zapote gears up for the opening night on Sunday, it looks like a photo finish for the permits.  On Friday the Health Ministry inspected the fairgrounds and was unable to issue permits for the fair.  Many structures were still under construction and many posts for the sale of food did not have fresh water. 

They will reinspect the grounds on Saturday.

The Puntarenas played naughty hosts to Saprissa in the opening match of their playoff series, winning handily by a score of 2-0.  It was nearly 3-0, but goalie Jose Francisco Porras saved a score in the final minutes, winning a one-on-one duel with Rayner Robinson on a breakaway.

The superiority of Puntarenas on the field was evident.  Saprissa’s players and coaches did not make excuses, but local analysts wondered how much the fast turnaround after a long trip from Japan hurt them.   Saprissa will try to recover by Monday, while Puntarenas is confident that they can do what they need to advance. 

Puntarenas coach Ronald "El Macho" Mora put it nicely, "There are 90 minutes left, if we could do it today, we can take care of business in Tibas. Perez Zeledon did it, with only 1 goal difference against La Liga, why can’t we?". 

An eventual tourney final not involving either Saprissa or La Liga would be the first since the move to the current 2 phase tournament system.

7 of the 14 presidential candidates are available on line at the the TSE web site:

www.tse.go.cr

There you can read their positions on health care, corruption, security and the economy. (spanish only)

In an early holiday present to drivers, RECOPE yet again lowered the prices at the pumps.  Super dropped by ¢19, a liter went from ¢441 to ¢422; Regular, by ¢18, going from ¢420 to ¢402; and Diesel dropped by ¢21, a liter that cost ¢324 is now ¢303.

A 45 liter tank of regular gas will now cost ¢810 less, only ¢18,090. Kerosene also dropped from ¢363 to ¢303 per liter. This was the third consecutive reduction and the last of 2005.

Prices in $ per Gallon

Super - $ 3.22
Regular $ 3.06
Diesel - $ 2.31

A field hand from San Jerónimo de Esparza, hit 87.5 million Colones in the "Fatso" jackpot.  The 10 pieces he exchanged on Tuesday, made him the biggest winner so far.  Apparently he bought them near the main offices of the JPS in San Jose. The general manager, Luis Polinaris, confirmed that only 68 of the 200 winning tickets had been cashed in as of Tuesday. 

On Wednesday, a resident of El Carmen de Guadalupe, weighed in with half of a sheet of the winning number, 20 tickets.  Worth 175 million Colones. But the biggest winner may yet appear, since from the entire sheet of the 3rd emission, no tickets have been exchanged.  The seller of the tickets initially recalled that it had been sold in pieces, but the JPS suspects that just one person has the whole sheet.

INCOFER is preparing the line to add service to Heredia, hopefully by March.  They calculate at least 700 passengers per day could enter and leave on the train which passes through Heredia, San Pablo and Santo Domingo. The main delay will be in getting landowners who have invaded the tracks with gardens, walls and additions to remove the structures and landscaping. 

Al Dia calculates that a family of four needs at least 30,000 Colones to enjoy the Zapote fair, according to prices given by vendors.  If you take $100 you can:

- 1000 colones for a plate (chop suey, vigorón, or shish kabob)
- 600 colones for a beer or soft drink.
- 400 colones for a candied apple or cotton candy
- 400 colones for rides in the Magic City
- 350 - 500 for rides in Play Land Park
- 1000 for the roller coaster
- 3500 for a ticket to the bull ring

The total would be 7250 x 4 people = 29 000 Colones + parking or transportation. 

The bull ring was inspected and approved Thursday, so everything should be ready for the fun to begin on Friday. 

Wednesday morning the mechanic showed up and fixed Juan Carlos’ car. We loaded my car and moved everything from the cabina to our new house. Just as we got there the truck from the store was there with our new couch set and beds. We got that in and loaded Juan Carlos’ equipment into my car, as I had agreed to take it up the mountain to San Ramon for him. When I got back we had our first supper in our new house. It sure felt good to sleep in a new bed.

We have tried a few times to get the window guy back to put in screens, but to no avail. Thursday I went out and bought screening, a saw, some trim wood, and nails to do the job ourselves. Slowly but surely, while doing other things as well we are getting screens on all the windows. I also went to ICE to get the name on the electrical service changed to mine, and tell them I was ready for the mandatory inspection. Mucho Problemos! I finally gave up and asked him to call Kattia. Even she had trouble with the red tape, but with Russ’ help, she finally got everything sorted out. Mission accomplished.

This morning the inspector came by and I experienced my first real problem with the house. The sub-contractor Juan Carlos used to wire the house did not do it according to code. I had expressed doubts because the meter installation did not look like the diagram ICE had given me. The box the meter was in was wrong, the ground was to close to the support post, and he used green wires instead of red, black and white. Minor details, but I will have to hire someone to do it right. Marvin assures me the big guy at the local materials store can handle it on Monday. I was very angry, but I guess since the house was completed so quickly, and everything else was done so well, I can live with it. Later in the morning the meter reader came by, and of course the meter is okay to read, and the bill will no doubt arrive right on time. Some of my new appliances are three prong plugs, an outdated practice in Canada. So I thought. Then, I got out my laptop, purchased just before I left, and realized it had a three prong plug too. Not so outdated, I guess. Anyway, we got some more work done today, there’s always lot’s to do, and tomorrow I will go to San Jose to pick up my daughter at the airport. She arrives at 9:30 pm., and we will stay in a hotel and drive here early Christmas morning.