Olé, Olé

Apologies that this didn’t go out Sunday night. I was wrecked and had to be up early for another week of Spanish class. Well, there were big celebrations in Costa Rica on Saturday as they qualified for ‘Alemania 2006’. And the source of the really torrential rain was revealed as Hurricane Stan which has caused much devastation further up the coast.

Going through in style
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Well, Costa Rica have made it through the qualifying rounds from Concacaf to the World Cup in Germany. They seemed to be in a far more precarious position than Ireland over the summer, but now they’ve come good, and there has been tremendous celebration.

It had looked very positive for qualification. They only needed one more point to be out of the reach of Guatemala. Even if they lost to the USA, Guatemala would need to have won in Mexico. Unlike any qualifying competition that I can ever remember where Ireland has been involved, they didn’t just scrape through. They ended up going through in style. The US, already qualified, fielded a rookie team, trying out new talent in the safety of a qualifying match that they didn’t need to win. That said, Costa Rica put in a very positive and spirited performance and won 3-0. To cap it all, Guatemala lost in Mexico – 5-2 was the final score.

Immediately afterwards the car horns were blaring. I went up to the bigger bar, Bulevar, and the streets were sealed off to traffic as hundreds took to the streets in their red Costa Rican jerseys singing Olé, Olé (even the songs are the same!). That’s a lot of people for Heredia. Apparently there were really big crowds in San José.

La Nación lead yesterday with a big broadsheet style cover which covered the front and back of its tabloid main section, saying ‘Selebremos’ (a play on words for team and let’s celebrate). Going on to say ‘After a long and tortuous road it’s over. The ‘tricolour’ is one of 24 teams who have already secured a place in Alemania 2006. The nation is smiling. Once again the sporting victory has made us forget the economic crisis in the country as the jubilation spread out from the stadium into the bars and restaurants’.

Here’s hoping that this is how things will be in Ireland on Wednesday, or after the playoffs.

Hurricane Stan
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Hurricane Stan hit Central America on Tuesday, but it was far up the coast with Mexico and Guatemala taking the brunt. This was the cause of the torrential rain we’d had during the week. The latest figures I’ve seen suggest that 1,400 people could have been killed in mudslides in Guatemala. Costa Rica has been spared the worst of it. The rain is still torrential most days. October is the wettest month anyway. It’s really getting people down at this stage, and I heard many of the teachers talking today about how down they’re getting with the relentless downpours.

I have had a lot of internet connection problems over the last week, so I’m not sure if it’s related to the bad weather. To look out at the huge collection of wires clustered around poles in the street, often sparking and sizzling in the rain, it’s a wonder that cable and electricity make their way into the apartment at all.

I’d better head to bed now. It’s always a tiring week when I have the early starts for Spanish.

Pura Vida,

Éamon