My mother is in Costa Rica and visited a large horse show called “El Tope”.
i’ve looked up the history and other info about the show but no where can I find what “tope” means.
Bablefish, in it’s fishy translation, kicked back “The Top”. But an english to spanish translation returned “el tapa”.
Anyone know what this means?
El tope is literally “the top”
In this context though, it refers to the specific horse show in Costa Rica:
http://horseback-riding-tour.com/horse-tope.htm
And “tapa” means “top” in the sense of a jar or bottle top. (It also means a snack purchased in a bar.)
Adding to what matt_mcl said, “tope” also means “maximum”, not only the top lenghtwise. i.e. “El vaso está lleno hasta el tope” means “the glass is full to the maximum”, “Este lugar está hasta el tope” means “this place is filled to capacity”, etc. El Tope, refering to an event, could mean that it is “the best”, or “the max” event of that kind.
As stated correctly by matt_mcl, tapa means “stopper” of a bottle, top of a jar, box-top, and almost anything else that covers something else. Also, yummy snacks in Spanish bars.
“Topes” further more are moguls, but I don’t know if it’s the same word as “tope.” I often see “topes” when there’s only one mogul. I guess they could be related/same word since they’re pupose is to slow down the top/maximum speed.