San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital city is usually full of life – in the busy downtown area, you’ll see people from all walks of life, street vendors at every corner selling a hodgepodge of goods and the automobile traffic can sometimes be very hectic. The scene was quite different however upon my return to San Jose from the Pacific Coast on the Wednesday before Easter Sunday. Automobile traffic was relatively light from the International Airport to San Jose and the streets, which were normally full of people and cars, were relatively deserted. San Jose was somewhat like a Ghost Town.

While being transferred from the airport to my hotel in San Jose, I had a long conversation with my driver Johnny about the celebration of Easter holidays in Costa Rica. Johnny said that in those countries where the Catholic Church is very strong – includes Costa Rica as well as most Latin American countries - the Easter Holidays officially starts on Ash Wednesday, which is the first Wednesday before Easter Sunday. Many local businesses, shops, bars and restaurants close down either on Ash Wednesday (or Thursday) and do not reopen until the day after Easter. Continuing, he told me that many working class people in San Jose take advantage of their time off from work for the Semana de Santa (Easter Week) by heading to the beach, not to return until Sunday evening.

Apparently most of the vacationing Ticos left early Wednesday morning and the highways to the beaches were very congested with automobile traffic. When I asked which beach towns were the most popular among Ticos for Semana de Santa, Johnny said – “On the Pacific Coast it is Jaco beach and Playa Hermosa and on the Caribbean side, it’s Cahuita and Puerto Viejo.”

Taking a stroll through the downtown area, about the only place that had any life or activity was the Plaza de La Cultura (Culture Plaza), where I observed many adults with young children feeding the many pigeons, a trio of clowns selling toy balloons and a pair of performing mimes who attracted quite a crowd. Thursday was even deader yet in San Jose, as there were even fewer automobiles and people on the streets. My two preferred restaurants for dinner were also closed. Oh well… To coin a phrase from the infamous Mad Sad Alice, it was like a Dead-end Sunday in San Jose.