Right now we are right smack dab in the middle of Holy Week in Costa Rica, or Semana Santa in Spanish.

Catholicism is strongly rooted in Costa Rican culture, as well as its traditions. And with good reason. More than 70% of Costa Ricans say they are Catholic. Add that to Evangelical Protestants and 84% of the country identifies as Christian. So it makes sense that many cultural pastimes are rooted in Christian tradition.

So what does that mean for you if you want to visit during this time? Well, I’ll tell you what my experience has been.

What is Semana Santa or Holy Week?

This is the week leading up to Easter. As a Christian, and coming from an Evangelical Christian family, I’ve always celebrated Good Friday and Easter.

The Catholics in Costa Rica love to celebrate the whole week, hence the name Holy Week. You’ll see church members and clergy performing processions and reenactments around town throughout the week.

I’ve heard that the ones in San Jose are pretty elaborate and are really a sight to see. One of these years, I may have to go check it out. For their part, the ones in Quepos are simple, yet impactful. 

My Experience

Before I get into any of this too much I want to make one thing clear. My experience of Holy Week in Costa Rica, just like my experience of Christmas in Costa Rica, is limited to Quepos.

Since I live in a tourist town, what I’ve seen may not reflect the experience in the entire country. If you’ve experience Holy Week in Costa Rica I’d love to hear about your experiences. Leave me a comment below!

That being said, the purpose of my blog is to tell you the truth about Costa Rica. Most tourism sites will only tell you the positive things because they want you to come visit.

To be clear, I want you to come visit too! Costa Rica is a warm, inviting country and its people are kind and hospitable as a whole. I’ve met some of the nicest people I know here. You will have the time of your life on vacation here.

But I’m also going to speak the truth. After living here for awhile, I began to realize there is a difference “tourist persona” of Costa Rica that largely lives online and in sheltered resorts and the “real” Costa Rica.

In some cases, they are the same. In some, they are different. One thing is for sure, the only way to truly learn about a culture is to speak their language and venture outside of the tourist areas.

Okay, that being said let’s get to the good stuff!

The Good

There’s a whole of good things to say about Semana Santa. Holy Week in Costa Rica is a time for people to relax and spend time with family.

Family

Family is a huge and important part of Costa Rican culture. So, whether religious or not, pretty much everyone takes advantage of the time off to spend time with their family.

Some businesses and companies shut down for the entire week. Nearly everything closes from Thursday to Sunday so tons of people are on vacation. That makes it the perfect time for families to enjoy a trip together because everyone has time off.

People tend to pack their bags, grab their loved ones, and head to the beach! This is the one major time of the year that people from the city get to enjoy Costa Rica’s tropical shores.

As the week leading up to Easter, Semana Santa happens in either March or April. This means it occurs during the height of Costa Rica’s dry season or ‘summer’. (I say it like that because ‘winter’ is only slightly cooler in Quepos.)

Anyway, that makes it the perfect time for family trips to the beach. Granted, it’s gonna be very hot, but it’s almost guaranteed not to rain.

San Jose is an extremely congested city. In some areas, you can only drive your car on certain days of the week. It goes by the last number of your license plate.

During Semana Santa, my husband says San Jose is almost like a ghost town. Holy Week in Costa Rica is so synonymous with the beach and vacation that almost nobody is around.

Disclaimer: The photos in this post were actually taken during a Corpus Christi celebration. I don’t have photos yet of this year’s Holy Week festivities.

Celebration

The religious processions and reenactments are also a pretty awesome highlight. I don’t personally agree with everything the Catholic Church does, but I can definitely get behind celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection!

It’s pretty cool that people have the freedom to celebrate publicly in the streets. Even if people don’t agree, it’s ok. They don’t have to participate and they don’t get upset about it.

That is a huge difference I’ve noticed here in Costa Rica. In the States, it’s so restricted that businesses often instruct their employees not to say things like ‘Merry Christmas’ but here a gas station attendant will say ‘God bless you’ and nobody thinks twice about it.

Anyway, though religious in nature, these proceedings are also important cultural events for most Costa Ricans. They bring people together and strengthen community ties.

Here in Quepos, they do a reenactment of Christ’s death on the seawall, one of the most prominent hangout spots in Quepos. There’s always a crowd of people in attendance to watch the drama.

The Bad

Remember how I said that San Jose, a super congested city, becomes like a ghost town? All those people don’t just disappear, they have to go somewhere. And they go to the beach.

That means that during Holy Week in Costa Rica Quepos and other beach towns become overrun. Hostels, cabinas, and hotels fill up and the streets are clogged with cars and people everywhere.

Granted, Quepos isn’t that big, but it isn’t that small either. There’s a ton of people that flood into town and it fills up.

You can’t ever find a parking space and a lot of times if you’re driving you’re crawling along in a line of cars. Quepos also has a lot of poorly marked one-way streets that out-of-towners often don’t notice so you have to keep a sharp eye out.

It’s kind of a good thing for the town’s economy. In a town like Quepos, many people depend on tourism to make their livelihood. But there’s a difference between Costa Rican visitors and tourists from other countries.

Most people who work in tourism here in Quepos view Semana Santa as a lot of work, for not much money. Why? Because Costa Rica doesn’t have as strong a tipping culture as the United States, where most of the foreign tourists come from.

Restaurant workers, tour operators, and hotel staff are used to the generous tips that people from the United States tend to leave. Ticos (Costa Ricans) are typically not as free with their money.

While many in tourism are annoyed by this, I for one, don’t blame them. Everybody has a right to spend what they want to on their vacations. With the average salary being what it is in Costa Rica, few people have a large disposable income. I don’t begrudge them wanting to make their vacation practical and economical.

But it goes beyond just the tipping culture, which brings me to…

The Ugly

Disclaimer: I mention these things not to complain about people, but in an attempt to educate people to be respectful and vacation responsibly. This is the reality of Semana Santa for many locals in Quepos.

Quepos locals refer to people that come from San Jose to vacation in Quepos as ‘comehuevos’, literally ‘egg eaters’. This is a mildly derogatory term that is basically like calling someone a ‘cheapskate’.

The name comes from the fact that they tend to bring their own food with them to save money. (I don’t blame them too much since food in Quepos is more expensive than the same food in San Jose.)

Anyway, hard-boiled eggs are an easy thing to cook and bring and therefore are a popular choice. In a hot place like Quepos, you can often pick out a ‘comehuevos’ because their car smells like eggs that have been left out in the sun too long.

Locals don’t like it because there is such a huge influx of people, which brings a lot of work. But, because most of them are ‘cheapskates’ it doesn’t help the economy as much as you would think. So, lots of people come but, comparatively, they don’t leave much money behind.

Trash

What they do leave behind is lots of garbage. Every year after Semana Santa, the locals in Quepos (and I’m sure other beach towns) organize beach cleanups.

The purpose is to clean up all the trash left behind by careless vacationers. Sadly, though, much of this trash ends up in the ocean before it can be cleaned up.

If you’re planning to spend Holy Week in Costa Rica, please be responsible and pick up after yourself. Our fish and wildlife (and the locals) will greatly appreciate it.

Alcohol

Back in the day, it was a country-wide policy not to sell alcohol from midnight on Ash Wednesday to midnight on Good Friday. I suppose the idea was to concentrate on more serious things like Christ’s death and Resurrection, rather than partying.

As you can imagine it received more and more pushback every year until in 2012 the federal government relaxed the law. Now each canton (county) can decide whether they will allow the sale of alcohol. Most do, especially in tourist areas. Who seriously wants to lose out on all that revenue during one of the busiest weeks of the tourist season?

I don’t personally think that there is anything wrong with alcohol. But I add it to the ugly because many people take it to the extreme and other innocent people often pay for their actions. Costa Ricans and tourists alike drink A TON of alcohol during the festivities.

You have to be very careful when driving during Holy Week in Costa Rica. Of course, there can always be drunk drivers, but there are many more of them during this time. So be careful driving and please drink responsibly.

Holy Week in Costa Rica

Regardless of what you believe, it’s awesome to witness how different people keep their traditions. Spending Holy Week in Costa Rica can be a fun way to do something different for Easter. Plus, Costa Ricans are just as friendly and warm during Holy Week as they are the rest of the time.

If you ever plan to come visit the Quepos/Manuel Antonio area, be sure to let me know. I can hook you up with the best tours so you can make full use of your time in this beautiful country.