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Sunday 13 April 2003
Semana Santa underway!
The bus stops and the highways that lead to the beaches are getting busy as many
traditionally leave San José for Semana Santa.
Typically, the big exodus doesn't take place until Wednesday night, however,
this year, with the government's decision to give all public employees the
entire week, the trip out of San José began Friday.
The bus companies have added more buses to their routes and leaving more
frequency to handle the increased demand for this week. For example, at the Gran
Terminal del , where buses to the Caribbean side usually run every 30-45
minutes, since Friday they have been running every 15 minutes.
Waiting times can be up to 2 hours if you haven't purchased a ticket in advance,
guaranteeing a seat.
Also, the transit police will be out in full force on all highways. The primary
motivation is
Travel wisely
Meanwhile, the flow of vehicles had been slow and constant in the last day on
the Bernardo Soto highway that leads to the Pacific coast.
The transit police will be out in full force, not only to maintain a constant
flow to the traffic, but also to warn and ticket drivers. They estimate that
400.000 vehicles will leave the San José.
All this is reversed beginning next Saturday as everyone makes their way back
home.
If tradition holds, most will wait until the last minute Sunday to head home. A
typical trip from Jacó takes under 2 hours, but come Sunday that can easily be
anywhere from 3 to 4 hours.
What's open and what's not
This week is also very confusing as some business remain open while others
close; some for only the days required by law, while others the entire week.
Some businesses closed Friday to re-open next Monday (21st).
Thursday and Friday are legal holidays. On these two days all banks are closed
and all bars and restaurants are required to lock up their liquor and beer from
Wednesday midnight to Friday midnight.
Typically bars and discos will close at the end of business on Wednesday or when
the police arrive to officially close the establishment and will re-open on
Saturday.
Supermarkets will have their liquor and beer displays covered. Some supermarkets
will closed Thursday or Friday or both. Banks will be closed Thursday and
Friday. Banks that are generally open on Saturday will offer normal business
hours, others will re-open on Monday.
This year all government offices and agencies will be closed for the entire
week. This is an effort on the government's part to save costs. It announced
that there is little demand for services during the week (three days) and it
would save greatly on operational costs by closing.
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