Easter Madness

Easter Week is known here as Semana Santa, the biggest event in the Nicaraguan calendar. Many businesses as well as all government offices and schools close for the week, as people typically take their families for a beach holiday. Unfortunately, San Juan del Sur is the prime destination for Semana Santa celebrations and upwards of two hundred thousand people descend on this little town, the crush of people peaking on the Saturday after Good Friday. Two huge, multi-level discos have been assembled out of scaffolding on the beach and much of the town has been turned into a parking lot, with fast food stands lining the sidewalks and hundreds of hawkers prowling the streets. Pounding electronic music can be heard for kilometres around, generated by several different sources, from early in the morning until a couple of hours before dawn.

A solemn religious procession makes its way through town each day carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary and there are extra masses, but for most people the holiday seems to have more to do with drinking, barbecue and lazing on the beach. Nicaragua is a nation with a very low average age and teenagers abound, the perfect fodder for the twenty-four hour party energetically promoted by beer, liquor and tobacco companies. Everyone seems to want to get in on the marketing opportunity and I noticed a truck equipped with massive speakers blaring merengue music, carrying bikini clad dancing girls and guys dressed in fish costumes, promoting a popular brand of sardines. Many of the businesses that cater to the expat community and foreign tourists simply shut down for the week rather than deal with the chaos.

Other than an occasional stroll down the beach to satisfy my curiosity, I have been holding up in my little apartment with a good book. Tomorrow the throng leaves town and I will have my first night's sleep in several days. I can hardly wait.