An Eerie Semana Santa This Year in Jaco

Holy week, which translates to Semana Santa in spanish, is one of the most popular times of year for local Costa Ricans to take vacations and visit their local beaches. For coastal areas, and specifically for Jaco and the Central Pacific, Semana Santa is one of the busiest times of the year. Jaco residents are accustom to seeing the town and beach full of people, with restaurants, roads and stores all packed during the week. This year however, the coronavirus pandemic has left path of disruption all over the world, and it is no different in Jaco. Costa Rica was specifically concerned with Semana Santa this year, as they wanted to ensure residents were not fleeing to the beaches and maintaining their shelter in place order. Costa Rica was already proactive in closing all the beaches and then adding additional driving restrictions and business closures to help discourage any beach craving travelers. This along with the collaboration of the Jaco community seemed to succeed in keeping visitors away, but did make for quite an eerie and serene feel this week. All of Jaco was essentially a ghost town, with nearly every local establashment with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies all closed up. Virtually no cars in the streets and not a soul on the beaches which have been closed for over 2 weeks now. While the calmness and empty beach may seem nice, it is certain that Jaco businesses will hope to never see a Semana Santa like this again.