Semana Santa in San Juan del Sur

Semana Santa, or the Holy Week is basically a week of Easter celebrations in Nicaragua. Every Friday, during the 40 days before Easter (lent) there is a procession depicting the 14 stations of the cross Jesus took on the way to the Calvary. Priests, singing parishioners, and a band playing joyous music travel around the city carrying a statue of Jesus, and stop at 14 pre-determined stations around the town. These stops are altars set up by different parishioners in front of their homes, and the procession stops there to give blessings. Here is a picture from Good Friday, where everyone was wearing purple.

This is the religious part of Semana Santa. Mostly, it's about taking a break and partying. San Juan del Sur has a normal population of ca. 20,000, but during the Holy Week, it increases to 80,000. There are beer tents set up on the beach promenade, music is blaring well though the early morning hours, there's a smell of urine everywhere, and people are mostly drunk all weekend long.

The beach is packed and the police, some in bullet-proof vests and a shotgun patrol the streets and the beach. There are also horse - and boat rides available for the less sinister activities.

All the houses and hotels are rented for this holiday, and people can make double the normal monthly rent just during this week. Same as Midsummer's in Finland, there is an "incident count" for the week of Semana Santa in Nicaragua.

20 people drowned, 21 murdered, 10 traffic accidents. The police confiscated 36 pistols, 51 revolvers, 12 rifles, 17 assault rifles and 2,521 edged weapons. We survived!