The “Semana Santa”, the Holy Week, is the main vacation period in Latin America. Especially over the easter holidays (in Mexico, that is Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday, Sunday), almost everything is closed and Mexico City becomes a ghost town. Well, as much as a City of over 20 million can be a ghost town.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I booked a cheap flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.
Arriving at the Airport SJO, the trip didn’t start well: The “Claro” eSIM I ordered in advanced wasn’t working. Even though my phone told me that 4G was available, I could barely send some WhatsApp messages. Using the airport WiFi, I tried to order an Uber. This again wasn’t working too well, my driver was making his rounds around the airport without actually picking me up and after 10 min canceled the tour. Later I learned that Uber is not allowed at the airport, and in contrast to Mexico City, this actually seems to be enforced by the local transport police. You can leave the airport and walk to the bus station a hundred meter further and grab an Uber there, but with me not having cell reception, this wasn’t really an option.
So being defeated by the law and local phone companies, I caved in and took an official taxi. This cost me about 25.000 colones, or about 40 $US. This is by far the most I’ve ever payed for airport transfer in latin america so far. Note that they sometimes try to overcharge (a fellow traveler reported that they asked him for 35k colones). In this case insist on the 25k since it is a fixed price to get to downtown San Jose. There’s also some really, and I mean really dodgy looking unofficial taxis trying to get your attention at the airport, but I think it should be clear that you should avoid those. It’s not worth the few bucks less.
When I arrived at my Hotel, the sun was already setting. I decided to take a quick walk around the area, but everything was eerily silent. Not a person to be heard, every shop closed. It became very clear very quickly that while Mexico City is a bit quieter during Semana Santa, San Jose is completely deserted. The only open restaurant I was able to find was a McDonalds, but at least I didn’t have to go to bed hungry. Before going to sleep, I bought another eSIM online, this time from “Liberty”. While not great, this worked most of the time while within the city proper.
On the next day, I went up early, since I wanted to visit one of the famous Butterfly Farms in the morning. After a twenty minute Uber drive through the deserted city, it of course turned out to be closed too.
From the closed farm, I went to the historic center of San Jose.
The weather was becoming worse by the hour, it was grey, windy and a bit rainy. In the city, every single shop was again closed and boarded up. The only people moving around were obviously homeless or trying to beg for money – not a beautiful sight! I actually was reminded of the lockdowns back during Covid.
At least I was able to see another easter procession, which reminded me a lot about my trip to Guatemala a few weeks ago. Although a lot less remarkable, it was good to be surrounded by people again.
After the procession was over and I went for a chai latte in the only Starbucks in downtown. Using the Starbucks WiFi, I started to research flights back to Mexico City the next day, and I was really contemplating booking. In the end, of course, it turned out lucky that I didn’t.
At 2pm, I took an Uber to the University of Costa Rica at which the “San Jose Bird and Sloth Watching” walking tour was to start. This tour turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Our guide, a former biology student of the University, was really knowledgeable and passionate about the different species of animals to be found in the area, and new exactly where to find the sloths!
We turned out to be very lucky. Sloths spent most of their time sleeping, on average 15 hours per day, to conserve energy. Even more seldom they leave the treetops to come to the ground – only about every two weeks, and for the sole purpose of pooping. And we were able to witness exactly this majestic event. Seeing the sloth this closely was really a cool sight.
After our pooping sloth, we found another two sloths sleeping, as well as some pretty interesting birds.
I really enjoyed the tour and recommend it to everyone interested in nature (and if you’re not interested in nature, what are you doing in Costa Rica??).
After the tour, it started raining and I went back to the Hotel. Desperation lead me again in the direction of the McDonalds, but this time, even it was closed! But alas, I found a KFC a bit further away. At this point, I was really over eating fast food.
The Guerito 