The Excitement of Mexico’s Semana Santa
Jaltemba Editor Tara A. Spears
The phenomenon of an entire country being on vacation at the same time is a sensory orgy: the clamor of simultaneous music, laughter and children shrieking; the cooling ocean breeze carrying the scent of fish, bar-b-que and beer all under a gorgeous tropical sky. Literally hundreds of thousands of people will hit the challenging Mexican highways to bask on the beach. The two week holiday period, from March 24 until April 8, 2018 will find every beach community accommodation with 100% occupancy! The area goes into party mode: exuberant children and adults fill the beaches to bursting; crowds dance along the clogged streets to strolling musicians and celebrate with fireworks, traditional foods and lots of beer! No one can outdo the Mexicans for enjoying life with impromptu fiestas and simple pleasures.
While the Rivera Nayarit coast is primary family oriented –as opposed to the swinging single destinations such as Puerto Vallarta and Cancun- all this activity is not for everyone. About the only way to cope with the dramatic change in the community is to relax and people watch: the hordes of out-of-towners will naturally be utilizing the beach, the area stores and restaurants, so expect to wait in lines. Grocery stores have staples fly off the shelves as quickly as items are stocked; tour buses stake out parking places throughout the residential areas; and all other types of stores will be five deep at checkout, making it a good idea to shop early to avoid long lines. Savvy residents know to stock up on their provisions in advance for stress free living.
While many parts of Mexico observe the holiday with passion plays and processions, the more secular west coast area is a feast of popular cuisine. Thirsty revelers guzzle aguas frescas- water flavored with local tropical fruits or coconut, vast quantities of tequila and beer; and the abacoa and cerviche tacos from the roving vendors are in high demand.
Holy week is the traditional start of Mexico’s ice cream season: pushcarts that are loaded with tubs of ice cream or the popular fresh fruit ice bars on a stick, called paletas, roam the beaches and village streets calling out “nieve”. Vendors also sell snow cone-like shaved ices known as raspados. The dulces regionales-candies made from coconut, tamarind and other regional ingredients- are sold by industrious vendors trudging with wheelbarrows through the sand.
Another holiday beach staple is the strolling musicians. The boisterous sound of competing bands keeps everyone in a party mood. It’s delightful to see multi-generational musicians as well as the extended families celebrating together. And if the fun in the sun doesn’t wear you out, there is partying after dark! Look at the main intersection of downtown Guayabitos: closed to vehicles for dancing in the streets. All of the celebrating comes with an excess of trash, as the morning picture of the same intersection shows.
The community undergoes dramatic changes: During this super tourist season, it takes 45 minutes to go from Guayabitos to La Penita. With the explosion of additional smart phones, the internet and local cell service is slow and intermittent. Patience, patience, patience is required.
All of the visitors arrive by vehicle and all of those vehicles have to be parked somewhere, so the normal streets are nearly impassable. Any unguarded bit of land will become the impromptu site of campers; think of the sanitation issues!
The last two holiday seasons have had record numbers of guests, and this year is expected to exceed occupancy. The excitement is palpable as families come from all over the country to enjoy lovely Jaltemba Bay. The Association of Hotels and Motels along with the fire and police departments are ramping up preparation to keep everyone safe. Thanks to this civic involvement the thousands of visitors will go home with only good memories and sunburn.
It’s exciting to see so many people having a great time.
