In other parts of Mexico, Semana Santa is a holy and sometimes austere holiday. Not in Mazatlan. Semana Santa here is like a giant Spring Break with toddlers. And unlike Carnaval, the festivities are not limited to Olas Altas. The party surges through the whole city.
Most stores and businesses that are not absolutely necessary for daily living or don't cater to the tourist trade close down. Even those businesses that supply local staples have extremely abbreviated hours. If you want your tortillas, you had better go to the tortilliaria early. The one by our house shut down every day at 10:00 AM.
The newspapers reported that more than 45,000 people came to Mazatlan for Semana Santa. Many hotels were reporting 100% occupancy. The temporarily swelled population was great for the local economy. Several of our favorite vendors enjoyed a 50% increase in sales – and still went home early to enjoy some time off for themselves.
Some parts of Semana Santa were annoying. Drunken soccer games in front of our house at 4:00 AM, for instance. Numerous charter buses cruised up and down Avenida del Mar, stopping to disgorge their passengers wherever they felt like it, blocking the only lane of traffic for 30 minutes at a time. I had to leave ridiculously early to make it to any appointments. Our suppliers were closed. By Wednesday we both gave up on work and joined the party.
Mazatlan is a tourist town, and we are used to having vacationing folks around all the time. But Semana Santa is different. The celebrants on the street are not strictly tourists. The local people have all taken time off are on the beaches and cruising the malecon. It really changes the feel of things. Walking in public, you are enveloped by a gaiety that is unmatched at any other time of year. Carnaval doesn't even come close.
We enjoyed spending time on the malecon people watching. Young people and families cruised up and down Avenida del Mar, enjoying seeing and being seen. Pretty girls hung out of car windows and danced to music with so much bass it was felt rather than heard. Children stood in sun roofs waving to the crowds like they had just won a pageant. Young men crammed into truck beds sporting new sunglasses and trying to look cool.
Of course, the reason so many people come to Mazatlan for Semana Santa is the beach, which means the beaches were extraordinarily crowded. Monday and Tuesday weren't too bad, but starting on Wednesday the beach became successively more packed until I really began to think that there couldn't be possibly room for one more single person on the sand. On Easter Sunday when I looked down the beach, I couldn't see any sand, only a constant covering of cheerfully bright umbrellas.
Most everyone who came to town was well behaved, and the police patrolled regularly and visibly to make sure it stayed that way. I felt sorry for them in the black and navy blue uniforms, walking the sand in highly impractical shoes.
Monday didn't bring any change in the tourist population, but Tuesday and Wednesday brought a lightening of traffic and the chance to get a few things done. But by Wednesday afternoon, bikers began to arrive for International Motorcycle Week. So for the past few days we have been enjoying a whole new set of sights and sounds along the malecon. The motorcycle parade is in a few hours and we are going to head down to watch. I should have some pictures for you tomorrow.
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Thanks for the post on Semana Santa. We had houseguests, and it was interesting to not be able to take them to many of our favorite places because of the increased traffic and people. But it was fun, anyway.
I am looking forward to your pictures of the Moto Parade. We are back in town Thursday, feels funny to have missed something like Moto Week. (and your birthday!)
Hasta pronto,