Contents:1. Holy week in Costa Rica
2. Carpets of sawdust in Antigua
3. Vacations in Honduras Being Costa Rica a Catholic country, religious festivities are quite a special occasion to socialize and bring out some of the nation's best long-standing traditions. This is the case for Easter, known in Costa Rica as Semana Santa (Holy Week). Spanish-style street processions take place every day of the week before Easter, to dramatize all stages of Christ's way to the cross, crucifixion, and resurrection. Small villages have their own way of celebrating, and they add to the occasion the blessing of oxcarts, horses and trucks. People are eager to participate in the festivities, especially on Easter Day when celebration comes to a climax. Regional foods are best at this time, when most Costa Ricans commit themselves to meat fasting. Families everywhere are preparing dulce de chiverre (sweet preserves), arroz con leche (sweet rice), tamal mudo, eggnog, quesadillas, rosquillas and polvorones, and special dishes with seafood. Most of the country closes down from Wednesday noon through Sunday, allowing Costa Ricans to enjoy some days off work. Banks, public offices and stores close, and re-open on Easter Monday. Transportation stops completely on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and special schedules are set for the rest of the week. So buses may be very crowded all around. Some businesses close for the entire week. Although it may seem it is a week of mourning throughout the country, Holy Week becomes the perfect timing for long trips to the backcountry. Families from all over Costa Rica ready themselves to enjoy the first long-holiday of the year. Besides being a holiday, Easter brings along the end of the dry season, although the rainy season takes a while to get started. So Costa Ricans and foreigners are eager to get a taste of the last sunny, clear-sky weather of the season, while relaxing and hiking at the beach and mountains during Holy Week. So if you are planning to visit Costa Rica at this time of the year, make sure you plan your trip carefully. You will need to make hotel and car rental reservations in advance, since everybody seems to be on the road as well. Besides procession days, the streets in downtown San Jose will be absolutely quiet on Holy Thursday and Good Friday; but other than that, roads to the countryside will be busy, especially on Easter Sunday. Public transportation runs slow, but you can get your way around. Taxis are always available, but they have different rates because of the season. Take special caution when planning your trip to the beaches and mountains. Such places will definitely be crowded during Easter; you will need to book your hotel in advance, and confirm your reservation with a credit card number. Camping gets crowded as well, so you may want to avoid popular beaches and tourist destinations. But if you want to get the best of Costa Rica's summer, don't let crowds disappoint you. All in all, it is fun to meet new people to share such a beautiful country and seasonal experience with. 
The most exceptional celebration of Easter in all Central America can be found in Antigua Guatemala. Every day of this week there are processions carrying the image of Jesus bearing the cross, they pass trough all the streets of the city. In their trajectory they walk on beautiful carpets made of dyed sawdust and flowers. The most important day is Good Friday. All the night the neighbors in the different streets have been preparing the carpets. With dyed sawdust, petals of flowers and leaves of pine they make very elaborate and beautiful designs, narrating religious events, and sometimes also pagan. To make the most beautiful of carpets has become a competition between the different streets. Moments later the carpet is sacrificed to Jesus Christ when the procession pass destroying it. Very early at dawn the procession leaves with the "andas". First comes the "Roman soldiers" announcing the death of Christ. The first "anda" with Jesus Christ is carried by 80 men, after comes "La Virgen Dolorosa" carried by women and other smaller "andas". It takes the procession almost all the day, surrounded in incense, to pass through all the streets of the city. The entire spectacle is framed by the colonial atmosphere of Antigua Guatemala, one of the oldest and most pretty cities of Central America, definitively worthy of a visit.
Easter in Honduras is a season for the mass tourism. The inhabitants from San Pedro Sula and from the capital leaves their cities empty when they go to the north or to the south. In the north they enjoy the ports of Tela, La Ceiba, Trujillo, Puerto Cortes, Omoa and the enchantment of the Bay Islands: Utila, Roatan and Guanaja. To the south Amapala and Cedeño with its black sand beaches or Coyolito, Punta Ratón with white sand in the Pacific Sea, between 2 to 3 hours from Tegucigalpa. For those that do not wish sun and beach the Lake of Yojoa, Valle de Angeles, Santa Lucia and Ojojona in the center of the country are waiting for them. The Hotels begin to fill at the beginning of the year with paid reservations of minimum one week, although it is until Wednesday the companies give vacation to their employees. La Ceiba attracts tourists who remain in Tela and Trujillo by the nights, because of the nocturnal life in the so-called "Zona Viva", bars and discotheques in the coastal line open until dawn. Other tourists come from the Bay Islands by the day to go to the National Park Pico Bonito with their tropical humid forest with crystalline water cascades, Property of Mariposas and Terrarium or to practice rafting in the Cangrejal River. Everything fills so make the booking soon; Honduras by tradition is hospitable and its gastronomy delicious!
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