Today starts Semana Santa, or Easter week. There is no school this week, and most businesses will close from Thursday to Sunday. Garbage won’t be collected. There will be no newspapers Friday and Saturday, and the local TV channels will show religious movies of Charles Heston parting the sea and numerous versions of the Passion. Many towns around the central valley will host processions down the streets. People will wait for hours to get confessed on Wednesday. But here on the Pacific coast, Semana Santa is less “santa” and more like a family version of college spring break. Hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps more than a million, head to the beaches. Hotels fill up, restaurants and supermarkets stay open every day, buses and taxis run as usual. Every day is a party in this last holiday before the rainy season starts. If last year is any indication, 11 people will be fatally shot, 11 more will drown, 5 will die in road accidents, and 9 will die poisoned, electrocuted or from head injuries. A word of advice: Don’t visit Costa Rica during Easter week. Everything is crowded and more expensive, and a tad more dangerous. Today, we head to San José.