Semana Santa in Lo de Marcos

June 4, 2022

Lo de Marcos beach during the height of Semana Santa 2022
(Click any picture to enlarge)

Leading up to Semana Santa (Holy Week) we were admittedly apprehensive.  Most of the people we’d shared the RV park with throughout the winter had packed up and hit to road by the end of March, just prior to Samana Santa.  This left us questioning whether we should have done the same.  Our plan was not to leave until April 21st but we started considering whether we should move that up once we began talking to people who had experienced it before.  Some said it was fine, lots of fun although loud and crowded on the beach.  Others spoke about long line ups at stores, garbage everywhere, RV parks getting overcrowded with tenters with loud music and fireworks at all hours of the night. 

Easter is one of the most important religious observations in Mexico and is celebrated over a two week period. The first week leading up to Easter is Semana Santa (Holy week) which runs the week starting Palm Sunday while the second week Semana de Pascua (Easter week) starts on Easter Sunday.  During this period school is out for at least the first week for high school and universities and for the full two weeks for elementary students.  Most businesses close for the first week providing a mandatory rest for their employees (other than the tourism sector for the most part).  Many Mexican families head to the beaches with their extended families to celebrate the holiday and spend time together. In 2022 the two week period was from Sunday April 10 to Sunday April 24. 

Part of our apprehension in staying was knowing that our plans to leave on April 21 might see us stuck without a way to safely get our large RV out of town if the streets were too busy with cars and people.  It’s a tight drive as it is, let alone when the town is flooded with tourists.  I also asked some of the RV regulars in the park as well as the owner Juan Jose what we should expect.  I was super pleased when Juan Jose explained that he doesn’t let the park get overrun with campers.  He shared that he’d done that in the past and it was not worth all the problems that caused with broken/overflowing washrooms, damage to sites and garbage etc.  We went back and forth for a couple days and then made the decision to stay and see for ourselves what it was like.  And, I’m happy to say our apprehension was not warranted.  True to his word, the park did not get overrun.  The park did fill up with a few large Mexican families who spread themselves out over 3-4 sites with a main gathering canopy tent in the middle.  There was some music in the park but nothing unbearable.  I only remember one night when I could hear the music into the early morning hours but that was coming from another area of town and not from our park.  The beach did fill up but there was still plenty of room to walk through the crowds to get to the water or to set up a chair and umbrella. Regulars to the park had told us there were some years where the only way to get a spot on the beach was by roping off an area near the park gate to ‘reserve’ space on the beach.  The local restaurant/bar staff also told us to expect tents and umbrellas packed on the beach with people sleeping there overnight. We didn’t see any of that this year, at least not at our end of the beach.  And, because we’re the ultimate preparers we did our grocery run prior to the start of the week so we didn’t need to worry about going into town and battling the crowds. And of course, Enrique’s regular veggie truck visits helped to keep us stocked up on fresh veg, fruit, eggs and cheese. 

Given the experiences of others in past years, I’m thinking that the reason it wasn’t quite as crowded and noisy this year could have been because we were at the tail end of the Covid 19 impacts.  Who knows, 2023’s celebrations might look a whole lot different.

I managed to take a couple panoramic shots of the beach before and during the height of Semana Santa to capture how it changed.  They are compressed quite a bit to fit the blog but remember, to see any picture larger just click on it and then you can pinch in to zoom even more if you like.  

April 9 - before Semana Santa officially started
Some umbrellas and canopy tents are starting to get set up

 April 13 - this is about as busy as the beach got
Still lots of room

Monday April 17 - right by our beach access gate
This marks the beginning of the second week of celebrations
The beach crowds quickly dissipated early this week.

That wraps up our very first relatively quiet experience of Semana Santa in Mexico in the small beach town of Lo de Marcos.  As planned, we safely navigated our way out of town first thing on the morning of Thursday April 21, 2022 and began our trip north.  Our 180 day tourist visas were set to expire in early May so sadly, it was time to hit the road.  More posts and pics are in my draft folder to share that very eventful journey.  Stay tuned!

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!