QCOSTARICA – Thousands, on foot, in their cars, took to the streets leaving aside the fear of contagion of the coronavirus.
The crowds were mainly a consequence of the Aguinaldo (Christmans bonus) payment to the public sector on Friday.
The Municipal Police of San José reported the bulevars (boulevards) of the city center full of people, shops with customers, restaurants with families, some even failing to comply with the health propocols of the use of mask and social distancing.
The Avenida Central was saturated with people, as were many of the other avenidas and called of the Josefino town center.
With all that activity, extra police (typical of December) were out for purse snatching and pickpocket preventionp.
And their first reported case on Saturday.
According to Ángel Martínez, coordinator of the Municipal Police, the most common are the so-called “carterazos” – snatching wallets from women’s purses – where at least three people approach a woman and “accidentally” bump into her head on, to which the others continue the distraction and tak the opportunity to snatch the wallet.
Police recommend women to carry their purse up front, closed and not be distracted. Pickpockets use the same M.O. (modus operandi) to snatch wallets or any other valuable from the pockets of their victims.
The malls, though not as crowded as would be the first week in December, did see an increase of shoppers.
Traffic congestion
Traffic in downtown San Jose was a mess, Avenida Segunda completely collapsed from the volume of vehicles on the road.
The Ruta 27 from Santa Ana to Multiplaza was bumper-to-bumper all day, earlier in the day San Jose bound, later in the other direction.
So was the Lindora (Santa Ana) area, more than the usual for a Saturday afternoon.
The Ruta 27 to and from the Pacific coast had an unusual volume of traffic, as many decided to leave the city and head for the tourist sites and beaches of Puntarenas and Guanacaste.
From the morning hours, Globalvía, the concessionaire of the Ruta 27, reported congestion for kilometers on end in the direction of San José towards Caldera. We can expect the reverse (from Caldera to San Jose) today as people head back to the city.
