Thanks ID. Are we talking the entire week, or just Christmas Day?

- The Teacher

Nicaraguan Exodus Begins This Week, As 60.000 Nicaraguans Head Home For the Holidays
During the year thousands of Nicaraguans make their way into Costa Rica, some illegally, looking for work and a better life. However, come December, the flow of Nicaraguans is in reverse, as thousands head home to spend the holidays with family.

This year some 60.000 Nicaraguans are expected to cross the land border crossing at Peñas Blancas, according to Costa Rican immigration director, Mario Zamora and the Nicaraguan Ambassador to Costa Rica, Harold Rivas.

The number represents almost four times the number of Nicaraguans who head home throughout the year.

The foreigners take time off work to visit families, bearing gifts and cash from savings and the "aguinaldo" (Christmas bonus) to share with their loved ones, beginning the trek back to Costa Rica in the first week in January.

Most travel by bus. Ticabus, Nica Express and Transnica all report few seats left on their buses during the last week of December and first week in January and that is with the added buses and extended operating hours of the bus companies.

To handle the increased load, the immigration office at Peñas Blancas will employ 42 officials instead of the usual 17.

"The idea is not to just increase the migratory controls, but also the physical control as some take advantage of the holiday traffic to cross illegally", said Zamora, who added that the "coyote" gangs are much more active during the season.

The Nicaraguan embassy in Costa Rica reports that some 1.000 Nicaraguans visit the embassy daily to get their travel papers in order to leave Costa Rica, like renewing passports, obtaining visas for their Ch*ldren born in Costa Rica and legal advice.

Ambassador Rivas said that the staff at the embassy has been beefed up to process the requests rapidly.

Many Nicaraguans use the holidays to see their Ch*ldren who have been left behind with family members.
The majority of Nicaraguan women living and working in Costa Rica are employed as domestics, while the men in construction. During the holiday season, the effect of the exodus of Nicaraguans can be felt in many homes and visible in construction sites as work comes to a slow down.