No way San Jose
This is essentially a post in three parts, featuring a couple of jumps in time. As the both the capital and possessing a central location, this is what led me to actually spend four nights in San Jose, though I only actually spent one full day in the city. And in true Tarantino style, I'm not going to start at the beginning. Instead I'll pick up where I left off last time. I left for Manuel Antonio from San Jose and hopped back the same way. As a waypoint on my route to Panama, I was greeted on my return to the city by a festival taking place across both the large park my hostel sat on the edge of and a number of surrounding streets and plazas. Big parades with costumes, brass bands and dancing kept things lively; arts and crafts and food stalls took up slots around the park's rim; and live bands filled stages. I wasn't expecting this but I did enjoy having a nose about.
The capital isn't usually high up on most traveller's itineraries when they visit Costa Rica, given the wealth of beautiful beaches, incredible wildlife and lush forests on offer elsewhere. Indeed, my journey to Panama took in a wide scope of the country's delights, including rainforest that did rain on us, oodles of palms and a stretch to the border right down the Caribbean coast. What brought me there initially was both my bus ride from Nicaragua and Lauren's flight from home. My initial forays were simply to get the lay of the land, see what there might be to see, and meet my beloved off the plane. I'm sure she was grateful for my legwork as it meant I knew how to get to the hotel, wasn't suffering from jetlag and had located a dirty pizza place just down the road that really hit the spot. I was swayed by the fact the veggie option has sweet, sweet pineapple on it by default, king of all toppings (not acceptable on proper Italian pizzas though, that's sacrilege and they should be kept simple).
A fortnight later, we returned from Montezuma in preparation for Lauren's exit. We were amused by the slightly dubious taste of the ferry from the peninsula blasting out 'My Heart Will Go On' upon leaving the dock, though given our location in the tropics I'd wager the chances of an iceberg were pretty slim. With some proper time, we were able to check out a couple of San Jose's cultural highlights, rich in jade, gold and clay. Both the Museum of Pre-Columbian Gold and, especially, the Museum of Jade were well-curated and well-presented. The exhibits were impressive, there was a good amount of information and they were the right size (i.e. not too overwhelmingly large to take in during an enjoyable hour or two). We also reprised the pizza trick, because it would have been rude not to have done, and took a very enjoyable late night dip in the hot tub at the hotel. As an end to the holiday I have no complaints and showed there are some gems to be found in the big city.
The capital isn't usually high up on most traveller's itineraries when they visit Costa Rica, given the wealth of beautiful beaches, incredible wildlife and lush forests on offer elsewhere. Indeed, my journey to Panama took in a wide scope of the country's delights, including rainforest that did rain on us, oodles of palms and a stretch to the border right down the Caribbean coast. What brought me there initially was both my bus ride from Nicaragua and Lauren's flight from home. My initial forays were simply to get the lay of the land, see what there might be to see, and meet my beloved off the plane. I'm sure she was grateful for my legwork as it meant I knew how to get to the hotel, wasn't suffering from jetlag and had located a dirty pizza place just down the road that really hit the spot. I was swayed by the fact the veggie option has sweet, sweet pineapple on it by default, king of all toppings (not acceptable on proper Italian pizzas though, that's sacrilege and they should be kept simple).
A fortnight later, we returned from Montezuma in preparation for Lauren's exit. We were amused by the slightly dubious taste of the ferry from the peninsula blasting out 'My Heart Will Go On' upon leaving the dock, though given our location in the tropics I'd wager the chances of an iceberg were pretty slim. With some proper time, we were able to check out a couple of San Jose's cultural highlights, rich in jade, gold and clay. Both the Museum of Pre-Columbian Gold and, especially, the Museum of Jade were well-curated and well-presented. The exhibits were impressive, there was a good amount of information and they were the right size (i.e. not too overwhelmingly large to take in during an enjoyable hour or two). We also reprised the pizza trick, because it would have been rude not to have done, and took a very enjoyable late night dip in the hot tub at the hotel. As an end to the holiday I have no complaints and showed there are some gems to be found in the big city.
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