San Jose - Day 1

Man are we tired! We took a late flight to Denver which connected to an overnight flight to San Jose. I don't know if you know this - but there is a hurricane going on, so we flew around it - but it was bumpy! So the sleeping on the plane was minimal. We arrived in San Jose and got through immigration and customs to find that there was not a taxi from our hotel waiting for us. We were warned that the taxis will sometimes "not know" where your hotel is and take you to a different one, or charge more than they should. So our hotel commissions taxis, but it turns out they didn't get our email in time. These 2 guys asked us where we were going and quoted $25 for both of us. It was only a few dollars more than the hotel said it would be, and they were right there, so we took it. Thankfully, the funny drunk guy wasn't driving (no, it was the "Crazy Nicaraguan") :)

We found our hotel and woke up Fredrico (it was 630am), he got us checked in and we dropped off our bags and went hunting for food (HUNGRY!) Unfortunately, not much is open that early. Fortunately, there were some very attractive men walking around. We did find a little bakery and got some meat pies and took them to the park. The park has a little island with tables in the middle of a pond with fountains, so we had breakfast there. It was adorable and our tummys were a bit more satisfied, so we walked across a cute stone footbridge and found a spot of grass in the sun to take a short nap. It was lovely... until it was itchy. We headed back to the hostel to hang out until our room was ready. The next few hours are blurry for me, I fell asleep on the couch while watching the Biography channel (something about extra-terrestrials) and then I fell asleep on the bed in our room? Anyway, at about 2pm we were ready to explore the city! At 5 we were back in the hostel for the evening. True confession? We're kinda bored by San Jose.

We are staying in a part of the city that is close to everything that you would want to see. It is a short walk to the Central Market and museums and the National Theater. And we saw them all. We are a bit disappointed that there is not a concert at the theater. We settled for seeing the outside of it and the lobby. It is neo-classical and beautiful! Built by an Italian, the first production was Goethe's Faust in 1897. Currently, the National Symphonic Orchestra performs there.

Here is a pic -


Here are some statues on the inside --




And one from the outside -- Did you know that this year is the bicentennial celebration of Fryderyk Chopin's birth? Celebrate! And listen to Chopin!


We also saw pre-Columbian gold and some abstract art, and learned the history of currency in Costa Rica.





We weren't all that impressed by the Central Market (except for this pose of the street dancers - who were dancing with no music?).


That is, until we went off the beaten path to get our bus tickets for tomorrow's adventure. We ended up in a pretty sketchy part of the city... but we are safe and AWESOME! I ignored the guy who called me sweetheart and asked if we needed him to show us around. And the doorman who had to unlock and open the front door to the Best Western was really nice about telling us where we needed to go, only to find out that we have to go back at 7 tomorrow morning. And you can be sure that we are taking a taxi.

It is hot. I am sweaty. We are exhausted! And REALLY looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing the countryside. We are headed up to Arenal tomorrow and will spend a couple of days near the famous volcano. Oh, we did find time for a graffiti photo shoot!