San Jose on Saturday

I finally made it into San Jose to explore the capital city. My new friend Julia was kind enough to go with me. I should probably say she took me since I was heavily dependent on her to get around. First, we rode the bus to downtown San Jose. This was exciting for me as I've wanted to learn the bus system since it is SO much cheaper than taxis. Unfortunately, there isn't a published schedule of when and where the buses pick up and drop off.

We visited/toured several places in San Jose. The first place we stopped was El Mercado Central (The Central Market). It is a lot like the French Market in New Orleans, only bigger. Lots of merchandise booths mixed in with snack counters (or "sodas" as they are called here), a pet store, and meat and fish markets.

Our next stop was the National Theater. We were only able to walk through the front rooms without a ticket, but we saw an exhibit by one of Julia's neighbors - El Jardin de Las Rocas Dormidas - Garden of Sleeping Rocks.

On our was to the Museo del Oro - The Gold Museum - we walked across Plaza de La Cultura - Cultural Plaza. People were hanging out, visiting and feeding the pigeons. It reminded me of taking my niece and nephew to feed the ducks in Thibodaux.





At the Gold Museum we saw several exhibits. The first thing we saw was a variety of pigs - piggy banks!



This was followed by an exhibit of Adan y Eva - Adam and Eve - and the circle of life.

There was lots of gold of course, but also exhibits featuring Costa Rican life in pre-Columbian times.

We finished the day with lunch at El Patio and then walked to catch the bus back to Escazu. Unfortunately, I won't be able to find where to catch the bus on my own. So, I can make it into San Jose, but I'll probably be stuck there!