San Jose is neither a sleepy latino town or one of its most manic cities, but it is indeed the capital of Costa Rica. It is sat roughly in the middle of the country just on the western side of the Cordillera spine of the country.
It has plenty of small green parks and some lovely old colonial buildings dotted around, but it is not a pretty place. Very few old buildings remain in the city, and while it is on a traditional grid layout the road numbering takes a bit of getting used to, and isn’t helped by the lack of signage. There has been an apparent lack of planners and architects in the city for some time.
On Saturday heavy rain was not long in making an appearance and then lasted most of the day. Walking the streets looking for signs (or just attempting to count) was hampered by the tempestuous seas of jousting umbrellas which filled the city centre streets. Safety glasses should be worn.
My sore knee occasionally gave me gip when trying to stride over some cavernous gulleys from the road to the elevated kerbs.
The Museum of Jade apparently houses the best collection of jade in the world. Not for me to say, but some interesting stuff in their including none jade items of gold and pottery.
I visited the National Museum on Sunday, which was also well worth the effort. The most interesting items for me were the mysterious stone spheres of south west Costa Rica. These were made by extra-terrestrials apparently, as I read in an Erich Von Daniken book in the 1980s. It is possible that they were fashioned by some clever Costa Ricans who unfortunately forgot to leave a Post-It note listing their purpose for Mr Daniken to find.
Before the afternoon torrent arrived I walked across town to Sabana Park and took in the new national football stadium.
After deciding that my knee had improved enough for me to go for the volcano rather than the beach next I booked a hotel in La Fortuna, a town that sits in the shadow of Volcan Arenal - the most active volcano in Central America and one of Costa Rica’s star attractions.
Being a night owl I opted for the last of the three buses, which left at 11:30 am on Monday, buying the tickets straight after breakfast to remove the fear of turning up with all my gear to find I had no destination to go to.
I returned to the bus station with my bags by taxi. I got ripped off by the man, which has only happened to me a few times but is always hard to deal with... deep breath and carry on.
The bus was cramped and I was told to get on with both my rucksack and daypack even though it would take up another seat. I was a bit surprised and uncomfortable to find that as we drove on up through the mountains the bus was soon full so that there people stood up for miles. Still, my embarrassment was somewhat assuaged by knowing I would get all my stuff to the next town.
The journey was lovely through the mountains, and all the coffee and palm plantations, up through the high passes into the cloud on the eastern side, but all this was soon misty memory too once we approached San Carlos and I could see the distinctive cone of Arenal in the distance for the first time.
I just like volcanoes, alright!
It has plenty of small green parks and some lovely old colonial buildings dotted around, but it is not a pretty place. Very few old buildings remain in the city, and while it is on a traditional grid layout the road numbering takes a bit of getting used to, and isn’t helped by the lack of signage. There has been an apparent lack of planners and architects in the city for some time.
On Saturday heavy rain was not long in making an appearance and then lasted most of the day. Walking the streets looking for signs (or just attempting to count) was hampered by the tempestuous seas of jousting umbrellas which filled the city centre streets. Safety glasses should be worn.
My sore knee occasionally gave me gip when trying to stride over some cavernous gulleys from the road to the elevated kerbs.
The Museum of Jade apparently houses the best collection of jade in the world. Not for me to say, but some interesting stuff in their including none jade items of gold and pottery.
Before the afternoon torrent arrived I walked across town to Sabana Park and took in the new national football stadium.
After deciding that my knee had improved enough for me to go for the volcano rather than the beach next I booked a hotel in La Fortuna, a town that sits in the shadow of Volcan Arenal - the most active volcano in Central America and one of Costa Rica’s star attractions.
Being a night owl I opted for the last of the three buses, which left at 11:30 am on Monday, buying the tickets straight after breakfast to remove the fear of turning up with all my gear to find I had no destination to go to.
I returned to the bus station with my bags by taxi. I got ripped off by the man, which has only happened to me a few times but is always hard to deal with... deep breath and carry on.
The bus was cramped and I was told to get on with both my rucksack and daypack even though it would take up another seat. I was a bit surprised and uncomfortable to find that as we drove on up through the mountains the bus was soon full so that there people stood up for miles. Still, my embarrassment was somewhat assuaged by knowing I would get all my stuff to the next town.
The journey was lovely through the mountains, and all the coffee and palm plantations, up through the high passes into the cloud on the eastern side, but all this was soon misty memory too once we approached San Carlos and I could see the distinctive cone of Arenal in the distance for the first time.
I just like volcanoes, alright!
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