Spending a day in San Jose

Hello all!

After a well deserved sleep following a day of flights, I spent the day in San Jose, Costa Rica.  Two great realizations occurred to me today: I don't know a lick of Spanish and I definitely underestimated the cloudy weather.  The words "overcast" have no relation to the humidity in Central America.  After spending only 10 minutes walking to breakfast a few blocks away from my Airbnb, I was profusely sweating.  I'm not sure if this was because of my nervousness from having to communicate with a hostess and waitress without understanding Spanish or if it was due to the 50% humidity at 9 am.  Either way, I could have filled a bathtub with the amount of sweat pouring out of me.  

Regardless, I had an amazing first meal of carne, pollo, frijoles, over tortillas with queso (pictured below) from La Tortilleria.  The fun looking contraption behind my meal is known as Cafe Chorreado.  A chorreador is a coffee making device used in Costa Rica where you pour boiling hot water over ground coffee beans in a cloth filter, a true brew-it-yourself cafe.  Let me also say that this was the best coffee I have EVER tasted.  Huge thank you to Luis, my Airbnb host for recommending this breakfast spot.

My next stop for today's adventures was the local museum of natural history, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.  The entrance to this museum led you to an enormous butterfly arboretum where I met a group of women visiting San Jose from their study abroad university in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  It was a relief not only to have an English conversation, but also to hear about their experiences and learn how they ended up in San Jose.  Talking with these students and learning in the museum about the migration of different cultures to Costa Rica resonated with the traveller inside of me.  Every city is made up of different nationalities and different cultures to make up the world we know today.  No matter how alone we feel in a foreign place, there are those who come from a world just like yours.  

Photo of me in the Butterfly Arboretum, taken by one of the university students:

Early world map drawn by an English cartographer visiting Costa Rica: 

The map below was drawn prior to the cartographer's knowledge about the Pacific Ocean and so depicts Northern and Southern America without the existence of a western coast.

Intricate carvings from jade, quartz, chaleedony, opal, agate, ompacite, and serpentine stones found between 500 BC and 700 AD:

There are only eight to ten sources of jadite known in the entire world and the Rio Motagua Zone of Guatemala was the source for jade (HA-day) found in most of Costa Rica.

National Liberation Party Rally at the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica:

It was just my luck that this rally photo is of the National Liberation Party founded on October 12, 1951, exactly 67 years and one day ago.  The black and white photo below shows a collection of socialists in the courtyard of the museum that I toured today so naturally I took a photo of the exact same courtyard 67 years later, pictured below it.

After visiting this Natural History Museum I hoped to visit the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, a pride of the Museums of the Central Bank of Costa Rica, but unfortunately this attraction was closed for renovation. Instead I opted for a walk down Avienda Central, a lively pedestrian-only street lined with vendors and small shops.  It is difficult to feel alone in a place so crowded with people, children, conversation, and food.

Avienda Central:

Although it was only one day, I am grateful I got the chance to spend time in the colorful city of San Jose and I would be so lucky to visit again.  Next stop, Bocas del Toro, Panama...

Pura Vida!