San Jose
COSTA RICA
One Day in San Jose
By LYNDI
Thursday, August 7, 2008
This entry may go down as the shortest blog I’ve ever written, but that’s okay considering we were only in San Jose for probably one and a half days collectively. Also meaning it may not be very interesting. Here goes…
The first time we had just arrived from Nicaragua around 6pm, so we just walked to Hotel Gallo Pinto (about a block and a half from the Tica Bus station), went to the grocery store and made dinner, and called it a night. Our second encounter was a bit more exciting – but only a bit. We had taken an early morning bus from Santa Elena (see previous blog) and heard good things about Hostel Pangea near downtown San Jose, so we grabbed a taxi there. But as soon as we walked in the front doors, we knew it wasn’t for us. First of all – it was $12 per dorm bed, and second of all, the beanbag bar they had promised in brochures was nowhere to be seen. That’s it. No beanbag bar, no Lyndi and Aaron. (That was a one-time mantra, by the way). Actually, the attitude of the staff was less than impressive, so we kept searching. Luckily there was a little hotel nearby called Hotel Otoya that was inexpensive and offered huge rooms that we were able to take advantage of.
Every time Aaron and I end up in a big city, we spend most of our time running errands and not doing the fun touristy stuff. And San Jose was no exception. Instead of visiting the local museums and city parks, we went to the post office, got Aaron a new watch and sunglasses (his previous 3 pairs have all met an untimely end – I give his new sunglasses 3 weeks), found a photo shop, and about 10 other miscellaneous things that only a metropolis can offer.
Since we didn’t have a kitchen in our little hotel, we ate at a nice restaurant called Manolo’s and ate cheeseburgers on the balcony while being serenaded by a man with a guitar and sombrero. It was one of those situations where the guitarist lingers by your table, you nod appreciatively – knowing you will have to tip him generously – and then when you give him his nice tip, he demands more. Is it still a tip if it’s a required amount? Cuz I call that a bill.
But whatever. As Aaron mentioned in his previous blog, we only had a little bit of time there because we had to catch our overnight bus to Panama City so we could be in town on time to meet his parents. As far as Central American capital cities go, it was a pretty nice place. Clean, orderly, the little white man that gives pedestrians the OK to cross the road played a nice little song instead of beeping, and we felt pretty safe the whole time. Can’t ask for much more.
The end.
