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Teatro Nactional
The National Theater, where various performances are put on. Some great architecture insideAbout 3 seconds after reading the title, my friend that is following along from the offices of the City of Fridley should be getting quite a chuckle. She emailed me this morning saying she was remembering the Dionne Warwick song of that name...
I've now been in San Jose for a few days, and thought I'd share some thoughts. Again, Costa Rica really was going to be more a pass-through country but ran ahead on my schedule, not needing as much time as I may have thought in Panama. Overall, San Jose is an okay city even if not the most incredibly exciting. I'm in a hostel that, to be honest, is a little off the downtown area. When you walk down the streets immediately surrounding the hostel, it could seem a little foreboding. In what I have learned is typically Latin American fashion, most of the buildings in this immediate area have bars on the windows and doors. Additionally, in Costa Rica it is apparently the custom to also put barb-wire fence on the tops of buildings in the supposed attempt to discourage would-be climbers into buildings. Now, I have learned that, while back home, any area that had
Cows! Vacas!
In San Jose this year there is the "Cow Parade" where you see statues all over town of cows that were painted and decorated. This is my favorite one of all I've seen. It's called "Bailongo con Vacas", which I believe is bars would likely be considered quite unsafe in Latin America it is simply more a custom that is just commonly done as opposed to being a sign necessarily of unsafe neighborhoods. I will add, though, about my neighborhood of the hostel, there seems to be relatively few open storefronts for even locals (much less tourists) so it can give it just a little more foreboding appearance. That said, there are "everyday" people walking around and I've never felt particularly unsafe. It's also only about an 8 block walk to Avenida Central, where you'll quickly find all the touristy stuff you could want. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise as it's quieter at night here than I suspect downtown itself would be. The hostel itself is fine, though relatively on the expensive side. However, that's because of the city I'm in more than the hostel. Basically, though, the hostel is built into what looks like may have been more a garage type set-up with the rooms along the perimeter. In the main communal center, it is largely open up above with a roof that is open on the edges to the outside. While it is somewhat screened, a few birds meander
Metropolitan Church
The main Catholic cathedral in San Jose, actually a rather modest cathedral for a large city in a heavily Roman Catholic country. That said, it was quite nice inside. in and out. It provides for quite a different feel. The room is fairly nice, though, for a hostel. The bed is comfortable and I have my own bathroom. It's also a fairly good size for a room. That said, $28/night is on the high side (especially if you remember I was paying $6.80/night in Boquete).
San Jose is really a pretty middle-class city. You can see it in the dress of the people and the relative lack of people begging (at least in the areas I've visited so far). There is definitely an American influence here...McDonald's and all the other chains are prevalent in the area. There's also a number of the American hotel chains for those ready to pay. There's even some "Goth" kids hanging out in the main square to rebel against, well, everything other than maybe each other. With all the middle-class feel and American influence also comes American style prices. Yet, it isn't quite little America. Obviously, everything remains in primarily in Spanish and the dollar - while probably accepted in restaurants and hotels, isn't the official currency. If you try using it, you'll probably get an unfavorable exchange rate. Here it is the
Gold...
Here is a figurine created with the process explained in the blog. This figurine is zoomed in for detail, but is only an inch or so high, maybe 2-3 long. A lot of detail... Colone...which exchanges at about 500 Colones to the Dollar. I think it's technically around 496 (depending on the day), but close enough. That said, the math is actually fairly easy: move the decimal point to the left 3 places and double the amount. There's the amount in dollars. For example: if something costs 6000 Colones, moving the decimal three places to the left would make it 6.000. You then double the price and get $12.00 USD. It's not absolutely exact but within 5-10 cents. This math will actually be easier than in a week when I'm in Nicaragua and will have to learn to divide by 19 to convert Cordobas into Dollars!
There's also the idea of street directions that is the similar, yet different. In one sense, San Jose is very organized in that the downtown area is laid out in a very definite grid similar to American cities back home. There are streets, or calles, running north-south and avenues, or avenidas, running east-west. Better yet, to make it easier to know if you're on one side or the other of Avenida Central and/or Calle Central San Jose does this: instead of saying 1st Avenida West (or more
I don't get it...
The two little boys, or "muchachos" looking at the sign for the statue of the cow on the pole. One day,muchacho... you'll understand... likely Avenida 1 Oeste) the blocks jump by either even numbers or odd numbers. On one side as you walk each block you'll see the number increase/decrease by two - the first block after Central would be Avenida 1, then Avenida 3, Avenida 5, etc. The other side would go from Central, Avenida 2, 4, 6, etc. even though you've only walked one block at a time. This way you know without thinking about compass direction where you are from the main cross streets of Avenida Central and Calle Central. This all said to compliment their grid and planning, it all somewhat falls apart in the respect that street signs are at best an afterthought - like I've seen in most Latin American stops I've made. You may be walking a grid but you only know what street you're on about 25% of the time (if that). I suppose once you learn what is on each street it's not so hard, but one wonders when you have the foresight to make this great grid why you wouldn't make sure you had better signage, especially for a city/country as dependent on tourists as Costa Rica? What's worse yet are trying to
Avenida Central and Plaza de la Cultura
On Avenida Central, it is pedestrians only. This looks to the plaza on the avenue for people watching and lots of pigeons... decipher addresses after thinking you have a grid to follow...many times the "address" is telling you where you are only in relation to another building. It would be kind of like saying you're house is two miles north and 1 mile west of Rosedale Mall, or west of the Target store...imagine trying to do that for an address! Anyway, if anyone has a good answer on why you can have a grid but not more definite addresses, let me know.
I've been to a few of the museums in the downtown area, notably the Gold Museum and Jade Museum. Both have artifacts from the history of Costa Rica, though I was more interested in the Gold Museum. Not only are the displays more interesting, but the building also houses the museum talking about the history of Costa Rican money and a little contemporary art. Perhaps the most fascinating part for me is seeing how the Costa Ricans and indigenous tribes from hundreds of years ago made these small and intricate gold figurines from clay and wax molds. They would create the design by a wax mold, put clay around it and then heat the clay to around 1000 degrees
Teatro Nacional
Here is the outside of the theater... (a feat in and of itself). This would harden the clay into a better mold and melt the wax out of the mold. They would then heat the gold they found into liquid form and pour it into the mold to create the figurine they wanted for decoration. The tribes also understood when pounding gold into flat plates that over time the metal would start fracturing if pounded too much or too thin, so they had to occasionally heat the gold plate so it remain supple enough to not break into chips. Every time we want to think of ourselves as so much more sophisticated and advanced from those who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago, you are reminded that they were pretty ingenious in their own right.
I also went inside the Teatro Nacional, or National Theater. This is a traditional theater for performances such as operas, orchestras, and similar that was built around 120 years ago. My understanding is the building was built by the coffee plantation owners agreeing to a tax on coffee long ago to raise the funds for this theater with a lot of detailed lighting, statues, gold-leaf on the ceilings, and frescos.
Inside the main hall...
Flash photography isn't allowed in the theater, so the picture turned out a little grainy, at least on the settings I had the camera on. However, you get some idea of the inside It all appears to be of European influence, possibly French. Now, as far as the tax, I thought it was interesting they "agreed to it"...I'm sure they just raised the price of the coffee and let everyone else pay it. That doesn't sound like much of a sacrifice on the coffee owner's part, as long as they all agreed to it so the prices all went up uniformly. Anyway, the architecture is fascinating and decoration amazing...it must have taken literally years to do all the work.
I've also done lots and lots of walking, mostly to see the city and get a feel for San Jose, so I think I'm working off the Costa Rican beers I'm drinking. Yesterday, in fact, I walked TWICE to find the Tica Bus station. Tica Bus appears to be one of the most modern bus lines between countries and I knew I wanted to use them to Managua. However, I wanted to find the actual bus station (each company appears to have their own station in San Jose, so there's all sorts of stations in the city) so if I had to direct a taxi driver, I could. I thought I knew where
it was and walked there. It's probably 25-30 block walk from the hostel, plus another 25-30 blocks returning. First time I was actually within a block or two of it, but didn't see it so I returned to find more directions and information. I then walked back to the same area and did end up finding it. Anyway, I bought my ticket for Nicaragua today at an agency that's only 5-6 blocks away, and I think I can actually avoid having to start in Managua. My understanding is I can get off the bus in Granada, which is where I want to go anyway. I guess we'll find out on Monday. Worst case scenario is I go to Managua and have to get a microbus to Granada. Anyway, I think I will run out of things to see after about today (at least things I think I'll be interested in before heading to Nicaragua). That said, I'm not big on traveling on the weekend, so I may just spend a little more in San Jose. There are English bookstores here, maybe curl up with a good book I'm not particularly attached to so if I decide it's too much to
Meeting salon
Here is a gathering area for people to talk and perhaps smoke. It's a grand place! carry I can leave it behind? Maybe I'll just write a lot in the journal. However, in San Jose, I've ended up spending a lot of time on the computer and internet so we'll have to see about that idea.
That said, while - to be honest - traveling solo has left me a little homesick I'm still excited about Nicaragua. It will be interesting to go back after two years and see what changes may have occurred. I look forward being able to spend more time in Nicaragua and seeing more places than in 2006. I also hope to find more handicrafts and local villages where they're made. It will make for a good ending to this four month journey, ending in Managua back at the Holiday Inn - where I have been emailing with the reservationist there and been having a nice conversation.
Next time you hear from me will likely be in Granada. Take care, everyone, and I'll talk with you soon.
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