Day 2 continued

Good morning! I thought I would have a half hour to write this morning by the pool but it is 10:45 and I have just settled in the lobby to be ready for my 11am car ride to Dominical on the southern Pacific coast of CR. Will write until car arrives, maybe some on highway but will see.

The first part of my tour of San Jose was to experience Friday afternoon traffic 🙂

A minibus picked up myself and a 30ish year old guy named Steve to take us to the first museum on tour where the double decker bus and guide and other tourists would be. Steve was here for a week on business. He is a computer engineer who specializes in electrical circuits used in cars and machinery. He got his masters at Univ. of Nebraska where he and his wife live but they are moving to Riverside, CA soon to be close to the headquarters of his company. He has traveled to Israel and Mexico for work and soon to Hamburg and Taiwan.

When we reached the museum the “rest” of the tour group was there. Gabriella, a middle aged Panamanian who spoke only Spanish. This was great for me because our great guide Jordan had to say everything in both languages. I was able to communicate pretty well with her with my intermediate Spanish. I told her in Spanish that when I had looked at the map of CR I had seen that her country had a city named after me. She said it is a big port and there is a ferry terminal there.

It seems like a nice place to visit and just for the name I have to add it to my wish list. Link below is about David the city.

https://g.co/kgs/9TcMfQ

Oh, on the minibus ride I saw this sharp looking building , US Embassy. The USA had a mixed relationship with CR over the years, but now great, if I have time later I will give a brief synopsis.

I am back again. It is 5:20 pm Tuesday and I have 40 minutes before heading down to dinner.

The first museum we saw was very interesting. It was the original airport for San Jose before the city outgrew it and a new one was built.

The highlight was the Golden Room which contains a mural made of plaster but meant to look like bronze. The artist portrays the whole history of CR from pre-Columbian times through the Spanish empire, independence and modernity. There was a woman practicing for a recital on the piano in the room.

The rest of the museum was not that interesting but there was a nice Sculpture garden.

While getting my obligatory sign photo I noticed across the plaza what looked like a Menorah. I asked the guide what it was and he said it was a Menorah. He explained that Costa Rica had a large community of Jews who fled there from the Nazis (as did other central and South American countries who were not allowed to enter the USA).

We then crammed our whole tour group into the double decker bus.

The center of city had tiny roads but broad sidewalks and main road was pedestrian only. The driver managed to squeeze the huge bus through very tight spots and always dropped us right at door and then was at our pickup spots like clockwork.

The central market dates to 1880 and is a huge metal roofed warren of tiny shops and stalls. We stopped at a few places to sample ice cream, coffee and chocolate.

Herbal remedies still very popular in CR according to Jordan but it also has one of the best public health systems in the Americas.

Before going in market we were told to put our watches and jewelry away as occasional snatch and grab thefts (but overall city very safe for Central America).

And of course Chickens! For pets or eggs or meat 😉

While in the Market we heard the rain on the metal roof and it was torrential when we got back to bus.

But as we continued our tour I noticed that crowds seemed just as big despite rain, everyone just had umbrellas.

This is only cathedral in the country, JP2 visited it once.

I chatted with these policemen while Jordan got a Churro, I passed as too close to dinner time 🙂

They only spoke Spanish so I got to practice, I was curious why all the police in CR wore their pistols strapped to thighs rather than in belt holsters like in US. They said because they all wear bulky body armor and gets in way of pistol at waist.