A Quick Look at San José, Costa Rica

[Danny Solano Alvarez]

San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica, a city with history, that has been changing throughout the years, whether for good or for bad. Leaving aside the reasons why the city is considered unpleasant and unsafe, this place has several points in its favor, and its never late to stand them out.

As any capital in the world, it concentrates all the services and principal offices. If it is about food, you will be able to find any kind of restaurant, small ¨sodas¨ serving ¨casados¨, in the central market, fancy and elegant restaurants with a many options of international dishes, a big variety of fast food restaurants and cafeterias. Transportation is literally around the corner, all the buses´ terminals are concentrated there, you can head any point of Costa Rica, taking a bus in San Jose, also the taxis are in everywhere, and the train is there to transport you around the near areas.

The weather is nice, you will have sunny days during the dry season, and the rain season will give you a some clouds in the morning and rain in the afternoon, but nothing that can´t be fixed with an umbrella.
In terms of attractions, the highlight in San Jose is culture. The main attractions are the museums and the National Theatre; most of them are centrally located in the heart of the city.
The National Theatre offers different presentations and activities during every month, and you can just make a tour around the building, since it has a beautiful architecture and illustrates a lot the Costa Rica´s history.

Regarding the museums, you have several options, near the National Theatre, can be found the Museum of Precolumbian gold, that exhibiters indigenous jewels in gold depicting animals, such as frogs, birds, snakes, insects, crocodiles, lobsters and even sharks. The Coin Museum, is located in the same building, and its exhibit includes information on coins, as well as interesting samples. The other museum which displays impressive Indian jewelry, is the Jade Museum. It's located near around the same area. The exhibit in this museum is the largest American jade collection in the world. The collection is extremely valuable because of the rarity of the mineral and of the religious and historical significance that it has for the Indian population.

San Jose does have things to see and explore, and not everything is bad, these are just a few examples. If you decide to visit this city, don´t worry about accommodation, lots of options around, Ritzli, is one of them, centrally located and good price.