San José General Tips by zrim

Favorite Thing: San Jose is home to about 800,000 people and is the capital city of Costa Rica.

I generally have a good sense of direction, but I would advise against trying to navigate the streets of San Jose with your own vehicle. The central area is pretty much a grid system, but outside of centro the streets are twisty-turny and it is easy to get turned around. Additionally, it looked as though parking downtown would be a great big hassle. Sometimes it is best to fork over the money to the cabbies.


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Every block or two in downtown San Jose there is a a small park with a small monument. Presumably, these little parks honor great deeds of heroism in Costa Rica's more bloody past, before they abolished the army and became the American Switzerland.

This photo shows Parque Morazan which is scant on grass and long on pavement. It is close to the Jade Museum. The domed structure is a band pavilion.


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: A reminder that Costa Rica was once a Spanish colony. The country was "discovered" in 1502 by Christopher Columbus on his fourth voyage to the New World. Unlike Guatemala and Mexico to the north, the area that is now Costa Rica was sparsely inhabited at the time. Spain governed Costa Rica as a colonial possession until 1823. Costa Rica gained independence from Spain at the same time as other Central American Spanish colonies. Independence was granted without war and without official bloodshed.


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Like I said in the introduction, San Jose itself is not striking. It is a functional capital city, but the buildings are drab. Lots of buses. Lots of trucks. Lots of asphalt. Lots of diesel fumes. Not exactly a holiday atmosphere. I don't wish to disparage the place, for we found no crime (despite plenty of warnings) or abject poverty (though you can see from my barrio tip that there are poor quarters). I guess my overall reaction is: eh, well there you have it, buses, people and government buildings.


Leave a Comment