Traveling to San Jose with Sami

Today we day-tripped to the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose! Instead of our typical type of transportation, walking, we took the train from Heredia to San Jose! Once we arrived, we walked around the central park while we learned about Costa Rica's four judicial systems, its voting system, and its current president, Rodrigo Chaves.

Soon after, we went to Museo Nacional De Costa Rica (National Museum of Costa Rica), which began with a butterfly garden. Although we did not see many butterflies, it was still a beautiful site. From there, we were able to explore the many exhibits showing the unique history and culture of Costa Rica.

After spending several hours in the museum, we traveled through the busy streets of Costa Rica's capital. The city offered a variety of shops, restaurants, and sites to visit. Among these busy streets included SWARMS of pigeons. These fearless animals swooped down and landed on many of us (as you can see in the picture)!

Once we were able to navigate through the city, we stopped at a restaurant named Spoon. Our lunch was delicious; however, we were all confused that a restaurant named Spoon did not serve any spoons with our meals!

After our lunch, we continued to explore the city. We ventured through the markets where it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between this market and the market in Heredia. During this, our gracious tour guide, Angie, bought us traditional Costa Rican ice cream! Soon after our sweet treats, we continued our journey by seeing a beautiful Church. Its uniquely detailed interior was fascinating to witness.

We wrapped up the day by going to the National Theatre. From the beginning, the details of this tour were very vague. However, looking back, it makes sense because while the workers were telling us about the history of the theater, one of the actors “fell” out of one of the ceiling paintings. This actor was portraying the woman in the painting while explaining how the “mistakes” (e.g., the coffee plants being next to the ocean, the light pole, and the bananas being held upside down) were because the artist of the painting was an Italian painter who had never been to Costa Rica. He painted this painting all from descriptive letters from the people of Costa Rica. Because of this, there were a few things in the painting that were not the most accurate. Overall, we had a very long day (we walked about SIX miles), but I know we all had a great time exploring San Jose!