We traveled to San Jose and Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica in December to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
Flying through Houston from Denver on Southwest Airlines was an adventure. The airport hasn’t really recovered from the city’s decision to change vendors for its restaurants and concessions.
Exploring San Jose
The drive in from the airport was fun, with the signs along the highway belonging to many American brands. We stayed at the Gran Hotel Costa Rica, across from the National Theater. Having arrived late, we found dinner nearby and settled in for a comfortable night before starting our exploration the next morning.
The next day we wandered around the city and happened upon a celebration of Día de Abolición del Ejército. Since 1949, the country has no standing army. The government spends the money on education and healthcare, instead of weapons and military hardware. We even saw President Rodrigo Chaves Robles and his wife arriving at the festivities.
Exploring a city on foot usually leads to happy surprises. We happened upon a Christmas market in a park north of the National Museum. After a brief rest, we wandered through the city’s parks and back to the central part of the old city, where we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Parque Central de San José and the National Cathedral.
After our exploration of the city, we took a break at the hotel to rest up for a San Jose By Night tour. Unfortunately we backtracked over much of the area we had explored on our own, but our guide did add some historic information and local flavor. We toured the market with food stalls, fresh flowers, and even a “witchcraft” stall. Seismic activity in the area destroyed many of the colonial era buildings, leaving San Jose with only a few examples of the architecture.
The tour also featured a cocktail class held above a coffee roaster’s shop, followed by private dinner with beer and sangria pairings. The meal was a journey through Costa Rican cuisine. The tour is worth every penny, if only just for the meal.
Manuel Antonio
The next day, we picked up a rental car and headed to the Pacific coast for the rest of our stay in Manuel Antonio up the hill from the national park. On the way we travelled over the “Crocodile Bridge.” The reptiles sun themselves on the banks of the River Tarcoles as tourists photograph them from the bridge.
We rented a house in Manuel Antonio to be our base of operations for Quepos and the national park. It was difficult to give up the luxury of our private oasis to go out and explore the area, but we managed. There were a pair of macaw who visited us, along with monkey, and three agouti.
The tour of the park was a hike up into the terrain above Manuel Antonio beach. We saw sloths high in the trees and monkeys throughout the forrest and along the beach. It could be crowded on the trails, but there were times you felt like the only people in the park.
After spending some downtime at the house, we explored the restaurants and bars in the area. Take your pick, we didn’t have a bad dish at any of the places we tried.
Our final day on the coast included a day sail on Brisa Elegante from Quepos. The water was amazing, the food and drink were fabulous.
Back to San Jose
We day tripped back to the city to prepare be closer to the airport for our 9am flight. We spent the afternoon in one of the oldest bars in the city, Bar La Bohemia. Truly seemed like a locals spot, with questionable art on the walls.
