This morning, we took the public train to downtown San José. We explored the center of the city and went inside the National Museum of Costa Rica, the National Theatre, and the central park. Closer to lunch time, we wandered around the central market, which reminded me a lot of the market in central Heredia, just a little bigger. The National Museum of Costa Rica used to be a fort, but it was turned into a museum after the army was abolished in Costa Rica. The architecture is beautiful because it has castle-like features and is painted a bright yellow. Inside the museum, there are artifacts from thousands of years ago from the indigenous communities and other artifacts important to Costa Rican history. The National Theatre also has gorgeous architecture with different parts of the building being shipped from Italy, Belgium, and other countries in Europe. However, the actual building was constructed solely by Costa Ricans. When the Theatre was constructed, the land surrounding it was just farmland. Only members of the elite class could afford to enter and they were the ones to pitch in and pay for the building. These higher up families and individuals were the successful owners of the coffee and banana plantations throughout Costa Rica. In addition, when we were walking through the city, there was a sign on the side of a building saying how that place was the land where the first Costa Rican coffee plantation was founded.
Secondly, Jorge, our wonderful tour guide for the duration of the trip, told us how Pittsburgh and San Jose are actually connected to each other in a very unique way! Andrew Carnegie was passionate about world peace and decided to donate money to establish an International Court of Justice in Cartago. Later, the international court was moved to the central part of San Jose and is still utilized to this day. Comparatively to the National Museum, the building is also yellow and has traditional Costa Rican architecture with large windows and an elaborate door frame. Throughout the day, I loved seeing all the styles of architecture and learning what part of the world the influence came from!
A major fault of San Jose for a directionally challenged person such as me is the lack of addresses and street names. Instead, San Jose relies on landmarks to establish direction. This lack of logistics can be challenging if you’re not used to the area, but I am sure it is less confusing to someone who grew up in Costa Rica. I believe that Costa Rica’s postal service is up to par because when I looked it up, the website informed me that the post office has over 500 post office locations and one can easily look up their address using the website as well.
Bonus photos below!
