A Visit to Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

Since my weekend didn't turn out as hoped (again), I convinced Nic to go the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica or National Museum in San Jose with me. This is probably one of the few museums I wanted to see besides the churches and this would be my last chance to get there this trip.

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is located in an old fort. Once the army was disbanded in 1948, the fort was no longer needed and was turned into the museum. So not only do you get to learn the history of Costa Rica but you get to explore an Old Fort while you are at it. I am sucker for old Forts... that's probably my inner history geek showing through.

After paying our admission ($9), we headed into the museum. The first exhibit was (another) butterfly garden. I'm beginning to think every touristy place in Costa Rica must have a butterfly garden with blue butterflies... 3 different places and 3 butterfly gardens all with pretty much the same butterflies. Now don't get me wrong, I love butterflies, especially the blue ones, but after awhile the whole butterfly garden gets old after awhile. I tried to get them to land on me again but they didn't like me.

Then we headed into the actual fort and learned about the history of the fort and Costa Rica. You can see the gun windows, bathrooms, and prison cells from the original fort.

The Latrines 

Writing on the cell walls

Because the museum is in an old fort, the layout is difficult to follow. We ended up in a courtyard (with cannons!) and had to figure out where to go from there. It was tough knowing if we hit all the exhibits or not.

I personally liked the ancient civilization stone carvings and funeral altars. The history geek/archaeologist in me really loved that exhibit. We even saw dead bodies... hopefully they were real skeletons and not just recreations.

Altar

Funeral "Stretchers"

There was a lot to see including exhibits on work, life, government

Of course it won't be a Costa Rican Museum without an Ox Cart or 2

The view from the fort overlooking the city wasn't bad either

Nic does museums like I do. I look at the exhibits and if something catches me eye I'll read about it. I don't have to read EVERY single exhibit. I'm more of a museum browser. We probably spent about an hour or so in the museum. It was very interesting and definitely worth the trip. I would go back and check it out again if I'm ever in San Jose again and needed something to do.

An Afternoon in San Jose

When my plans fell apart this morning, MT came to the rescue. He and I originally were going to go to San Jose on Sunday but decided to go this afternoon instead. After setting up Uber on my phone, we headed downtown San Jose for some shopping and site seeing.

After lunch at the Chinese Place, we headed into "the market" which is a giant souvenir stand or flea market. There are two aisles with stalls selling various Costa Rican goods. Once you've seen about 6 stalls, you've seen everything they have to offer. MT was told by his wife the left side of the market was better than the right which it was. 

I was looking for a new hat for the hubby and a couple of t-shirts. MT wanted to pick up a few things for his wife that she requested. I got a hat and 4 shirts for $40. I just hope the hat fits the hubby. I should have had MT try it on. As we wandered the market, we priced out what we wanted.

I ended up getting an ox-cart that I wanted for $5 since I kept saying no and attempted to walk away. It was originally $10 or $12. 

MT get the bookmarks and birds his wife wanted. He also picked up a penis bottle opener for his sister-in-law because everyone needs one of those right???

With our wallets significantly lighter, we headed down Avenida 3. We stopped at a couple grocery stores. MT wanted to pick up a couple of things. He explained that his wife picked up sample packs or multi-packs of cookies and candies to try different things. I decided I wanted to do that since I like trying (and bringing back) local snacks and candy. In the second store, I was able to get an 8 pack of wafer cookies, a 12 pack of other cookies, a pack of coconut cookies, 2 packs of wafer straws, a mini Rolo looking thing, a Suzy-Q type snack cake, and 6 pack of mini-snowball type cakes plus a can of Dr. Pepper and a Gatorade for $10. Some of it I will, others I will bring home and share with the hubby.

Now that we were loaded down with souvenirs and groceries, I wanted to check out National Museum but MT thought I meant the National Theater. Since the Theater was nearby, we tried to get a tour but since there was a live performance there were no tours today. I was slightly disappointed but not overly disappointed since I would have rather seen the museum anyways. 

I took a few random pictures of statues though since statues are always fun. I just had to be careful that no one was going to steal my phone and run. 

As we headed down Avenida 3, the less impressed I became. It was too commercialized for me. I am used to the older European Cities with old buildings to see. Avenida 3 wasn't anything more than Costa Rica's version of Michigan Avenue or Times Square -- Restaurants and Stores make up much of Avenida 3 and many American brands. There were some local fare mixed but it was largely Americanized. The nice part though was it was blocked off from traffic for several blocks so we didn't have to deal with traffic except at intersections.

Our last stop for the afternoon was the Mercado Central or the Central Market. Unlike the first market we went to this one was much bigger. It took up a whole city block. There were pet stores, flower stores, butcher shops, cheese shops, fishmongers, Sodas or little eateries/lunch counters, plus a wide variety of stalls selling everything you could imagine from saddles and ropes to ribbons and balloons. It was very easy to get lost in it since it is a giant square perimeter with aisles branching off into the middle. Besides the congestion, there is the unique smell of all the different stalls and eateries mingling in a covered space. Once you got used to the smell. I wish we had an actual kitchen or something since it would have been fun to get a fresh chicken or fresh, with fresh vegetables, and make a meal. 

Needless to say I was not overly impressed by San Jose. I wish I could have seen some of the museums or "historical" buildings but shopping was fun too. If you are in Costa Rica and have time to spare, check out the capital city. There are supposed to cool churches and museums, I just didn't get a chance to see them today.