Costa Rica - San Jose - Day 7

We arrived in San Jose on the evening on Day 6, after an interesting afternoon of dealing with Budget. For all travelers to Costa Rica, please make sure to book your rental at www.budget.co.cr instead of www.budget.com, or you may take a taxi to the Quepos Budget Office only to find a lot devoid of cars and no record of your reservation. Thankfully, the staff was very understanding and did all that they could to accommodate our rental reservation.

Upon our arrival at Don Carlos Hotel, we could hear music coming from the park only a block away. El Arte Esta En La Calle had scheduled events in the parks near our hotel that weekend. Although we missed the art fair, we were able to enjoy some trailer food (churros--yum!) as well as listen to an amazing salsa band play, Bernardo Quesada y Rumba Jam. Surprisingly, there were few people dancing in the large crowd standing to watch the band. However, I did manage to steal a dance for half of a song.

The next morning, our final day in Costa Rica, we toured the Jade Museum. Less than a block from our hotel, the Jade Museum covers much more than just jade: it is a wonderful mini-museum of the pre-Columbian cultural history of Costa Rica. The jade pieces were beautifully intricate, employing a method entitled "string-sawing", using a cord dipped in an abrasive such as sand. Intriguingly, we came across these carefully filed teeth. Entrance = $8.