Okayama Park, Park La Paz, National Museum of Costa Rica, Dr Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia Museum, La Sabana Park, Museum of Costa Rican Art, Irazú Volcano, Cahuita National Park
The way from La Fortuna to San José wasn’t complicated, but it did take most of my day, so by the time I got to my accommodations I was quite tired. The next morning the sun was out and barely any clouds appeared in the sky, which immediately cheered me up. After getting a much needed rest, I headed out to explore the city.
My first stop was Okayama Park. I didn’t expect such a garden to be in Costa Rica, and so I was curious to see it for myself. It wasn’t very close to where I stayed in the city, but I wasn’t sure if there were any buses heading there, so I decided to walk. Along the way, I unintentionally passed by a few other small gardens and plazas which were quite nice, and on top of that I had views of the mountains surrounding the city. While I normally find walks in the city to be pretty boring, this time I found it surprisingly enjoyable.
When I got to Okayama Park, it was pretty much what I expected. A small, Japanese themed garden, which didn’t require much time to walk around. It was nice, relaxing, and there was even a replica of Momotaro statue. I sat down for a couple of minutes, enjoying the site, and then I moved on.
After walking for a while longer along the city streets, passing through a forest park which could be a good place for a picnic, I got to the La Paz, a park with a lot of open spaces, a couple of lakes (arguably more like two ponds), and an observation point overlooking the area, with a large tree at the center of it.
I headed straight over to the view point, and especially on that sunny day it didn’t disappoint. I had views almost all the way around, with a small section being blocked by trees. The views I had from the street were now amplified, as I stood above the buildings and could see far into the horizon. I say by the roots of the tree, looking around me, smiling and taking it all in. It felt ten times better than La Fortuna.
After I had enough rest, I made my way to one of the lakes. When I got there, I could see some ducks swimming around, which I liked. This park felt almost therapeutic for me. I made my way all the way to one side of the lake, strolling along the path without rushing. It was a beautiful day, and I was in a beautiful park, which was something I needed.
I turned around, lapped the lake from the other side, and after struggling for a bit with crossing the road, I successfully made it to the other side, where after a couple minutes of walking I was by the second lake. That one, too, had some birds and a nice scenery. With that, I decided to call it a day and returned to my accommodations.
When the skies turned cloudy, I paid a visit to the National Museum of Costa Rica. I was given a paper guide (which I didn’t really look at) and was instructed to go through the doors on the right side. Doing so, I found myself in a small butterfly garden. The garden was pretty simple, but of course the focus was on the butterflies. There weren’t many of them around, but they did fly all around the place, with their colorful wings flapping constantly. There were several signs in the garden, both in Spanish and in English, with some information about the butterflies, such as their feeding habits and lifespan.
In the middle of that garden there was a door leading to what appeared to be some kind of watchtower with stairs leading up. However, the sign said it wasn’t allowed to come back through that door, and that visitors will need to exit via the “dungeon room”. I thought it meant there will be a way down, and that will also lead to the exit of the museum. Therefore I kept that in mind, thinking I’d come back to it once I finish my tour in the garden.
Instead, I went all the way to the end of the room, where I passed through another door into the barracks. The whole place, according to the signs and the leaflet guide I had, was initially barracks, a way for the country to show its military force. This part of the site was preserved, and showed where the soldiers were, the bathrooms, and a few cells for prisoners.
After having a look around, reading some of the signs and learning a bit about the history of the building, I found myself somewhat confused with the layout of the place. There were several exits, and no signs to point the direction in which I should move through the different parts of the museum. After wandering around for a bit, I exited via a staircase going up to a courtyard with a garden that had several large spherical stones in it. Around the garden there were different galleries to look at, although once more, it wasn’t clear if there was a starting point or if I should just visit them according to my own desire, which is what I did.
I started with the garden. It turned out the giant spherical stones were quite old, and held an importance for the pre-Columbian cultures who lived in the area. From there I moved quickly into one of the galleries, which seemed to be all over the place. While the underlying theme was of course the history of Costa Rica, it didn’t seem to have an order, displaying agricultural items and pieces of information, then talking about art and politics, as well as religion. While I did learn quite a few things about the country (I had no idea just how important the coffee industry was), it felt odd to have no clear order. When I got closer to what I thought was the end of the gallery, I saw people coming in the opposite direction, which made me think I was doing things wrong.
At that point, I turned around, exited the gallery through my starting point, and headed straight into another gallery, which was about the development of medicine and healthcare in Costa Rica. This time it felt more structured, but I was still a bit confused. It was a smaller room, and so it didn’t take long before I cleared that one as well and was back in the courtyard.
I entered another gallery, which was about the pre-Columbian cultures of Costa Rica. It started with an exhibition of art pieces, with some signs providing some information about them. It made me think of the Mayans, although it was still a nice change of pace. After the art collection there was a more informative section, talking about the lives of those ancient civilizations, and then describing how it changed when the Spanish empire sought to conquer the land and destroy the beliefs of the natives.
It moved on, and I felt like I’m going through different galleries, until I got to a point which I have been to already. It turned out that the first gallery I walked into, I entered it from the middle, which explained why I was confused. A similar thing happened on the way out of the museum. I headed back to the butterfly garden, and then passed through the door to the tower. If there was once a good view from there, that was no longer the case. I walked along a short path to another door, went down some stairs, and found myself in the “dungeon” which was mentioned before, except it turned out to be the barracks, which I have already visited. After going through the butterfly garden again, I finally made my way out of the museum. There definitely could’ve been some clear signage to point out the way to go, but even so, it was a proper museum, and it felt like it’s been a long time since I had such an experience.
Another museum nearby was the Dr Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia Museum. On Google it was some kind of history museum, and I was curious to know if it would provide different information about the country’s history. It was also free to enter, which was a nice bonus. The first part seemed to be an art gallery, and I wondered if this Doctor was an artist of sorts, and if the whole museum is a display of his art collections. According to the signs next to each of the art pieces, they were made by different artists. Some of them I could appreciate, while others made me feel not so happy.
But in the very next room, I realized this was a museum documenting the life of Dr Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia, who was a very important political figure. There were different rooms in the museum, talking about different aspects and times of his life, combined with more artistic displays (with some of those exhibits being artistically questionable). I didn’t understand the reason behind it, but it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t a big place either, and within half an hour or so I’ve seen more or less everything in it.
After a rainy day in the accommodation, I made my way over to La Sabana, a large park, which again, was not close to me. Pretty much at the beginning of it was the Museum of Costa Rican Art, and while I’m not generally enthusiastic about art museums and galleries (especially those that actually feature art), I was in the area, and it was free to enter. However, I got to La Sabana in the morning, and since the museum was still closed, I went to have a look around the park first.
As far as parks go, La Sabana was pretty decent. Most of it was taken by a large forest area, with a lot of shade and some tables where people could sit down, relax, and have a picnic. Another part was dedicated to various sports, which wasn’t very interesting for me, but I couldn’t completely avoid it. What did interest me was the pond, which was nice to look at, and had some sculptures placed around it. All around there were a few trails that passed through the different areas of the park, and I did a loop that covered most of it.
When the Museum of Costa Rican Art opened, I got in, registered, and was free to explore the museum. The place had two floors as well as a garden, and I started at the first floor. While initially I thought it would be more about pre-Columbian art, I quickly realized it wasn’t the case. Thankfully, it wasn’t about modern art either. It was proper art, which I could appreciate, mainly paintings of people and scenery. The artists responsible for those creations, from what I could understand, were all from Costa Rica.
In addition to that, on the first floor there was a room dedicated to the history of the building. Dedicated might be the wrong word, since it was a small room without much in it, but there was a timeline on one of the walls, with a brief summary of key points in the history of the place (only in Spanish). There was also a video, although I found it difficult to hear. The building appeared to have started as the center of operation for an international airport that was there in the 1940s, and over time changed its purpose until it became a museum.
The second floor didn’t have much in it, just one room that was used for meetings when the airport was operational. It was quite a nice room, with wall-to-wall murals telling the history of the country, but there wasn’t much information there. My last stop in this museum was the garden, which had a few sculptures, although I found that part less interesting. I was more interested in the paintings inside. It took me about twenty minutes to go through it all, and while I wouldn’t make a special effort to go there, since I was already in the area it was a nice stop.
Hoping to see some sights around the city, I decided to go to Volcano Poás. I thought it would be simple, following the instructions online, but it ended up a fail. I don´t know if it was because the instructions online weren’t good enough, or if the locals that tried to help me somehow put me on the wrong bus, but I never made it to the volcano. I was upset, especially since I had to pay in advance, and that money was now gone.
On another day, I went in a more simple direction, to Volcano Irazú. There was a direct bus that goes there from San José, and before getting on it I made sure to verify it. It took about 2 hours to get to the park, and that left me with plenty of time before the ride back to the city.
I started with the more popular part of the park, the main crater. There was an easy path that went more or less around the crater. On a good day, it could’ve been possible to see some nice view around, but this was not a good day. It was cloudy with light rain, which was consistent for the whole time I was there. I knew it would be like that even before I got to the volcano, but it was my only chance to see it.
After having a look and going all the way around, I made it back to the starting point. I warmed myself up by the gift shop for a little while, and then headed over to the other part of the park, to the highest point in Costa Rica. According to my smartphone, it was supposed to be about a 40 minute walk, and either it was very wrong or I somehow put the wrong destination into my search. It took me less than 20 minutes to get to the viewpoint, which was cloudy and rainy like everything else in the area. I walked around the area as much as I could, trying to get the most of what I paid for before making my way back. There was still time before getting on the bus, so I just waited by the shop.
From San José, I headed over to Puerto Viejo, a small time not very far from the border with Panama, which was going to be my next destination. I got to the bus stop earlier than I planned, and could get on an earlier bus, although I was still late to buy sitting tickets, so I settled for a standing ticket. It was that or waiting for 2 more hours, which I didn’t want to do.
After checking into my final hostel in Costa Rica, I hopped on another bus, to the Cahuita National Park, knowing almost nothing about it. The only thing I did know was that the entry to the park was free.
When I got there, I felt like “National Park” is the wrong name for it. It was a beach. It was a long stretch of sand, with some views of the greenery around, but I felt misled by the name. Other than the beach, there was also a path going through the woods, where it was possible to see some wildlife. I did spot some animals there, and the road itself was kinda nice, and since it only cost me as much as the bus ticket, overall it was a nice experience.
After the short walk, I sat on the shore and looked toward the horizon. Costa Rica was a nice experience for me. It was isolated and lonely at times, and the weather in La Fortuna was brutal, but on a good day I had a really big smile on my face. There weren’t many ups and downs to this adventure, but that is also because I didn’t do much in the country. Part of Costa Rica felt like it was more for those who wish to embark on a road trip, but a bigger part felt like it was more about wildlife and less about views. And so, I decided to cut my time here short, and leave earlier than I thought I would. It’s not a bad country to visit, but more like it’s not the right country for me to visit.