My second full day in San Jose, Costa Rica, and my second day visiting museums. A 3 museum pass for only $31 is worth it; as are the museums.
My first stop yesterday was the museum of pre-Columbia’s gold. There’s only so much gold I can look at (I’m a girl that prefers silver, or white-gold just so you know) but the museum also took you through the structures of indigenous society. They had an excellent interactive task where you could match the animal with the gold likeness. Things like that amuse me.
The museum is set in a bank so there are old vault doors which are cool. There was an exhibition on the history of money in Costa Rica, and on the second floor a Visual Arts exhibition - Heroes and Monsters.
The jade museum was more of the same, only with jade; explaining how it’s created (with jadeite) and its uses. Jade tipped arrows and spearheads show there’s more to the gem than necklaces. I watched a short video of a bat showing me a local village. You know, as you do.
The best part were the day and night rooms, showing the rainforest and country of Costa Rica during the day and at night, with more on the types of animals that are here.
I had lunch in town and watched The Fall with the restaurant’s WiFi. Walking back I got a McFlurry and watched more of The Fall. I am hooked - I’m on series 3 now and I started on Tuesday. Last night was spent drinking at another hostel with my current room mate who knew the place from before. We almost didn’t get back to Transilvania before curfew.
Today, I went straight to the National Museum.
There’s only so many ceramic funeral urns and stone grinding tables you can look at; but the museum also has an exhibition in the barracks where it’s situated, the history of Europe (and its invasion) and a fascinating walk through of how Costa Rica has developed with things like farming, technology and medicine from the 16th to 21st Century. I met a local in the museum and got talking. We went for a drink afterwards and he showed me a good place to eat. My cold heart doesn’t warm easily to people, though I appear to.
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| original cell graffit |
I went from there to the National Theatre to do a tour. Attaching myself to a group with an English-speaking guide, he showed us around the rooms, including the optical illusion of one painting on the ceiling in the Foyer room: the woman with the harp follows you around the room with her eyes. The building is beautiful.
I walked to Parque La Sabana - crossing a perilous main road and sat down to sun my legs and read. It’s been a chilled out day. Tomorrow I’m going to some hot springs in Arenal - sooo looking forward to it!
On my way back through the park a guy spoke to me in Spanish - I wasn’t sure if he was talking to his friend but he was looking at me so I asked in English “are you talking to me?” He paused for a minute and then said with a flourish of his arms “you are so beautiful.” It was done with such pleasantry I laughed and thanked him. Maybe my stone heart can be chipped apart after all.
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