San Jose
When we travelled through Costa Rica, San Jose was not on top our of list to visit. But as most flights to Costa Rica land on San Jose, we decided to stay there one night and explore the captital for one day. As the capital is not the main attraction for most tourist, we found that we were experiencing a authentic local vibe. The hotel we stayed in was right in the city center next to a couple of supermarkets. When entering the supermarkets the first thing you notice is the big speakers at the entrance and the loud salsa, bachata and reggaeton coming at you. Welcome to Latin-America! There are several museums to visit in San Jose and we decided to visit the Jade museum. Jade is still used as a gemstone for jewellery in Asia still to date and can be very valueable depending on the quality. Due to my Asian background I was very curious about the collection and I was surprised to learn that there is a Jade museum in Costa Rica. I had no idea that Jade was also used in other continents. As much as we have enjoyed the local vibe in the end our impression of the city is that it is not very well maintained, at night it doesn’t feel very pleasant to walk around the streets. We were quite on our guards during our time in San Jose.
Jade Museum
The collection of Jade is quite extensive in the museum. It was nice to see how the stone has been used in the history of the native American cultures. The tradition of Jade usage in the Costa Rican region goes as far back as 500 BC. Nice to know is that there is also a small Asian collection displaying Jade tools and jewerelly both ancient an more contemporary items.
Visit the website here: https://museodeljade.grupoins.com/
Manuel Antonio
Transportation San Jose to Manuel Antonio
From San Jose we travelled to Manuel Antonio by a shuttle bus. We booked the shuttle bus via the company XXX website: XXX. The trip was perfect, the driver was right on time and the whole trip was smooth. That morning we were the only customers, so we had the whole van for ourselves. After two hours there was a short break to get coffee and buy snacks. Our break was next to the crocodile bridge. We had seen tons of alligators in Miami, but our curiosity made us walk towards the bridge anyway. When we looked down from the bridge, we realised these are real crocs and not the cute gators we saw back in Miami! These beautiful animals will swallow us allow alive if we would get too close. It was a beautiful sight, luckily the brige was very very high.
Accomodation in Manuel Antonio
Manuel Antonio National Park
