“There are some proverbs which are quaintly archaic. For example, whoever said to focus on the journey, not the destination, never spent much time dealing with modern airports.” – Old Sean
Scam Events
After several months enduring COVID lockdowns in the United States, the world has opened enough to allow for some semblance of travel once more.
I landed in San Jose late at night and was immediately swarmed by taxi drivers. If this is a person’s first time reading my blog or it’s previous renditions, please know I hate taxi drivers with a focused, lasting and justified passion.
I’ve faced a lot of scams in my travels, especially since I’m a solo traveler for the most part, making me easy picking on occasions.
I’ve been hit by expensive tea scams, boot shine scams, mistranslation scams, document scams, bribe scams, photo scams and where-did-my-luggage-go scams. All of these are somewhat amusing, because they’re powerfully transparent and easy to avoid with a pair of headphones, reflective sunglasses and a slightly indifferent attitude.
While 19 year-old-me fumbling through Europe my first time got hit by these, most of them are laughable and uniquely easy to avoid. If someone managed to make a scam with a bit more finesse, I’m almost willing to part with my target money, since they would have earned it to some extent.
But taxis are the only group of people across nearly every country where I almost get slammed with scam after scam after petty, transparent and sometimes-threatening scam.
There are scams where luggage is loaded into the trunk before driving away, locking the doors to extort more money, pressing a button on a wheel to get the meter to jump, taking huge loops to jack up the rate, the list goes on and on.
Taxi Option
I’m extremely leery of getting into taxis, especially at night. The first two taxis I tried were so sketchy, I simply walked away. I tried getting a rideshare, but unfortunately, most aren’t allowed to the airport. (I doubt this is true, but that’s what one of the drivers tried to tell me.)
I finally summoned a cab which got me to my destination. I’m currently staying in Heredia, slightly north of San Jose proper. It’s a nice area and I’m very comfortable walking around during daylight hours. There’s not much to do other than eat out around here (which is concerningly expensive) but access to San Jose for the bus systems is doable.
If I could do it all again, I don’t think I’d select lodging anywhere near San Jose or within the Costa Rican Central Valley which hosts a full two-thirds of Costa Rica’s population. I’m not fond of this city at all.
The downtown area is jam packed with walkers and hawkers. Tourists throng the area, but it’s not a very pretty zone to walk around. The ground is grimy and it’s difficult to go anywhere without somebody calling out for money or a pamphlet being thrust into a person’s hands.
The shops aren’t all that interesting, most of them being more functional and price-gouging than touristy.
Exploring the Central Valley
Central Avenue, where I often head to seek out busses, has not endeared itself to me. I’ve been told when leaving the city that San Jose is called a cultural melting pot by people hyping the city, but I stand by that there’s not much worth seeing in the area.
Getting away from the main two or three well-patrolled streets becomes an absolute minefield.
But despite my distastes, much of San Jose is at least tolerable to walk around. Plaza de la Cultura hosts the absolutely stunning National Theater of Costa Rica. Jardin de Paz, Parque Espana, Parque Nacional and Plaza de la Democracia are all wonderful to walk through in daylight hours, with many performances, sculptures and enough greenery to make a man forget a city.
Museo del Jade is a wonderful museum of Costa Rican anthropological culture. Visiting provides a surprisingly decent bucket list for other places to visit in the country.
The roads themselves are well-paved and maintained, far kinder than the places they might lead to.
Sidewalk-crack greenery is running a winning war with the local pavement, but human referees in all their bias keep it from dominating completely.
Another major pleasantry is getting above the low-building eyeline, at which point hulking grey and blue and green mountains with clouds spilling off their roofs are visible in virtually every direction.
US dollars are accepted virtually everywhere, with people hardly blinking when handed an American bill. Currency is always returned in the Costa Rican Colon, but it makes initial navigation a welcome breeze.
I’m a huge fan of the parks here, but they’re aren’t enough. The low trimmed hedges, great sweeps of trees and sturdy concrete outdoor furniture is splendid, but there should be one park every three blocks.
Urban Struggle
However, anywhere outside this traversable net becomes a challenge. San Jose has streets that are basically ambushes.
The area surrounding the infamous Coca Cola Bus Station is thronged with people that are carefully sitting on their luggage and the interior shops are more like an underground night market in reputation than most underground night markets I’ve actually attended.
Walking down one street might be fine, but a sudden adjacent turn might lead towards some extremely disreputable portions of urban development, with walls of shops shuttered and people lounging outside in wide-shouldered groups. There isn’t really a great way to understand which area is which.
All of San Jose has pretty much identical buildings and iron-covered windows with graffiti so frequent it becomes unnoticeable. It simply takes time to get used to the flow of the city before finding out the safe spots.
Meanwhile, hiding money on one’s person, carrying a fake wallet, covering up valuables, wearing reflective sunglasses, avoiding pulling out one’s phone and following the general routes of people with children is the safest bet for a while.
The one time I errored in my navigation resulted in a walk past a milling crowd, and a sadly non-urgent squad of policemen roping off the area surrounding a prone body on the ground. A lack of hurry when someone’s facedown usually means tragedy has come and gone.
There’s no need for a white foreigner to linger here where gawkers stand under shallow awning in spite of the slanted misting rain. One left hand turn later, I was back in familiar territory and double checked my navigation to avoid such a misstep again.
Emerging from the Sprawl
So no, not a fan of San Jose. But on a slightly different note, Costa Rica itself is wonderful. What an amazing country it becomes when spanning outwards. Most especially the village, beach, mountain, volcano and nature portions.
On my second day, I took busses through the random streets until reaching the Coca Cola Bus Station. I clambered aboard and settled drowsily into my seat while we sputtered towards Zarcero in the low mountains to the north of the city.
I wish I had been more awake for the drive, since it was gorgeous from the city limits onward. Great swatch of green cover everything. Areas where the trees have been cleared to make farms reveal gently, rolling ridges with a younger green in terraced patterns, but even these tamed patches of land are exceptionally lush.
Occasionally, the land breaks into a vibrant riot of colors where flowers have decided to make a uncontested claim. The further out we drive, the nicer the houses become. Not larger, or made of different materials per se, but more carefully constructed with tighter-fitted corners, better maintained yards and fresher coats of paint.
The iron-wrought bars that clutter every building in San Jose vanish, and traditional glass panes glint occasionally in the diffused light.
Countryside Scenery
Our bus often took turns I wouldn’t have been able to pull off in a much smaller vehicle, chugging upwards with an engine that sounds exactly like a grumpy old man.
Bicycles are hugely popular in Costa Rica despite the uphill terrain, cyclists often wearing skintight, aerodynamic clothes in racecar colors. Our bus only passes them with considerable difficulty, wheezing out an apology as we continue to ascend.
Farmers in pink shirts lounge under wide-branch trees, despite the clouds above effectively filtering out the sun. Barbed-wire fences are made, not from posts but chunks of stout, living wood with leaves growing out from them, rooted deep underground.
The occasional brown expanse of land where the soil has been overtaxed is rare, but arresting and shocking as a lightening bolt, since green is so powerfully dominant everywhere else.
And the clouds.
If anyone tried to describe Costa Rica without mentioning the clouds, they would have done a grave disservice to the reader’s imagination. Clouds, especially in the rainy season, are perhaps the most astonishing feature of this country, sculpting the setting and directing the mood of the very land. Gazing down a valley shows a multitude of vapor layers.
Like passive striding titans, they sometimes roost on mountaintops, only to spill down in a tumble of grey and white. Often they crouch in valleys, caressing the lower inhabitants in a deep fog. In high wind, they fling themselves off peaks in thin trails, split by the very tree tips they launch from. Else, on level plateaus they stand and stride, visible billows crane-stepping through trees.
Visiting Zarcero
I finally arrived in Zarcero after a few hours. My reason for arriving was the mildly famous Zarcero Central Park and Iglesia Catolica de Zarcero. The grounds of Zarcero Central Park are masterfully arrayed shrubbery in unique shapes.
Arches leading through the grounds are particularly arresting, but there are also sculptures of birds, odd, morphed human faces, lopsided bears, green dinosaurs a double steepled church overlooking the entire affair. I spent a half hour or so here, ducking under the police tape (the park is technically closed due to COVID, but as long as one doesn’t linger or spend time in the main tunnel arch, one can walk through as a shortcut).
The rest of my time in the city brought me higher into the hills, walking around beautiful vistas to gaze into valleys. White butterflies accent the land in shallow swarms. My time here wasn’t extensive (Zarcero is more of a stopping point than an entire destination) but this trip largely bolstered my confidence in getting around Costa Rica.
I eventually returned to my lodgings in San Jose, but I expect to take new trips almost daily.
Until then,
Best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written July 10th 2021
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The GoPro Hero Black is my go to Action camera. I’m not comfortable bringing my cell phone to many wet and rugged locations, so the GoPro does most of my photographic heavy-lifting. The only things I bring in my GoPro kit are the camera, a spare battery and the forehead mount. I upgrade my GoPro once every two years. It was particularly excellent to have during my aquatic tour of Belize.
