Parque Central de San José

I woke up and started the day with some pancakes. After exchanging money to Colónes - the most colorful currency I must have seen so far - I headed out to explore the city. I soon realized that the chance of getting run over by a car here was a very real possibility, since crosswalks and streetlights seemed to be a pretty foreign concept here only applied to the biggest roads. After a near-death experience on said roads, I was thankful for the peaceful quiet of the Sabana Park. It seems to be San José's answer to Central Park. After walking around there for a bit, I stumbled upon the National Stadium, which I honestly didn't care for too much. I decided to head towards the city center. This time, I avoided almost getting run over by a car. I realized that I was already hungry again since I didn't have dinner the night before, so I went for a second breakfast. This time, it was quite typical Costa Rican - black beans, rice, avocados, tomatoes, onion, omelet, cheese and of course black coffee. Through the window, I saw three dudes breakdancing in the middle of the street, one of them dressed up as Spiderman, and I was immediately brought back to my memories of New York. After that, I continued on my quest to find both a SIM card and an adapter. Another thing I noticed as I was walking along the streets was an unbelievable amount of both honking and sirens. Welcome to Latin America, I guess. After a few conversations in various stores, I finally managed to get my phone set up. I realized that I should have studied more Spanish - I was talking in English, they responded in Spanish and that was working mostly fine, but still, it was a hassle. I checked out the central market for some souvenirs and a place to maybe have lunch later. After walking around the center a bit more, I went to the National Museum which was filled with ancient figures and stuff about coffee. Once I was done there, I headed to Calle 33 which is supposed to be _the_ restaurant street of San José. I got myself some Imperial beer - one of the most famous Costa Rican beers, as I was told - and some Chifrijo, which is a mix of rice, beans, steak, avocado, tomatoes and nachos. I realized that by the end of this holiday, I would not be able to stand beans and rice for quite some time. I then headed to Jardin de Lolita by the railway tracks to enjoy a beer and hang out on Discord a little. Afterwards, I decided to make my way back to the hostel because my battery was running low. On my walk back, the sun was burning. I saw a student's bus with a weed commercial on it, which was my Latin American moment of the day. Back at the hostel I realized how exhausted I still was from the journey and from walking around for seven hours straight. I lied down in bed to talk to Lucifer and noticed how I was close to falling asleep already. I decided to get some coffee and stay inside for the rest of the day. I ordered myself empanadas, plátano maduro con queso (fried banana with cheese) and a cake called très leches for dinner before calling it a day.Lue lisää