Saturday morning downtown

My husband decided to surprise me with a wonderful morning at downtown San Jose.

It started with breakfast on the 5th floor of the Gran Hotel Costa Rica. It has a lovely view over the older part of the city. It has a cozy atmosphere inside with antique furniture and old photos of the city.

www.grandhotelcostarica.com

We then went for a stroll around, admiring some of the old buildings, like the National Theater.

We ended our morning with a visit to the museum. The Gold museum and a feline exibition as well.

This was a great visit with the toddler since there were some interactive things for her and it was small enough that we could finish within an hour.



Art in the Park

The anual International Art Festival is here again! The park in La Savannah is once again filled with clowns, merry-go-rounds and great art.

 

There is no entrance fee and tickets for the rides are sold everywhere. You can find a clown around every corner to get faces painted and there are tents with music shows or puppet theater.

It is also the perfect place to buy typical crafts from different latin countries. Jewelry, wooden crafts, nice fabrics, paintings or food.

Since it is at the big public park, a lot of people still take their dogs along. And a lot of children take their bicycles or skateboards.

The festival usually last for 10 days. Starting on a Wednesday and finishes on the next Sunday. Keep in mind that it can be very busy over the weekends. I found it easier to take the very little ones during the week. That way you don't have to fight to find a spot on the merry-go-round.

Make sure to keep an eye out for a nearby parking lot, since they close off all the parking areas inside the park or by the Art Museum. During the week there was one on the opposite side of the road, from the Museum. They charged 800 colones for the hour. On the Sunday we had to use one down the road, 3000 colones for the day.

Sunday at the Park

One of my favourite parks in San Jose is the park in Sabana. It is great to take the dog and baby for a walk or have a nice picnic. There is ample space for quite a few soccer games, plenty of basketball courts, a running track and pathways making their way to a big pond with some ducks. I usually go during the week around 9 am when there are some people around or on Saturdays when it is a lot more busy. But this weekend I ended up going for a stroll on a Sunday. What a surprise...

The park was packed!!! As usual people walking their dogs, roller blading or skating. You will always find serious cyclists and athletes practicing and today there were even some hockey going on. As well as a mass of  people taking part in a 90 minute Zumba class.The baby was very entertained by all the kites flying and ladies selling all kinds of balloons. There are always stands selling ice cones or a variety of snacks, but today they even had carne asada! Aaah, the smell of meat on the grill...
I will definitaly change my Saturday visits to Sundays now and might even join Zumba class!

Zoo Time

The baby has been very excited lately whenever wild animals are on TV, so I thought to look for a zoo close by. The closest one is actually in the city, called Simon Bolivar Zoo.
It is very small and will take you maybe an hour to stroll through the entire zoo. The animals are mostly local except for a big african lion but they are well taken care of. It is definitaly something you can do with the kids if you need to get out of the house. It opens at 8 am and closes at 3:30 pm.