January 30, 2023
Day 2: The San Jose Central Market
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I awake to find a third dorm mate had arrived overnight. I was apparently sleeping like the dead because I didn’t even hear her come in. Karen left early to catch her flight back to Belgium, and I plan to leave right after I enjoy another delicious traditional Costa Rican breakfast cooked by the lovely women at Garden’s House Hostel.
I book an Uber to take me into San Jose to meet up with Slow. She flew in yesterday evening and stayed at a hotel in San Jose, and I’m meeting her today to join her for the night. We’ve decided to go to the Mercado Central — a huge city market full of local vendors. I arrive at the hotel around 0830. After dropping off my things we promptly hop in another Uber and head to the market. The area around the mercado is bustling with activity. The main part of the market is indoors and is HUGE and an absolute maze. One shop leads into another, aisles branch off in all direction, and merchants are selling everything from souvenirs to raw fish to pets. We spend some time browsing and then stop for a juice drink at one of the many food vendors. Then we head outside and wander the street outside where more market shops are open selling pretty much anything you could want to buy.
Below are a few images that I captured on film while walking the streets of the Central Mercado in San Jose.
We decide to walk the two miles back to our hotel rather than take an Uber to save money and see more of the city on foot. We admire the architecture and some street art and play Frogger crossing the streets until we arrive back at Autentico Hotel. We plan to spend the afternoon sunbathing by the hotel’s pool and enjoying drinks from the bar. Upstairs, we don our swimsuits and head back down to enjoy a buffet lunch at the hotel restaurant– some sort of fish soup, an interesting and flavorful salad, rice, beans, grilled chicken, and tuna stuffed pasta. I order the hotel’s version of a Guaro Sour, and Slow and I head to the pool. A relaxing afternoon in the sun is exactly what I needed after over a week of fairly stressful travel, and to prepare for the coming week in which each day will be jam-packed.
Once we’ve had enough of the sun, we decide not to eat out for dinner and instead walk a couple of minutes away to a supermarket. We plan to get snack foods to substitute for dinner, and a few alcoholic beverages to have back at our hotel room. It’s interesting to see the similarities and differences between this grocery store and one back home. Many brands are the same! But this grocery store sells LIQUOR! We didn’t buy any, but I’m surprised to see liquor in a grocery store. We grab some snacks and drinks and head to the checkout, where I navigate a self-checkout in Spanish and realize this grocery store is actually a Walmart in disguise: the self-checkout machine says “thank you for shopping at Walmart” on the screen when I finish checking out! We walk back to the hotel, shower, and enjoy our piecemeal dinner to a soundtrack of Spanish television shows before going to bed early. We have a big day planned tomorrow with a very early start!
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