Published: 26.07.2017
On July 20th, we arrived in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. The city has around 340,000 inhabitants. Costa Rica itself has only five million.
We spent two days in the capital and had a beautiful hostel run by a very nice couple our age. It was a yoga temple and therefore a great place to relax and unwind. The next morning, we all had breakfast together and immediately noticed that the Ticos - as the Costa Rican people are generally known in Latin America - have a much better breakfast than the Peruvians. The national dish 'Gallo Pinto', which means spotted rooster, was served. This dish of natural rice, beans, and fried egg is available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you want. Muy rico!
What was striking was that San José was a very clean city and the roads were in good condition. No potholes, well-developed road networks, and fairly new buses characterize the street scene. This was very convenient for us after the adventure in Peru. The pedestrian zone in the city center reminds us of a German city center with its variety of shops. Unfortunately, the prices are identical to ours. However, we were most delighted with the variety of fruits, which are also very cheap here and even better than in Peru. We quickly noticed that the country is not only full of color in its plant and animal world but that this is also reflected in the architecture of the country.
After a day of planning, our first destination will be Cahuita on the Caribbean coast, which is about 200 km northeast of San José. Like in Peru, you can travel through the country quite cheaply by public buses.
We are really looking forward to the time here and the breathtaking nature, as well as the diversity of the animal kingdom.