First stop in Central America: San Jose, Costa Rica

My journey to Costa Rica started a bit bumpy. At the Barcelona airport, the airline refused (or couldn't) check me in until I applied for my ESTA for the USA. I needed it because I had a layover in Miami and had to leave the transit zone to transfer between flights. I hadn't expected that! I quickly had to fill out the form at the airport and hope that my application would be processed on time. For about half an hour, I didn't know if I would be able to check in on time, but then everything went smoothly. The airline staff were also helpful and made sure that I didn't have to wait at the check-in counter again.

Then it was a ten-hour flight to Miami, three hours at the airport, and another two and a half hours to San Jose.

At the airport there, I was faced with the next challenge: The immigration officer wouldn't let me enter because I didn't have proof that I would leave the country. So I quickly tried to book a bus or flight ticket, which wasn't quite easy after being on my feet for almost twenty hours. After a few minutes of typing aimlessly on my phone, the immigration officer took pity on me and asked when I would approximately leave again. I assured him that I was only staying in Costa Rica for a week because I wanted to go to Panama first, after which he let me in on that condition and begged me to bring proof next time. I can't even say how grateful I was to that man!

The transportation to the hostel was organized in advance and went smoothly. After taking a shower, I immediately fell asleep in bed, completely exhausted. The next morning, I discovered that the hostel truly deserved the word 'Luxury' in its name. The dormitory was huge, there were three bathrooms for one room, there were various breakfast options, a huge kitchen where you could cook your own food, a beautifully landscaped garden with a pool, a yoga terrace...

So I enjoyed my breakfast overlooking the garden and watched hummingbirds. By the way, the hostel was relatively cheap - probably because it was located a bit outside of the city, which I considered an advantage.

Since I didn't want to sit idle on my first day and wanted to overcome my jetlag as quickly as possible, I decided to take a bus to the city and explore it on the first day.

Taking the bus turned out to be a little adventure... The journey there went pretty well, thanks to two young women who signaled when I should get off. I initially walked through the city park, La Sabana, which offers many opportunities for sports activities, and the stadium is also located at one end of the park. The grass seemed quite dry, but the trees were full of blossoms, which gave the park a beautiful spring-like appearance. From there, I walked towards the city center.

I had already heard and read before my arrival that visiting the city wasn't really worth it and that you should spend as little time there as possible. Unfortunately, this image was confirmed. I walked through the whole city on foot and didn't find anything really worth seeing, except for the cemetery. I will probably never forget the image of the white statues on the graves, in front of the green mountains that surround the city, against a bright blue sky.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the nice little cafes that I had read about in a blog. So I started my journey back to the hostel. However, I took the wrong bus, which was heading in the right direction but didn't stop at the same place in the neighborhood. I ended up going too far and had to take another bus back - in the peak evening traffic! Finally, I arrived at the hostel before nightfall. But I had already had enough of Costa Rica's capital by then.

I spent the next day in my beautiful hostel and the surrounding neighborhood, planning my onward journey to Puerto Viejo, my next and temporarily last destination in Costa Rica before continuing to Panama.