5.12.2019 - San Jose

After a short night, I feel quite fit. It is always said that jet lag is not so bad when you are younger, and in this case I have become 7 hours younger. Since the hotel is in Chinese hands, there is also a Chinese breakfast with rice and egg.

My main goal for today is to redeem the traveler's checks that I found at home. These traveler's checks are no longer issued by American Express, but they are still valid. I finally plan to redeem them so that I can get rid of them. I have informed myself in advance which banks in San Jose accept these checks. The Scotiabank opens at 9 o'clock and I arrive a few minutes early and join the queue. After opening, every customer has to take a ticket with a number. There are 40 chairs in the bank foyer for the waiting customers. Redeeming the checks is not an easy task. The lady at the counter can't do anything with the traveler's checks, but her boss explains how to redeem them. The whole process takes about half an hour and no fees are charged. However, only the US dollar checks were accepted. They couldn't do anything with the 50 euro check. The lady was very accommodating. Actually, all Ticos, as the Costa Ricans call themselves, have been very friendly and helpful so far.

Today I plan to visit the Jade Museum. It is the largest museum of American jade objects and there are about 7000 exhibits on the five floors. The museum (15 US dollars for tourists, locals pay less) is very modern and well done. You also have the opportunity to touch some of the exhibits to "feel" the texture of the jade. The precious stone was used in the past for trading, as a burial object, or for healing by shamans.

Next to the museum there is a small attraction. In a small building, an igloo was built and young Costa Ricans can touch and play with self-produced snow. It is very crowded. Wrapped in warm jackets, the students queue up to touch the snow.

There aren't many pedestrian crossings here. You usually wait until the traffic lights turn red for the cars and then cross the street as a pedestrian. The few pedestrian crossings that exist imitate the chirping of birds when the light turns green. In Costa Rica, there is a variety of birds. A true paradise for ornithologists.

My next destination is the yellow house. Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located here. In front of the ministry stands a Ceiba tree that was planted by John F. Kennedy back then. In one corner of the ministry's garden, there is also a small piece of the Berlin Wall, authentic with graffiti.
Then I take a detour to the Amon district. In this district, the coffee barons built their mansions in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of these luxurious estates have now been converted into restaurants or hotels. However, I expected a little more here.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the visit to the National Theater. This is the pride of the Costa Ricans. The theater, built from 1891 to 1897, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1965. There is a mixture of styles here: Renaissance, Neoclassicism, Rococo, and Baroque, but everything is very harmonious. Most of the decorations, paintings, and all the marble were imported from Italy. Only one Italian artist came personally to Costa Rica to immortalize his paintings here. Pictures, parquet floors, curtains, and chandeliers are still original. There are two interesting inventions to admire here: the large chandelier in the theater with 87 bulbs can be automatically lowered to replace the bulbs and clean it. The second special feature is the floor. The seating area on which the chairs from New York stand can be raised so that it forms a unit with the stage and is at the same level. Then the theater becomes a great hall. For this purpose, there is an automation in the basement that must be activated for 20 minutes with 12 people, i.e. a huge wheel must be turned to raise the floor. During the very well-made and exciting tour, we are also shown the boxes. Among them is the box in which the president sits when he is present.

One more note on the shower problem: today I manage to shower without flooding the entire room. Only the bathroom gets a little damp.