Today’s “event” so to speak was the “four” hour drive from Guanacaste to San José, the capital city of Costa Rica, located in the central region. As we learned on our drive from the Liberia airport to our hotel, Costa Rica does operate daytime, domestic flights now. However, we’d a) already booked our driver and b) didn’t want to mess with the 1.5 hour+ drive from the resort to the airport, the airport wait, flight time, and the drive from the San José airport to our hotel here. Ultimately, it was probably a wash since it ended up taking us about 7.5 hours and we arrived just in time… for (most of!) the museums to close at 4:30pm. However, our 9am departure from Guanacaste put us in perfect position to enjoy the gorgeous tropical jungle and coastal views. We also enjoyed, no joke, 2.5 hours of traffic AFTER entering San José just to go… 21 miles. That being said, our driver David was fantastic (would recommend TPV tours to anyone looking for drivers and/or private tours throughout the country, contact info below) and we chatted quite a bit in broken Spanglish.

Unlike Fernando (see the Guanacaste blog), David is truly a driver vs. a guide, so we mostly discussed topical items that came up over the course of the drive, including:

• The reason we didn’t see any sloths on this trip is that they, understandably, don’t like the heat and prefer the wetter climates to the east of the country
• The Coyol palm tree grows along the highway and the nut makes a really nice “coyol” wine (David doesn’t drink, as with many Costa Ricans we’ve chatted with, but said its quite popular); after looking it up, most sites refer to it as a “chicha” (a generally fermented beverage) and the top Google results respectively read, “Coyol wine: Costa Rica’s moonshine?” and “Vino de Coyol is a three day bender of indescribable proportions” so… as with all roadside beverages, I wish we’d grabbed a small bottle to try since it’s unavailable in most stores / restaurants
• Costa Rica grows quite a bit of sugar cane – they also make sugar cane candies such as ‘tapa de dulce’ in addition to the famed rum
• Costa Rica’s roadside restaurants are called “soda”s – David wasn’t sure why, but we saw tons of these little shops. Apparently the differentiator is that they are smaller and less full-service than restaurants or service centers
• Costa Rica has dedicated gas station attendants, just like New Jersey and Oregon!

We didn’t realize it, but lunch was an “included” (mandatory – and for good reason, as we’d discover!) stop. We pulled into a service station, which included a small grocery store, bathrooms, and a huge open-air buffet restaurant. It also featured absolutely beautiful wood carvings, including the tables and chairs.

As with much of Latin America, the typical “meal” in Costa Rica is a plate that includes rice, beans, plantains, a protein (typically fried chicken, beef or pork), and a variety of different sides depending on what’s available and your preferences. We did a make your own with the buffet, basically trying what looked good. I had rice (of course), boiled potatoes, a pasta dish made with some type of egg noodle (they reminded me of lo mein noodles) in a savory tomato sauce (think jambalaya, not marinara), menudo (tripe) with mushrooms and carrots in a different tomato-based sauce, and most interestingly, an egg seemingly poached in black beans (and their liquid). My husband had white rice, gallo pinto (rice and black beans cooked together), and then two different vegetable dishes featuring beef. Of course, we had to try the lizano sauce and the salsa picante, which was fiery. The total for both plates of food was <$20.

Upon arrival in San José, we were certainly in the big city. The traffic was immense and the city itself is a little rough around the edges, but certainly worth visiting. I wish we had an extra day or two here since there is so much more to do than when I visited ~12 years ago – lots of museums, a dedicated pedestrian mall near the historic center, beautiful historic architecture (for a few blocks, at least). I really wanted to visit the Precolumbian Gold Museum, but it unfortunately closed right as we arrived; however, the Jade Museum was open for another 30 minutes and I decided to hit the streets asap while my husband relaxed at the hotel before dinner. Along the way, I experienced a crush of bodies, noise (amusingly, every store seemed to have a hawker, including the Costa Rican equivalent of Victoria’s Secret!), and smoke belching from the local buses. After a week at the beach, I found it really energizing. I passed a shop offering delicious looking fried chicken, which seems to be super popular here!

I only had about 20 minutes at the museum, but it was well worth it – I unfortunately wasn’t able to make it to the “anthropology” floor, but did a speed run version of the remaining 3 floors, taking as many pictures as I could to do a retroactive self-guided virtual tour (and share my insights with you!).

I initially thought that the Jade Museum would be less interesting / informative than the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, but it was incredibly thorough (especially now that I’ve had the time to read through all of the documentation I photographed while doing my incredibly fast exploration of the museum!). The museum begins by establishing the “where” and “when” to Costa Rica’s historical origins, beginning in the Pre-Columbian period. Interestingly, the museum suggests that Costa Rica has a matrilineal system – and, importantly, it acknowledges that even historically, people of different genders, ages, abilities, and physical traits contributed to the society (this will be important later – and is impressive considering most museums try to downplay differently abled society members, especially in the physical artifacts displayed).

Fascinatingly, the matrilineal lens means that women and mothers were common subjects for artisans (and portrayed in a variety of ways, including as mothers, sexual beings, and agricultural workers).

Interestingly (especially since there is a Pre-Columbian Gold Museum!), Gold is suggested to be an item adopted largely due to trade with South American cultures during the period. In particular, South American techniques were adopted to create realistic representations of reptiles, frogs, birds, and humans – and these pieces were typically worn as amulets (sorry for the poor photo quality!).

As with Mexico, this museum highlighted physical aspects of cultural norms that are showcased within period artifacts. In this case, artifacts display the practice of dental filing. According to a study I found from the Dental Faculty at the Universidad of Costa Rica, approximately 20-60% of adults in Mayan Pre-Columbian Costa Rica experienced some type of cosmetic dental work (and, one scientist suggested, this was initiated by women, following with the matrilineal influence). If you’re curious, the article goes in depth into the specific types of dental modifications they found, but doesn’t present too much more about why these modifications were performed.

The below are a variety of adornments that would have been worn – and the figurines (as best I can tell from the limited signage available to photograph – I apologize if I missed something in my haste!) showcase some of the tattooing traditions.

Of course, as with all societies, Pre-Columbian Costa Ricans played a variety of musical instruments, made of wood, gourd, bones, shell, ceramic, and jade, among other materials). Typically, these were shaped as either human figures (depicting shamans) or animals, like lizards, frogs, turtles, snakes, etc. (Please ignore my fat fingers in the second photo!).

The museum only had a few “modern” items, but it did round out the first exhibit with artifacts from existing indigenous Costa Rican peoples. Some of these groups (including the Cabécar and Bribri), according to the museum, have retained elements of their Pre-Columbian heritage, such as speaking their original language and living in wooden structures with thatched roofs. Additional indigenous groups (such as the Boruca, Térraba, Maleku, Huetar, and Guaymí) also still farm, use a chief to solve communal issues, and are lead by spiritual leaders in healing ceremonies. The display didn’t say which the below belong to, but the feathered headdresses and quiver are beautiful.

From there, I had to go through the modern, temporary exhibits to get to the staircase to walk down the next floor, so I did a quick view of the art – it was beautiful, and had I had enough time, I definitely would have explored more fully. I didn’t catch the details of the LHS painting, but the RHS is a reproduction of a mural on the National Security Building. Interestingly, they also had a small case filled with Indonesian Wayan puppets – these really do seem to make their way around the world!

After that, I proceeded to the Jade Room! Apparently, Jade was largely brought to Costa Rica from the valley of the Motagua River in Guatemala (just a few hours north of Guanacaste, ~6-7 hours north of San José) and made into primarily animist-themed objects. Over time, the jade artifacts in the region evolved – first from jades made from 500 BCE to 800 CE, with themes such as axes with both human and animal figures. Later pieces appear to be Olmec, from ~300 BCE to 200 CE, and lastly Maya pieces from 200-900 CE. Below are pieces from these time periods (I didn’t seem to catch which correspond to which, but believe the photos are chronological per the curation). These pieces would have been created in Guanacaste (Nicoya or Bagaces) and the central Caribbean plains. The bottom two photos for sure correspond to a variety of gold, ceramic, and stone objects produced between 700-900 CE, showing that both jade / metallurgy happened together.

The presence of Mesoamericans (groups from southern Mexico) is present in the below objects, as they depict seemingly Mesoamerican “characters” on the pottery.

I’ve always found the “boulder” type artifacts fascinating – the spheres below are apparently a variety of rock types (gabbro, granodiorite, limestone, sandstone) and notable for their “perfect” roundness. They would have been used as symbolic / powerful objects within their home cultures (estimated to date from 500 BCE to 1500 CE).

The remainder of the exhibit I was able to visit showcased the relevance of the Chamán (Shaman) to the indigenous groups who lived in Costa Rica (and used jade and many additional objects) for their medicinal and spiritual practices. Below are statues depicting Chamán, in this case a male holding a vessel in one hand and an axe in the other.

I really wish I’d been able to see the “anthropological” exhibit because it probably expounded on these themes, but this Chamán exhibit included several items I’d never previously seen, including a variety of pipes, medicine bowls, tincture pots, and other medicinal / spiritual goods. The photos below show mortars and pestles from 300 BCE to 300 CE, used to process, mix and transport items derived from seeds, flowers, mushrooms, tobacco, coca, and cocoa.

No description was given for the LHS below, other than its a ceramic “vase-mushroom” and under the hat, a “character” was modeled. Reading between the (limited) lines, based on what we know of the above artifacts, this may be an “inspired” piece used for “medicinal” purposes. The RHS figure shows a female Chamán (rare!), with designs that should evoke jaguar / reptile skin and hands notably showing her rank / authority. We’ll come back to female Chamán in a minute!

One thing I really appreciated is that the exhibit didn’t fail to showcase pieces that may otherwise not have been curated. The below LHS photo includes a variety of sculptures intended to show human bodies with diseases, deformities, or physical disabilities. From archeological study, researchers have actually confirmed “diagnoses” for many of the features depicted, including abscesses, humps, dwarfism, and a variety of “common” illnesses (that historically could have, unfortunately, led an individual to be othered given the lack of available medical treatment).

The middle top photo includes depictions of Chamán, while the right hand side includes a variety of items worn by Chamán, including a variety of “stamps” which quite literally were used to adhere different designs to their bodies (it’s unclear if these required ink, or if they were pressed into the skin for such a long time they’d imprint the pattern directly). The Chamán also used a variety of instruments (bottom left) to inhale tobacco and “other substances” using nasal inhalers (there was a whole other section on pipes, which was interesting, too!). The bottom RHS photo shows a recreation of what a Chamán healing rite might have looked like, including the use of musical instruments, magical stones placed on either their own or the patient’s body, and chants in ritual language. Historians expect these practices would have occurred in isolated places, such as forests or purpose-built structures.

Lastly, the exhibit turned its focus to the female Chamán, of whom little is known. Most research concludes that women were actually the first Chamán, given fertility is typically the absolute first theme of any historical or archeological finding (and, historically, only women would have dealt with fertility issues). In the exhibit, they noted that jade and other ceremonial objects depict women in similar positions to male Chamán, leading them to (rightly, in my opinion) conclude that women – especially elderly women – likely had status as spiritual and medicinal healers despite the lack of widespread physical artifact corroboration.

Sadly, I got the “museum closing” announcement about 1 minute after taking this picture, so I dutifully headed for the exit. From the museum, there’s also a beautiful view of (one of!) the squares that has a lovely Christmas display – we saw several others while we were stuck in traffic on our way into the city.

After the museum, I decided to hit a few other sights to maximize our extremely limited time and visited the National Theater (closed except for those with tickets to tonight’s performance, but a beautiful building).

I also popped into the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Joseph of Costa Rica, which blends Greek orthodox, neoclassical and baroque architecture (per Google). It’s absolutely beautiful, with stunning frescoes and stained glass.

There was also a beautiful chapel, but I didn’t want to take pictures while people were actively giving confession.

For dinner, we opted to visit a lovely Argentinean steakhouse (La Esquina de Buenos Aires) discovered by my husband, who studied abroad and lived in Argentina for ~4 months. It was an exceptional experience – as with many places with “rough” exteriors, we were told to keep our phones away from the (open) windows, but otherwise enjoyed the incredible ambiance inside. We shared two empanadas, one beef and one with cheese, sun dried tomatoes and spinach, and then each had a steak (skirt and filet) with the linguine (covered in a light dusting of parmesan, perfect for soaking up the delicious steak juices and chimichurri sauce!). Of course, we had to have Argentinean-style flan to top it all off!

Overall, a great week in Costa Rica!