arrieve
This past summer, I took my first trip outside the country since Covid changed everything. I attended a three-week program in Costa Rica as part of my Master’s. Costa Rica had always been on my wish list, though not quite this way; although I spent a few days in the mountains after the program ended, most of my time was spent in San José.
San José isn’t a lovely city, and I think most tourists don’t spend a lot of time there–just a few days stopover on their way to the beaches or the mountains. But I really loved the experience of living there, buying groceries, taking buses and Ubers, going to the museums.
I knew nothing about San José or its neighborhoods, so when I was looking for an AirBnB, I focused on places within walking distance of the language school that was our home base. This meant that I ended up staying half a block from a highway, on the edges of a fairly gritty working class neighborhood where the only restaurants were fast food, and I bought my groceries at, I kid you not, WalMart.
But I found that San José was a city of surprises. This was the unattractive road I walked on on my way to the school in the mornings and back to my AirBnB in the evenings.
On The Road – arrieve – San José, Costa RicaPost + Comments (21)