Wednesday, 13 March 2019
San Jose, Costa Rica
Another hot and humid start to the day. 4hr morning drive to San Jose. Driver knows the way but do you know the way to San Jose?
First hour is on gravel dirt roads driving through rolling countryside and farms before returning to the main road and the big city.
Only here for a night to be close to the airport for tomorrow’s flight. Can understand why as we drive through the city centre. There’s nothing about San Jose that appeals. Bit ramshackle. Staying at the Hotel Don Carlos (https://www.doncarloshotel.com/), small family owned hotel run for generations by the same family. Let’s call it rustic and charming and leave it at that.
Lunch in the covered market dating back to 1880. The central part has many ‘restauarants’ (I use the term loosely) all vying for punters with plump waitresses, heavily made up and wearing brightly coloured dresses, waving their hands at any passer by to attract their attention and thrusting a menu in their face. Think Nottingham’s Victoria Centre Market with a bit of colour and glamour, rather than the dull grey and the immigrant clientele. Entertainment provided by a few old codgers loudly playing the xylophone and what appears to be a cheese grater providing supplementary percussion. A vain attempt at dancing to the beat too. Either that or they desperately need the loo.
Walking along the main pedestrianised shopping street is like any other you would find in the UK but there are many street stalls selling fruit, jewellery and dodgy goods. An old man is playing the violin busking for money. Except. The violin only has one string and he’s not making any noise whatsoever. Walk past a gun shop and after peering through the security grille doors, the owner invites me in for a quick look. Plenty of pistols and assault rifles adorn the walls. It’s apparently legal to carry a concealed gun in Costa Rica, providing you have a licence. Because that obviously stops the bad people from carrying weapons. Doesn’t it.
The most architecturally stunning building in the city is the National Theatre. Built in a European style in the late 19th century it stands proud in the main square. As Costa Rica doesn’t have an official Presidential Palace or house, the National Theatre stands in to receive dignitaries and entertain foreign heads of state. Very ornate inside, typical of European theatres. The auditorium floor can be raised a metre or so to become level with the stage. Underneath the auditorium is a giant hand turned screw, which needs a few people to turn it. This then turns six other screws through a series of cogs to raise the floor up. Purely hand driven, no electrical motors here. The auditorium has, of course, the Presidential box, with the Presidential seat. No one is allowed to sit in the box apart from the President and his party though, so is quite often vacant during performances.
The main break out room over the front of the theatre is an ornate affair with painted ceilings, gold leaf effects and a marquetry floor, consisting of about fifteen types of wood. The ceiling has a woman painted on whose eyes follow you as you walk from one side of the room to the other. Some effect known as ‘elliptical infinity’, I understand. Quite disconcerting being watched all the time. Last saw something like that in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. A dying soldier on the battlefield watched you wherever you were in the room.
It’s a startling effect.
