Today was a day full of adventure…some planned and some unplanned. We started our day early with another convenient, albeit simple, breakfast to-go. We’re heading out for an adventure to the active Poás Volcano, but we plan on coming back around check-out time so we can freshen up quickly before our San José city adventure!
As we mentioned in our Day 26 post, you now have to make advanced reservations to visit Poás Volcano National Park, so make sure you do (more details about the reservation process can also be found in our Day 26 post). We made an 8am reservation to see the crater because as we mentioned previously, the weather seems to be the clearest during the morning hours. It’s about an hour drive from our hotel to the national park, and they advise you to get there 10 or 15 minutes before your reservation to review safety procedures and sign your life away in case of a serious eruption.
The drive to the volcano gave us some really amazing views of the city below. We drove through pretty populated neighborhoods, and even past some schools…we just couldn’t believe so many people live so close to an active volcano. On our way to the volcano, we drove right past a giant Starbucks sign. When we did the coffee tour in Monteverde with Don Juan tours, our guide mentioned that Starbucks has their one and only farm (in the world) located just outside San José. We actually ended up doubling back after connecting the dots that this was the coffee farm! We snapped a few photos, but it wasn’t open yet and we couldn’t wait around because we had an appointment with a volcano.
About 2km from the visitor center, we were met with a chain link across the road with a sign that warned about the active volcano. We were a bit confused, but we had the earliest appointment (8am) and thought our 7:40am arrival might just be a bit early.
As we were waiting with our windows open to let the cool breeze in, Joey heard something coming from our rear tire. He got out and noticed that the sound was getting louder as he got closer. Upon closer inspection, he found a pretty big screw in our left rear tire.
Thankfully, we had a full size spare tire (not just a donut) mounted on the back of the car. We were on a pretty steep incline, so we couldn’t change the tire there and then. We just hoped it wasn’t leaking too much air! While we waited for the rangers, we began taking off the mounted spare to save some time for when we could change it. We got the spare off around 7:50am, just as two park rangers pulled up to remove the chain. Joey threw the spare in our back seat, and we (along with the line of visitors that formed behind us) followed them into the national park.
The park rangers at the gate asked for our reservation numbers and charged us an additional 2,000 colones (~3USD) for parking. We parked and made our way to the main building where they gave us helmets to wear and sat our group down in a nearby auditorium for a short safety video…remember, this is an active volcano. We were then informed that we would only have 20 minutes at the crater viewpoint, and we headed off!
and that we must stay within our group…so we began our short trek towards the viewpoint.
The walk is pretty flat and entirely paved. It was less than 1km and probably took us 15 minutes to walk. When we arrived to the crater, we were pleasantly surprised to see that there wasn’t any cloud coverage over the crater…alas, we picked a clear morning! There are a few different levels of the viewing platform, and though they didn’t seem significantly different, each one gave a unique view of the crater and the surrounding landscape. It was absolutely breathtaking!
After a few minutes of just being in pure awe, we began to notice numerous yellow circles painted on the ground, on the stairs, and even on the railings. We had no idea what they were and didn’t think much of them. Once the shock of being within stone’s throw of an active volcano wore off a bit, we read some of the posted signs…one of which explained that these circles marked where recent eruptions left their mark!
After our 20 minutes at the viewpoint, we began to make our way back to the main building…after all, we still have a tire to change. We returned our helmets, poked around the gift shop, and made our way back to the parking lot to start working. Fortunately, Joey knows a thing or two about cars and we changed our tire in less than 30 minutes…record time?
We got back on the road and made our way down the mountain. We planned to check out of our hotel by 12pm and head into the city of San José. We were doing pretty good on time…it was only about 10am…so we decided to stop back at The Starbucks Coffee Farm, also known as Hacienda Alsacia. They offer $30 coffee tour (in English and Spanish) where visitors get to learn about the coffee process from seedling to roasted bean. We had already learned all this in Monteverde, but we still had the option of wandering around a bit on our own without doing the formal, paid tour.
After exploring a little, we decided to check out what they offered in their Visitor Center. It’s a really beautiful open-air café with breathtaking views overlooking a portion of their coffee farm. We ended up enjoying two sandwiches and a coffee flight. The flight was a really great way to try both brewing methods…one pour-over and the other clover. If you read Day 13 about our coffee tour in Monteverde, you’d know that Joey does not drink coffee. He was a good sport on that tour and tried the samples, but didn’t really like it. However, he took a sip of the pour-over with a little added cane sugar and he LOVED it! We both preferred the pour-over to the clover, but they were some of the best coffees we’d ever tasted.
We sat and enjoyed the views of the waterfall and coffee plants while we finished our coffee and sandwiches…it was incredibly peaceful. Once finished, we checked out their little gift shop attached to the café. After our coffee experience, we were close to getting our own pour-over, but decided on some smaller souvenirs to take home with us…after all, it is Starbucks’ ONLY coffee farm in the world!
We arrived back at Villa San Ignacio just before our 12pm check-out time. We loaded up the car, checked out, and drove to our last hotel of the trip in the heart of San José, The Gran Hotel. This historic is located right in the city center. It’s a really great location for exploring the many museums and markets in this amazing city, but it’s also a great place just to sit and people-watch. It’s right next to the famous Plaza de la Cultura (which has the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum underneath it), and the even more famous National Theater of Costa Rica.
The Gran Hotel, though recently renovated in 2018 when it became part of the Hilton group, has a storied history since its completion in 1930. One of the most famous facts is that President John F. Kennedy stayed here during his visit to Costa Rica in 1963. You can even stay in the J.F.K. Presidential Suite where he stayed!
By the time we checked in and got up to our room, we were already eager to explore this historic city. We put our stuff down, freshened up a bit, and headed out to explore the city! We walked around and seemingly spotted unique architecture and notable design on each and every corner. There was a temporary art installation in the Plaza de la Cultura just outside our hotel that showcased significant places around San José, and we sort of used this as an inspirational guide!
After exploring a few different parks, historical buildings, and busy streets, we ducked into the first of two markets we have on our list, the Municipal Craft Market (also known as Mercado Municipal De Artesanías). We’re not exactly sure if pictures are allowed (some booths had explicit signs disallowing photography, some didn’t), but out of respect for the artisans, we decided not to. It is, however, a great place to find local souvenirs…many of which are handmade by the local artisans running the shop.
After wandering around for a bit, we worked up an appetite, so it was time to head to the next market on our list, the Central Market. The Central Market is a great place to find local food. They seemingly had everything…from spices, herbs, and fresh vegetables to meats, cheeses, and fresh fish. The market was swarmed with locals and tourists alike looking to satisfy their Costa Rican cravings…especially at the many local sodas (restaurant) within the market…it’s the perfect place to have lunch!
Going into the market, we knew we wanted to try two different sodas for two different reasons, Soda Tapia and Soda Tala. Soda Tapia is purportedly the oldest in the entire market and Soda Tala is known for their heaping amounts of gallo pinto at a very low cost. Unfortunately, Soda Tapia was closed today, so we decided on Soda Tala. This place is an absolute maze, so we almost gave up. After about 10 minutes of wandering and backtracking, we were feeling pretty defeated. We eventually asked one of the butchers where to find Soda Tala, and he pointed us to the right direction…sometimes it’s as easy as asking a local. We shared a tamale, carne casado, a Fanta, and a Coke (in glass bottles of course)! Everything was so delicious, and incredibly affordable at about 3,000 colones total (~$5USD).
We obviously saved some room for dessert and ended up sharing a small cup of helado tradicional (traditional ice cream) from an ice cream vendor that has been there since 1901! The texture and flavor was unlike anything we’ve ever tasted before…what a way to end our market adventure!
We decided to stop at a local bakery on the way back to our hotel to grab some pastries for the morning (as amazing as our hotel is, they do not include breakfast in the nightly rate…though it is available for a pretty penny…darn you Hilton!). We found a place in between the Central Market and the Gran Hotel called Granier, and their donuts looked too delicious to pass up… uno de cada por favor!
What. A. Day. We made our way back to the hotel to get some rest after an incredible day of adventure. We told you in the beginning…some was planned and some was definitely unplanned! Tomorrow we’re going to check out some amazing museums the historic city of San José has to offer…so stay posted!