If you have a few hours in San Jose and want to learn about
what the real Costa Rica is about, plan for a visit to La Sabana. Located
not far from the Grano de Oro Hotel in downtown San Jose, this park is home not
only to the new National Stadium (donated in 2011 by the Chinese Government and
one of the most modern stadiums in Latin America) as well as the Museo de Arte
Costarricense (Costa Rican art museum located in the old airport terminal as La
Sabana used to be the old San Jose airport), but also a variety of pastime
activities from jogging to basketball to tennis and even Yoga and Karate.
The best day to go is on the weekends. Saturday and Sunday,
the park is full with local residents of all ages and social classes enjoying
outdoor activities. In the rainy season, make sure you go in the morning
before the rains start. To the west of the park are the baseball
diamonds that are very popular with the Nicaraguans that live here. More
to the north are the soccer fields where several games go on at the same
time. It is a safe place to hang out during the day and my favorite pastime is people watching. If you see trees being cut don’t worry. It
is a good thing. A couple of years ago, the municipality started to
replace the non-native Eucalyptus trees with native species trying to bring
back some wildlife to the park. There are a variety of restaurants
located all around the park. La Soda Tapia (see an earlier blog on this
Costa Rican institution) is one of them.
--Hans
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