One thing I would highly recommend doing in San Jose is going to La Sabana Park near the center of the city. It is this huge green space that was made where the old airport used to be. I thought it was fantastic that the government decided to give the land back to the public instead of selling it off to become apartments and shopping malls.
There are lots of things to do there. There are basketball courts, a roller skating rink, room to skateboard, places to have picnics, and ponies, apparently.
The main activity at the park, however, is FUTBOL! There are two areas with at least a dozen fields each. When we came there was not one unused field. At first we were intimidated that there were teams with matching jerseys, but we did find a place where anyone from our group could play. After a while, a team of Costa Rican boys asked us if we wanted to play. I watched the game and it was pretty great. Luckily, we had a few people who could actually play soccer, including a very good keeper. We only lost 2-1, which was pretty good if you ask me.
Another really nice feature of this park is the national art museum that houses exclusively Costa Rican art from every time period. It is in the old building from the airport. We only had about 20 minutes, but I could have stayed there for hours. It was a very interesting museum.
My favorite piece was the “Golden Room,” whose walls are covered in wood carvings that detail the history of Costa Rica from the Mayan civilization to the present. I could have just stayed in that room for an hour.
I was very surprised how much fun I had at this park, because I didn’t think too much of the excursion beforehand, but I would love to go back!
