In San José de Costa Rica there is plenty of room for green. The city has 1,532 ecological points distributed among parks, squares, sports complexes, forests, tacotales (uncultivated lands) and gardens, which represent 23.6% of its surface. To protect these sites, social initiatives such as Río Urbano and Amigos del Torres have emerged: they seek to raise awareness among the population about the importance of preserving water sources, ecological corridors, fauna and flora.

Okayama Park

A Japanese legend says that an elderly couple found a giant peach floating in a river. Upon rescuing it, they discovered that inside the fruit there was a baby, who was called Momotaro and grew up to be a hero accompanied by a dog, a monkey and a pheasant.

A statue of this character and his animal helpers is located in Okayama Park: a public space of 7,709 square meters (9,220 square yards) that honors thirty years of brotherhood between San José and the Japanese city of Okayama. The place was designed by the Costa Rican architect Mayela Fallas (inspired by the feng shui gardening precepts) and inaugurated in 2002.

La Sabana Metropolitan Park

Since 1873, this space has been a meeting point for the people of San José. With 720,000 square meters (72 hectares), it is the largest park in the city and its nearly 6,500 trees (between exotic species such as cypress and pine, and native trees such as fig and yellow bark) have popularized it as a green lung.

It has an artificial lake of 30,000 square meters (3 hectares), tennis courts, football, basketball, baseball, beach volleyball and two swimming pools. Every week, around 30,000 people visit the park. The Museum of Costa Rican Art, considered historical and architectural patrimony of the city, is not too far away.

Parque Nacional

Between 1855 and 1857, invading troops under the command of the American William Walker tried to conquer the Central American nations to overthrow their governments. In the center of this park is the National Monument of Costa Rica, a sculpture in honor of the victory over the invaders that was made in France by Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse and unveiled in the city in 1895. The park is part of an initiative carried out by the municipality of the city to recover public spaces for the enjoyment of its citizens. Here, visitors will find green paths, gardens and a pond.

Simón Bolívar National Zoo and Botanical Garden

This 70,000-square meter (7-hectare) park was inaugurated on July 24th, 1921, on the birthday of Simón Bolívar, one of the leaders of the Latin American independence, as a tribute to his deeds.

It is part of the Botanic Gardens Conservation International association, which aggregates around 500 botanical gardens in 99 countries. Also on this site is one of the few wetlands that survive in the city; a habitat for plant species such as bijao, paraguita and laurel, and animals such as tree frogs, turtles and herons.

Mariposario Spirogyra

1,239 endemic species of butterflies crosses the Costa Rican sky and its tropical forests like a multicolored avalanche. The Spirogyra reserve, between trails and gardens, is the home of about 30 species of these insects, such as the heliconius erato, the owl butterfly and the red spotted butterfly. Due to its proximity to the Torre River, hummingbird species such as the colicolorado and small amphibians are also observed here.

Follow the route in Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/ZjkU9k8PRo52

The Route of Cocktails and Drinks

The constant opening of new bars and the competitive spirit of the beverage sector are boosting San José's nightlife. According to Natalia Díaz, reviewer of cocktails and bars for the Tico Times, "This is due to a revaluation of the local identity. New unique drinks are created with Tico products such as fruits (pitahaya or dragonfruit, for example) and even coffee."

El Apotecario

This bar's specialty is Kombucha: a fermented drink that is obtained from tea mushrooms (also known as the 'Chinese mushroom'). Thanks to this liquor and its beer, the site proclaims itself as the house of ferment. Other drinks offered here are the Ginbucha (a gin and tonic with a hop tea base and hibiscus flower petals) and a Margarita mixed with lavender Kombucha lemonade. On Thursdays, the night is usually sparked by live music shows.

Mil948 The Cocktail Room

This is the place where Isaac Montero, Diageo World Class Competition 2018 winner of the Best Bartender Award in Costa Rica, works. Improvisation is part of the spirit of the place: customers can name a flavor or an emotion and Montero will give them a drink under these specifications.

Some of the most popular drinks on the menu are the Bendita calavera, a tequila-based drink served in a ceramic skull, with light touches of pink pepper and pasilla chili, and smoked with rosemary sprigs; or the Skull fashion: a variation of the typical American whiskey, accompanied with cocoa and blackberry syrup.

Bebedero

To visit Bebedero is, first and foremost, to enter one of the architectural landmarks of the city: the building where the bar is located (the Steinvorth, of modernist inspiration) was built in 1907 by the Italian architect Francesco Tenca Pedrazzini and is considered part of the city's heritage.

The second thing that stands out when you visit the bar is its drinks, such as a classic Martini or a Negroni, as well as the chance to create your own cocktail (which can also be non-alcoholic) with the help of the local bartender.

City Heritage Route

In San José there are 146 buildings considered world heritage sites because of their historical and cultural relevance. In these places, milestones such as the country's independence, the emergence of the fine arts in Costa Rica and the consolidation of national telecommunications were set in motion. This is a trip through the memory of the city in five stops.

Costa Rican Art Museum

The building that protects the art of Costa Rica could be considered, in itself, a work of art: it was the control tower of the first international airport in the country (which operated there from 1958 to 1977).

Opened on May 3d, 1978, the museum has the largest collection of Costa Rican art in the country: 1,700 works that trace a chronological journey through national art from the 19th century to the present by artists such as Jorge Gallardo, Francisco Amighetti Ruíz and Olger Villegas.

In addition, it has an international collection in which 560 pieces by artists like Rodolfo Abularach, Ludwig Arnold and Carlos Cruz-Diez are exhibited. The Museum also guards the legacy of the sculptor, painter and draftsman Juan Manuel Sánchez, whose family donated 4,000 of his works.

Nuestra Señora de la Merced Church

A series of earthquakes between 1822 and 1888 frustrated the citizens' wishes to have a church in the Hospital district; again and again, the telluric fury brought down the facades. This temple in particular, after the last earthquake, was in ruins for six years until 1894, when the building that exists today was planned: three naves (the main one reaches up to 15 meters / 49.2 feet), a single tower and a facade of German neo-Gothic inspiration.

Inside there are paintings by the Italian artist Adriano Arié, three stained glass windows alluding to the apparitions of the Virgin of Mercy to the founders of her cult, and a representation of the crucifixion of Christ by the Costa Rican sculptor Manuel María Zúñiga, for which his own body was a model for the carving of the torture of Jesus.

Follow the route in Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/ZjkU9k8PRo52

The Turtle Sanctuary

Every year, from June to October, sea turtles arrive—some from far away—to spawn on the black sand beaches of the northwestern coast of Costa Rica.

They do it in the Tortuguero National Park, one of the most remote parks from the capital, and the preferred spawning place for the green sea turtle (chelonia mydas), an endangered species. This turtle can measure a meter and a half (5 feet); it feeds on seagrass and lives mostly submerged, leaving the beach one day a year to lay its eggs in a deep hole in the sand.

The Park has 31,000 hectares on land and 50,000 on sea; it is composed of an intricate network of lagoons, islands and jungle only accessible by water. From the port of Mohín, in the province of Limón, the communal boat enters a wide river flanked by a tropical forest that seems sculpted in tourmaline, jade and emerald. From time to time the captain turns off the engine to enjoy the silence of the forest, broken at times by the melodic repertoire of hundreds of birds (there are about 400 species of birds in the area).

Tortuguero protects several endangered mammals, such as the jaguar, the ocelot, the tapir, the manatee, the tolomuco—similar to the ferret—, the sloth and three species of monkeys (congo, cariblanca and spider). Among the amphibians there are about 60 species of frogs and toads such as the calf frog, which produces a toxic secretion if it feels threatened, the reticulated glass frog, whose internal organs are visible through its transparent skin, and the poisonous frog or red toad of toxic skin.

After 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) the boat docks at El Muellecito, in the town of Tortuguero. It is a town with a handful of pedestrian streets, 750 people, and tiny colorful houses. The natives are a mixture of 'ticos' (mostly Afro-Caribbean), Nicaraguans, indigenous people and some expatriates from the rest of the world. Their nights smell of salty air mixed with the aroma of rondón and the rice & beans. The town sounds like calypso and reggae.

The best time to see the spawning show is at night. During the process, volunteers from the NGO Liga para la Supervivencia de las Tortugas Marinas monitor the coast with red light lanterns. People must be accompanied by a guide and wait for the signal of one of the volunteers to approach. When this happens, you can see how the first green turtle takes its heavy body out of the water: its carapace measures a little over a meter (3 feet) and is only vulnerable on land to the jaguar’s strength.

The pregnant female advances at a slow pace through the black sand, carrying a body that weighs 200 kilograms (441 pounds) out of water. She then crosses the beach to a nearby forest, safe from high tide, where she begins to dig several wells with her rear fins that she leaves uncovered: these are false holes to mislead predators (crabs and seagulls enjoy eating eggs and newborn turtles). The last hole, which she digs with great frenzy, is the definitive one.

Once the nest is done, the spawning begins. The turtle lays in there about 100 eggs the size of golf balls; then covers them with sand and tamps down the 'roof' of the burrow. Exhausted, the mother spends an hour in a kind of immobile trance. Then, she returns to the water, leaving in the sand a large trace of her heavy march, one that will soon disappear when the tide rises.

The other show that Tortuguero offers is that of birth. From some empty holes, you can see how dozens of little turtles are propelled, instinctively, in a race towards the sea. They have been underground for about 75 days and will not return to the beach for five years to spawn for the first time, as long as they survive predators in open waters. Statistically, only one in a thousand will ever reproduce.

December

XII Concierto de Temporada. National Symphony Orchestra

For the past 78 years, the National Symphony Orchestra has been a cultural symbol of San José, acclaimed in countries such as Mexico, Hungary, and the United States. In this concert, the orchestra (winner of the 2017 Latin Grammy for Best Classical Music Album) will be directed by the American Carl St. Clair and accompanied on the piano by the German Markus Groh.

December 2nd
Teatro Nacional

January

New Museography: Pre-Columbian Gold Museum

The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum was founded in 1985 and has a collection of around 1,600 pieces of gold as well as 2,400 pieces of ceramics and stone of continental pre-Hispanic art. Its 2019 exhibition will allow visitors to learn about tools and utensils of the original peoples of America: you will be able to listen to recordings about indigenous stories and visit, through augmented reality, pre-Columbian settlements.

As of January 7th
Museums of the Central Bank of Costa Rica

Santos Rock 2019

This rock music festival promotes two elements: freedom of expression and cultural rights. That has been its philosophy since it was founded in 2006 as a meeting point for emerging artists and bands from the Los Santos de San José sector. The lineup has not yet been revealed and will be released throughout December.

January 12th
Santa Maria de Dota

February

La fuerza y la universalidad de la esfera

For five months you can admire 27 sculptures by the Costa Rican artist Jorge Jiménez Deredia in public spaces. In 2000, Jiménez Deredia became the first Latin American to have a sculpture in the St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The works of Jiménez Deredia are a retrospective of his last 20 years of artistic creation, in which he has exhibited in cities such as Mexico City, Florence and Rome.

From February 20th to July 14th
Boulevard Avenida Central, Plaza de la Cultura and Plaza de la Democracia.

March

Metadata

The Costa Rican artist Luciano Goizueta has exhibited in cities such as Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver and Shanghai. Metadata, his most recent artistic show, is a journey through his career in fifteen pieces of drawing, acrylic and assemblages made between 2014 and 2018. The exhibition is an interconnection of moments that glimpse the way in which the works were conceived. It is accompanied by photographs and personal objects of the artist.

During the month of March
Museum of Costa Rican Art