The moment I landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, I immediately felt the vibe that’s undeniably similar to my home country (Pilipinas). Not just on the obvious colonial Spanish influences we shared, but on the actual environment itself, since CR is also a tropical island-country surrounded by seas on both sides. With only around 50 sq. km. land area, the whole of Costa Rica is actually smaller than Mindanao, which has a land area of approx 95 sq. km. From above, the Costa Rican landscape is generally green with scattered mountain ranges. I’ve also seen patches of mineral-mining sites, which is very similar to the Ph. Hopefully though, their regulations are better than ours.

The weather in CR is hot/humid. I believe Ph shares the same latitude as CR and other nearby Central American Countries. The time I went there, i experienced rain scattered throughout the day. Also during arrival, I noticed that the airport interior looks super similar sa Arrival Hall of Mactan/Cebu I.A. The classic glossy marble flooring gave the vibe.

With the strong Spanish Influence, Costa Rica is still dominantly Catholic ’til today. The historic landmarks says a lot about it.

In San Jose, I stayed for two nights at Casa Colon Hostel, which is a pre-WWII mansion that has been converted to a hotel, then to an affordable hostel today. Quite memorable kase ako lang guest nun sa isang lumang bahay, like goodluck. The stay turned out very pleasant though. I rested very well.

The weather expectedly influences the lifestyle and way of living of the locals. I went to a public market in San Jose, and agricultural/harvested products are very similar to ours. The locals also dress almost exactly like us, and guess what? Madami din Ukay-ukay stalls dun, as well as sidewalk vendors! Here are some random shots I got during my free-days in the Costa Rican Capital.

The food I shared above is Arepa Venezuelana. Arepa is Latin America’s answer to European bread. But instead of using wheat or rice flour, arepa is made of corn flour, which is common in the area. The hefty white filling is actually chicken in cream sauce, which was very good. Hinanap ko snackhouse na ito via tripadvisor e.

I found the cutest Starbucks disposable cup in Costa Rica. Trivia, Starbucks owns Hacienda Alsacia, a 240-hectare coffee farm in Costa Rica, that serves as a global Research and Development facility and working farm for the global brand. The farm is open for visitors at certain times of the year.

The public market in San Jose is probably the cleanest,most well-maintained public market in any third world country. I enjoyed this “Casado” plate, which is a traditional combo meal in Central America, consisting of rice, black beans, plantains, salad, a tortilla, and a protein. For this plate, I had beef machado, which I find very similar to our humba na bisaya.

In all honesty, tinamad na ako mag tour around San Jose, as i was already on my third week of travel. Peru and Colombia (Bogota) took so much energy from me. Undeniably, these two were the highlights of my Latin American trip. Rio stressed my a lot, as such, naging pahinga ko na din actually itong stay sa Costa Rica. Mura din ang pagkain, but I actually started to crave for fast food na. lol

Filipinos are visa-free to enter Costa Rica, btw.

From San Jose, the adventure continues to Nicaragua by land/public bus. Dito na yata start ng pinaka mahirap na leg of the trip. Kwento ko later.