San Jose had a different vibe to what we expected and after checking in, Peter, Anne and I took off for a real lunch. We found a great sandwich place and had iced coffees and smoothies. A big improvement on biscuits!
US dollars are taken readily so I haven’t bothered to switch to the local currency yet. It has a massive exchange like US$1 equals 500.50 Colones. Soo confusing. A steak tonight was 11,000 ($21.00). Huge meals.
There are some very impressive buildings but there is a main avenue of shops which are a mix of discount outlet style and quite nice shops but it all seems a bit tacky. About 4 McDonald’s in 4 blocks! The impression maybe influenced by the number of closed places and we are sleep deprived. It is Easter after all. Some of our tourist destinations ( like the Jade Museum and Gold museum were closed).
As we meandered the streets we ventured into the Cathedral which from the outside looked more like a town hall but inside was elegant and it had beautiful stained glass windows. All c18th century.
Next thing we heard a mass being publicly broadcast and so we wandered towards it. Opposite a little square dedicated to something to do with the European Union we came across a bronze statue of John Lennon and a marble statue of a famous Argentinian guitarist. Opposite was the Church dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrow. Then a flurry of activity occurred with people in costume emerging from the church. It was the procession for Our Lady of Sorrow. We were impressed that the tableau’s were being carried by women. They are really heavy.
Our guide explained the women with fancy headdresses were representing the women of the temple . They carried banners asking for forgiveness. The procession went all around town hence the barricades we had come across.
After the procession left we went into the church itself. It was similar in decoration to the Cathedral but had a blue ceiling signifying the Virgin Mary. We were amused that the Christ statue that had been lying in state was being bundled off .
We headed back to the hotel and readied ourselves to meet the new group members and our new group leader.
A long day became longer! Our guide is Ronny a young 29 year old with not much personality. After laying down expectations
fleetfootkath 