Trip to San Jose

We drove to San Jose the weekend before last to see the sights. We were a little anxious about driving as we had heard horror stories about the traffic, and we did get lost enough that it took us twice the time it should have to get to our hotel. We parked the car and took cabs the rest of the time. It rained the whole time and we were downright chilly and wished we had our fleece with us but we did get out and about and enjoyed seeing the major plazas downtown, including walking around el mercado central, a labyrinthian indoor market of various food, handcrafts, pets, costume jewelry, etc. A highlight was going to a children's/ art museum that had been made out of an old prison. It felt like we were witnessing the right kind of transformation to be patronizing a place with happy children flocking around inside of what once surely only housed heartache. Other highlights were fabulous food at Tin Jo, a nice Asian restaurant and Saporo, a Japanese restaurant. We also went on a crazy goose chase looking for a Lonely Planet guide for Panama, resulting in a $14 cab ride through multiple neighborhoods.
Next time we go, we'd like to finally find the purported bus/ train that does a little tour of downtown, see the gold museum and the national museum and maybe visit the big zoo outside of town.

Eva and Asa in front of gnarly tree on street

Asa feeding pigeons at Teatro Nacional