Three Perfect Days
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No matter how many passport stamps you’ve collected, visiting Costa Rica presents a challenge. What seems so small and straightforward on paper—a traveler-friendly nation that’s dwarfed by West Virginia—feels larger than life once you’re on the ground. The seas on either side are separated by rugged mountain ranges, complete with fire-spitting volcanoes and mist-shrouded cloud forests. And the country’s dozen or so distinct ecological zones— which are heavily protected and together account for 5 percent of the world’s biodiversity, including jaguars, sloths, and more than 1,200 species of butterfly—are also home to an abundance of microclimates, each of which has little regard for your plans. It excites the imagination, but also forces hard decisions: Absorb the culture of bustling San José, spy on treetop monkeys on Volcán Arenal, or dive into the cobalt-blue Pacific on Guanacaste’s Gold Coast? You’ll be in a rush to do it all, but remember to slow down. It’s only then that you’ll discover the state of being known as pura Three vida—the true source of Costa Rica’s wealth. Perfect Days Costa Rica By Peter Koch Photography by Matthew Johnson 56 57 56-69_HEMI1019_3PD_3_R1.indd 56 06/09/2019 10:11 56-69_HEMI1019_3PD_3_R1.indd 57 06/09/2019 10:11 DAY 11,260-foot-tall volcano, loom- original intent was to give all with embroidered first com- ing over the skyline. San José is Costa Ricans access to high- munion dresses, Technicolor perched at 3,845 feet above sea brow culture; admission was floral displays, and growers of level, in the mountain-fringed just one colón. Perusing the every tropical fruit imagin- Valle Central, where temps box off ice schedule, I’m happy able. I follow my nose to Café hover at a pleasant 70 degrees to discover that the egalitar- Central Cafeteria, where I buy year-round. The least I can do ian spirit lives on: a matinee a bag of single-origin Arabica is get outside and enjoy it. performance by Costa Rican granos de oro, and then head to After chowing down on a saxophone quintet Sonsax the legendary La Sorbetera de plate of perfectly ripe tropical costs a mere 3,390 colones— Lolo Mora. Open since 1901, fruits, I head downtown to the less than $6—for a second-row the family-owned ice cream Plaza de la Cultura. The small, seat. On a whim, I buy a ticket. counter sells just one flavor— stone-and-shrub square serves With time to kill before the a custard-like vanilla with as the city’s central gathering show, I take a short walk to the nutmeg and cinnamon place, and it whirls with life Museo de Arte y Diseño Con- undertones. I order a cup and this morning, as locals unwind temporáneo, which is housed savor every spoonful; whoever on stone benches and street in the former national liquor speak to relevant issues— decided “vanilla” should be a vendors sell tourists corn to factory, an industrial complex political and armed conflicts, synonym for “plain” never ate feed the aggressive swarms of that dates to 1856, making it migration, gender, identity— at Lolo Mora. pigeons. Large-scale abstract one of San José’s oldest build- facing the entire world.” Afterward, I hurry back bronze and marble sculptures ings. At the museum, I meet Much of the work in the to the theater, as Sonsax is dot the plaza, part of a citywide curator Daniel Soto Morúa, Main Hall, including Adiós about to take the stage. Four exhibition by Jorge Jiménez Lela, a diptych by Monge that sax players—soprano, alto, Deredia, a Costa Rican sculp- contains a gun camouflaged tenor, and baritone—and a tor who’s based in Italy, where in a jaguar pattern, comments percussionist play pieces by his works have graced the Col- “ Whoever decided on violence in Central Amer- Cuban-born composer Javier iseum and St. Peter’s Basilica. ‘vanilla’ should ica. But it’s not all heavy: In Zalba that range from frenzied I wander over to the south the next gallery, a handful of and experimental to more side of the plaza and the Teatro be a synonym for large sitting stones have each traditional Latin. When the Nacional, which was built after ‘plain’ never ate been raised to stool-height by a curtain falls, I dance my way world-famous soprano Adelina tripod of chair legs, creating a up the aisle. Patti snubbed Costa Rica on the ice cream at sort of caveman spin on IKEA. My only lunch was that cup her Central American tour Lolo Mora.” Tour complete, I venture of ice cream, so I’m more than in 1890. (Local coffee barons, onto the pedestrian-only ready for a hop through the shop that’s so underground I culture of gastronomy, and their pride wounded, agreed Avenida Central, where I’m Barrio Escalante gastronomic have trouble finding it. Font realize that we have much ► Devouring art and ice to an export tax to pay for the who agrees to show me around swept into a river of foot district with Adriana H. Font, is waiting at the wooden bar, more than rice and beans.” construction of a theater in (A+D)*25=Ag, a retrospective traffic flowing toward the a former marketing exec and and as I enjoy a revelatory cup From there, we walk to cream in San José the style of the opulent Paris that celebrates the museum’s Mercado Central. I duck into the discerning proprietor of of coffee, she tells me, “I want 11.47 Aranjuez, a six-table opera house.) When it finally first 25 years and the work of the maze of aisles, picking my Foodie Tours Costa Rica. Our people to come to San José, spot attached to Hotel Aran- opened in 1897, the theater— Central American contempo- way past butchers and fish - rendezvous point is Under- visit these small places, learn juez. Each artfully presented and, by extension, Costa Rica— rary artists, such as the inter- mongers, traditional clothiers ground Brew Café, a coffee about Costa Rica’s growing contemporary dish is inspired awake to the thrum of confirmed its position in the nationally renowned Manuel by a different region of Costa rush-hour traffic on world by luring a Paris opera Zumbado and Priscilla Monge. Rica. The coconut-breaded, the avenue below my company to perform Faust at “Through its 25 years, COFFEE CULTURE flash-fried tuna with mango window at the Hotel its inauguration. Despite its MADC has positioned The grano de oro (“golden bean”) was the first major export to bring prominence to Costa Rica, which chutney is delicious, and local 1Grano de Oro. While it’s not luxurious appearance, a very Central America internation- in every sense of the word. I grows 100 percent Arabica beans across eight distinct regions. Here, three ways to get a local perk. exactly the wake-up call of earnest docent informs me, the ally,” Soto says. “[These works] And that’s how the rest birds and howler monkeys of the night goes: sipping I’d envisioned, it’s also not Costa Rican craft beers at entirely surprising. After all, Traditional Touristy Third Wave Agüizotes Gastro Pub, try- I’m starting out in San José, ing corn-based indigenous Costa Rica’s lively capital city. The gloriously simple The Valle Central is home to For over a century, Costa Rica’s dishes at Sikwa, and trusting Long treated by travelers as chorreador (“coffee sock”) is Costa Rica’s oldest coffee leading coffee farmers exported our livers to the country’s top Opening spread, little more than a way station the classic Costa Rican coffee plantations, many of which all of their best beans, but that’s bartenders, Isaac Montero from left: the 300- foot-tall Catarata en route to a beach or jungle preparation. The grounds offer tours. At Doka Estate, on changing, as third wave coffee and Clark Jiménez, at Mil948 de La Paz; stand-up vacation (something I’ve been are spooned into a stand- the slopes of Volcán Poás, the shops have begun sourcing Cocktail Room, where every paddleboarding along mounted cotton pouch, hot Vargas family has been growing directly from local producers. the Gold Coast; right: guilty of on previous trips), drink is custom-made, based viewing a painting at San José is experiencing a water is poured over them, premium beans since 1940. For a deep dive, do the two-hour on your choice of liquor and the Museo de Arte y and the brew filters into a cup Tours here take visitors into the private coffee experience ($35) Diseño Contemporáneo; revival and deserves some f lavor preference. By the time opposite page, from attention. The morning is or pitcher below. Try it at Café fields and roasting facilities and at San José’s Underground Brew it’s over, I’ve gained a deeper top left: a shrimp dish Central Cafeteria in San José’s end with a sampling of eight Café. undergroundbrewcafe. at 11.47 Aranjuez; the overcast, but through the mist understanding of, and respect dining room at Sikwa I can see the f lanks of Irazú, an Mercado Central. roasts. dokaestate.com business.site for, Costa Rican cuisine. 58 59 56-69_HEMI1019_3PD_3_R1.indd 58 06/09/2019 10:11 56-69_HEMI1019_3PD_3_R1.indd 59 06/09/2019 10:11 DAY that delivers visitors deep into the cloud forests of the sur - “ The crater’s rounding national park and mineral-rich within a few hundred yards of the steaming crater.