On the path from Niagara Falls to Toronto and Montreal, there are more than a few unique spots to tease you and entice you to visit. Head by vehicle to see the waterfalls and by rail or car to see the glorious, expansive Canadian green fields and ample amount of lakes and ponds and wildlife between cities. Niagara Falls is exactly as jaw-dropping as you might expect, with the rush of water pouring over the edges and a thick smoke-like haze of water and mist crashing back upwards after its plummet. A visit at dusk is perfect. Allow time during the daylight to see it with clarity, but at night there’ll be colored lights behind the walls of the falls to highlight its beauty in another way. Stop at a local gift shop to buy your souvenir of Niagara Falls water or maple-flavored anything. Toronto is nearby just after the border and around a nook of Lake Ontario. Walk through Old Town Toronto to see the historic district. The people are mostly friendly, but working and have places to be. You won’t be able to miss the height of the CN tower in your sight, from which you can overlook the city and the lake or dine and find out more information about the area. It resembles Seattle’s Space Needle Observatory. Another set of buildings forms a shape that from an aerial view will look like an eye, nicknamed the Eye of Toronto. Back on the ground, Queen’s Park near the University of Toronto is filled with memorial statues and colorful gardens. Toronto’s Casa Loma castle is worth a tour. From the grounds, its Gothic Era-influenced architecture and elegant, pruned gardens will make you feel like royalty from another time before you even enter. Step inside and walk down the long wooden corridors and peer into the rooms filled with 19th Century furniture. Pass through large gathering halls to get from place to place. Climb a spiral staircase to get to a tower in the castle. Step outside again to look over the round, stone bastions and into the courtyards. Traverse to Montreal, capital of Quebec. A historical city with a more antique and European ambience, it contrasts to Toronto’s more modern city-vibe feel. However, upon entering Montreal, you are reminded of a typically urban issue of graffiti left on buildings in the abandoned outskirts. Signs are in French and English and speakers of one or the other, or both, are everywhere in the city. You can cross over the legendary St. Lawrence River several times to view different places in and around the city, as it is set on an island in the river. For an educational stop in Montreal, its uniquely-structured Biodome offers a museum-experience to learn about the ecosystems and especially as they pertain to this region in Canada. Montreal’s older cobblestone streets and public quarters present memorial statues and plenty of handsome yet humble churches; in particular is the Notre Dame Basilica. From the outside, it seems like only some more beautiful gothic-revival architecture. But once inside, you’ll truly appreciate even more the amount of stained glass, high ceiling archways, and intricate, multi-hued designs and images that surround you along the sides and at the altar. The colors are everywhere, as if you stepped inside a holy rainbow. Simple and plentiful details decorate the pulpit. In the back is a great organ of 7,000 pipes that takes your imagination to a French Beauty and the Beast-like childhood memory. Though this only highlights a few special spots in Eastern Canada, be assured its citizens are welcoming and navigation is fairly simple. Plenty of visiting spots await in Toronto and Montreal, not to mention the alluring Niagara Falls en route, available to view on both Canadian and United States’ sides. For city-goers and lake-weather lovers, Toronto is very relatable and accessible. For history buffs, language lovers, and a taste of Europe, Montreal is the place to go. Allons-y! A bitter cold February weekend while living in upstate New York with cabin-fever brought on a visit to the Adirondack Mountain region in the North Country of New York state. The North Country encompasses a large area just a couple of hours north of the Capital District, bordered by Lake Ontario, and all the way up to the Canadian border. Interstate 87 runs parallel to the Hudson River on the west side of the banks, and beyond Albany it is called the Northway. It will take you all the way up to Canada, and the busy highway narrows and becomes two-lane traffic as civilization starts to be left behind you to the south. Easy roads curve gently as you glide through magnificent evergreens, familiar maples, and peeling birch trees, which welcome you to the comfort and seclusion of deeper country. Our destination was the open road and vistas, looking for places to walk on crisp snow and enjoy the frozen, sub-zero outdoors, to later enjoy warmth of a home-cooked meal and hot coffee by a fireplace somewhere along route. Stop along the way to see the breath-taking Lake George and a few mountains in the backdrop on the opposite side of the lake. Lake George area is clearly a tourist stop, almost like the Wisconsin Dells in the center of that state, but particularly in warmer months as most places were closed for the harsh temperatures, unless you are interested in finding a snow-sport shop. But the stop without people bustling about is still splendid, the water not quite frozen, but clear and flat like glass, motionless in the winter air, leaving the reflections from the mountains beyond to offer a completely new set of upside-down scenery at which to wonder and take pictures. Heading further north to Pottersville, this small town offers the Natural Stone Bridge and Caves. Alas, there was not enough snow on the ground at the time to do a snowshoe walk, but they do offer this as an option. Instead, you can take the shoe-traction Yaktrax and begin walking through the trails, making sure you’re bundled up in layers, preferably after making your stop at their Porta Potty before you begin the walk. The natural trails are clearly marked in different colors depending on which routes you would like to take. With fewer people on the trail, the chill, winter silence is just as stunning as the air will make of your breathing. Ice forms on your eyelashes, eyebrows, facial hair, and crystals form in the air as you exhale. But you cannot replace the absolute peacefulness you will experience by standing still in any spot and taking a look around you, breathing in the untouched air and admiring the heavens-high foliage down to the recently sprouted. Your feet will crunch in the snow on the path and you’ll see animal droppings and tracks of rabbit, deer, and bobcat, keeping your head constantly turning to see if you can take a glimpse of one, or in case you should make a run for it. You can head upwards if you want elevation, or down if you want to see the Trout Brook. In several places, you will see the water and can walk right up to the frozen stream and observe its natural thick, frozen chunks of ice and snow in various shapes, while some water still moves and weaves through it. Step aside and follow a creaky, wooden trail path to step over the bubbling brook and visit the cave marvel to claim. Underneath the Large Stone Bridge is the marble cave, the water running right up and into it. In warmer months, you can enter it. The geology in the New York region beginning in the Lower Hudson Valley and all the way up to this region in the north is a wonder and treat for geological appreciators, and this spot is no exception. (If you like these sorts of things make sure and stop at the John Boyd Thacher National Park just outside Albany to take another gentle hike with views, rock layers and formations, and spouting waterfalls to see more examples of this natural beauty). When you return to the natural trail, head back into the gift shop for nature information books and outdoorsy and homemade gifts and decorations, which might either make you feel like wearing flannel and cross-cutting some wooden lumber cookies out in the forest or as if you might suddenly become a landscape art collector. The park also offers several other activities, museums, lodging, and cafe throughout the warmer seasons of the year. If you’re searching for the perfect place to get warm and fill up with scrumptious comfort food, head south a short drive and stop at O. P. Frederick’s Restaurant at the intersection of New York Routes 9 and 8 in Chestertown near Loon Lake. The staff are welcoming and very friendly, and even if you’re the only or one of a few patrons willing to venture out on such a freezing day, they will open up the fire hearth and serve you hot coffee until you politely decline any more. Completely unwind and dine while your nose warms up and your feet feel circulation again. Allow the comforting scent of wood fire and crackling sounds of hot embers to permeate your nose and clothes and put your being in a relaxed state for you to eat your meal and enjoy your company at a more natural pace once again. This field trip is just right for a bit of physical activity and some soul-resting and mind-recouping to make you feel whole again. Tucked away, quite truthfully, in the mountains in the northern Asturian Province of Spain, is the quiet village of Covadonga, Cangas de Onís and its Holy Chapel. The location is quiet in character, except for the milling about of the reverent tourists who have come to see this unique and sacred site. Police monitor the noise levels and make sure that all are respectful so each has the positive or spiritual experience for which they came. Taking a ride through weaving roads surrounded by nearby Picos de Europa mountains, seemingly to get lost among them, you will pass several opportunities to stop for souvenirs or to participate in outdoors sports, including river-kayaking, and accommodations are aplenty. If you look up as you ride closer to the destination, you will begin to see the grey spires of an elevated pink-limestone basilica as you reach the main area. The view itself is not only spectacular because of the Neo-Romanesque architecture and unusual color, but because of its backdrop and the sheer height and awe of its presence, making you feel incredibly small as you approach it even though you know it is not even close to being one of the largest religious structures you may have ever seen or will ever see. Park and walk up the hill; upon coming even nearer by walking up to this Basílica de Santa María la Real de Covadonga, it still proves a remarkable church especially in this setting, what with its fortress-like walls surrounding the church grounds and overlooking the small village—you can walk all the way around it. Yet now it does not seem intimidating in its height after all. It seems like a perfectly ordinary place to be, just with the views of say, what a king might have had. Current posters advertising the school-age studies, stringed instrument and vocal musical ensembles, and current events at the church are hung on the communication boards outside, bringing you back into the reality that this is still the town’s church and not just a history lesson field trip. Covadonga comes from the Latin “Cova dominica,” or Cavern of the Lady (Virgin Mary). The site to be seen here is yet to be told. A miniature chapel rests directly inside a mountain-side, with a small, calm body of mountain water directly below and in front of it at ground level. The chapel is still in use, and visitors can climb the stairs and wait their turn to view the entire chapel and also witness or partake in a religious service. Bells will toll for service, and announcements will be made overhead when it is time to move on, or time to begin the worship. Upon exiting this unusually-placed chapel, there will be a long, dark cave chamber to walk through. The end of the hallway is filled with flickering candle-lights, lit for remembrances, and the smell of wax and heat of the flames can be overwhelming, besides the inestimable number of candles that were lit indicating how frequented is this sanctuary. The chapel was originally made of wood and built in the Eighth Century under King Alfonso I of Asturias, but due to a fire, was rebuilt since. The area was created as a tribute to the Spanish and Christian victory over the Muslim Moors, the battle in which Spanish nobleman and founder of Asturias, Pelayo, was hero and conqueror. The tombs of Pelayo and the King and his family are at this cave, and there is a statue of Pelayo outside the Basílica. A museum, school, convent, and religious study quarter sit between the chapel and basilica. There are stalls of memorabilia lining the streets, and tour guides and busses offer to take you to see the Lagos de Covadonga, two stunning lakes further upward in the mountains, which I have yet to see with my own eyes. Parts of the town indeed resemble obvious tourist attraction, but if you find yourself nearby and have even a half a day to breathe in a moment of history and spiritual appreciation, take it here in this village. Stepping into another world, let alone one of its religious sites, is a surefire way to open channels of connection and humility. Woodstock, New York. The Ulster County town was not quite what I had imagined, though I had already frequented and been living in the Hudson Valley area in New York for a bit of time and more or less understood the make-up of these little hamlets up and down the infamous river and branching out into the magnificent bulging Catskills on one side, the lovely, winding Taconic State Parkway on the other. How different would it be from Hudson? From Kingston? From Red Hook? Albany? Poughkeepsie? Woodstock is nestled in the Mid-Hudson River Valley Region, and is about a twenty-minute winding drive inland from the town of Kingston that is situated on the river. To be clear, the notorious 1960’s historical festival was actually held in Bethel, about 60 miles, or nearly an hour and a half-rural drive, from Woodstock. The stunning Ashokan Reservoir is just minutes away. As a musician, this is an exciting tidbit of trivia, as the famous melody of “Ashokan Farewell” by fiddler Jay Ungar, from the PBS Civil War series was inspired around these parts, in conjunction with this musician’s music camps. I was in Woodstock due to a concert in which I performed, and had to allow myself extra time to examine the area. It is a very arts-oriented town, and had a calm ambience. There were a few homes dotted along the road to enter and leave the town, and many prized, local businesses were located on the main road, or just down a side street. The town boasts a hard-to-miss theater-style Playhouse with casual parking. One of the most interesting places was the candle shop “Candlestock,” where an abundance of homemade, colorful and/or scented candles are at your disposal in any size, shape, number, or style. They in fact have something for everyone. Their selection is truly awesome. As you step back outside, the colors have not disappeared, as all of the streets and businesses are ornamented with welcoming, relaxing, and happy-feeling shades, whether on their shutters, siding, signs, flags, or other emblems. Walk down the road and you will find yourself getting in touch with your spiritual side, and happen upon the Mirabai Bookstore. As bookstore fanatics, we tend to try out every bookstore in any new place to see what it has to offer, and how it is presented. Here you’ll find a small shop with crystals and stones for any ailment or spiritual meditation, self-help and contemplation books, and information about healing workshops. Across the street is Bread Alone, a hopping breakfast or afternoon snack bar with delicious coffee and tempting homemade and healthier, more earthly sweets and breads. One of my favorite things about the entire Hudson Valley region is how much its inhabitants and immigrants are in touch with the land they set foot on and which we all use. (The town of Hudson is a prime example of this as well). Other businesses carry free-flowing garb and jewelry, and burlap and tie-dye have not yet left this town. Nor have those who are still using the herbs of the land, as you’ll find a few of those townies milling about on the street in the small historic area. There, is a peace memorial tribute in multiple languages expressing “May Peace Prevail on Earth” erect in a small paved median in the town’s center. Older white Colonial civic buildings and humble homes surround the circle. There are several artist galleries and museums beyond the center to indulge in likely every sense you have. Woodstock was a pleasant and unique once-in-a-lifetime experience. You really need to be there to even begin to understand what goes on in this practically hidden, but not forgotten, spot of the country. The town, among others in the Hudson Valley, is virtually still an artists’ and dreamers’ colony, and hopefully will forever be so, so when one returns, it shares exactly the same nostalgic, welcoming kaleidoscopic tones as it has had all the years beforehand. Quaint, charming, cozy, and friendly. These are practically tabooed words attempted to be avoided when writing about any particular place, trying to entice people to visit. However, Bennington, Vermont, in the lower western corner of the state, is just all of these things, and later you may even understand why I have decided on these choice words and agree with me. Known as a former battle-town location by way of involvement in the American Revolutionary War (Battle of Bennington, 1777), the town is quite beautiful in its quaint, charming, cozy, and friendly way. When entering the town from the west on a main route, turning north on one path with bring you to the part of the neighborhood housing several historical points of interest. The Bennington Battle Monument is similar to one of many like it throughout the East Coast of the United States. It is in the center of a round, green courtyard, surrounded by a circle drive in one direction all the way around. On one side of the loop are a few shops presenting historical and special event information, Vermont maple syrup and other food and souvenirs, while residences shape the remainder of the rest of the circle. We chanced upon a free entrance day to the monument during a small local festival, though it really is worth the trivial five-dollar or less entrance fee to go inside for a look. The event being held was a race to the top of the over 400-stairs built inside. There is also an elevator, obviously built at a later date, but still just as rickety as one can imagine. Inside the monument is damp and cool. There is a cast-iron kettle hanging on rafters inside the stone-structure, and on all four sides, windows. These windows provided look-out points for battle, able to see over the rolling hills out to the Adirondacks of New York to the west, Massachussetts from the south, and Vermont to the north and east for any possible attacks. Now, the open windows serve as fantastic photo-taking spots. Heading back into the small town, one will be able to stop by the Old First Congregational Church of Bennington, a Protestant worship place. This standing structure was built in 1805 with a few refurbishments since, and taking a step inside will take you back into Colonial time. Nearly all the interior and exterior is painted white; seats are of old red velvet cushion, offering a stark contrast. The church is still used for worship, but you will see the way it was built—as the guide explains—initially having better-to-do families sitting in paid reserved family box pews on the main level of the floor, with everyone else in the lofts on the sides. The preacher’s spot in front has a long staircase on either side of the pulpit, rising up to meet it. An organ and choir loft rest in the back of the second floor. Out back in the Old Bennington Cemetery is the grave of the American poet, Robert Frost. Traveling through winding roads to the outskirts of town to experience a few endearing covered-bridges of the Northeast is a must. There are several over a span of some miles, but three are nestled closely together, crossing the Walloomsac River several times, not so far from this part of Bennington. The helpful, welcoming folks back at the monument gift shops are more than eager to explain to outsiders how to experience this road trip. The three we drove through were: Silk Covered Bridge, Burt Henry Covered Bridge, and the Paper Mill Village Bridge, this last with a defunct paper mill hiding beneath it. The twisting roads do not offer much a place to stop to admire, and there is a bit of local traffic requiring the one-lane bridges, but you will find a way to pull off somewhere and walk up to see the iconic New England red-planked structures. The setting in any weather would be perfect for painting, picture-taking, writing, and just sitting to admire these nostalgic constructions surrounded by nature that at one picturesque glance is seemingly stunningly motionless, yet in fact it is stirring all around it. A little south of these bridges are a couple of small-town-busy main streets that make up downtown Bennington. Head due north from there for a short, scenic drive, passing woods, mills, and rustic homes, to Shaftsbury to find one of Robert Frost’s homes: now The Robert Frost Stone House Museum. Frost lived in various places throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. (An aside that another famed poet, Edgar Allen Poe, also had multiple homes turned museums: located in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia and for a stint in Baltimore, Maryland. The former now boasts a large museum on Poe and the latter is kept as a small house-museum like this one but in a brick row-home, the size of which this Midwesterner could barely imagine in today’s modern world how entire families occupied these tiny and tight places, let alone get any creative work accomplished). Situated on a small piece of farmland, the Frost lot includes a couple of buildings, including a barn and the matching home with red barn-style planks and panes and a stone-built base. A gravel and grassy pathway lead up to the doorstep. Step inside the wobbly screen-door entrance into a foyer, and further enter the home which is set up to be a display of the poet’s works and inspirational sources. The abode is quite small, and you can walk around the center in just a short time going from room to room seeing small-scale exhibits. This is the location he wrote his famous text “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and the museum is sure to have this pointed out for you with added details. There is a small gift-and book-shop inside. Regardless of what is in the home now and that taking photos was not allowed, it is fascinating to get a glimpse into an artist’s life and to wonder and to witness the landscapes which inspired him for a better understanding of his work. It is no surprise he is one of my beloved poets. When a person can be thoroughly immersed in the beauty of nature and life in it and then be able to write about it, expressing him or herself through it and sharing that with others, this is spirit-fulfilling, likewise as it is for the reader from reading and absorbing it. Vermont's woodsy setting is ideal to round the day trip to a close: Stopping by Frost’s home on a drizzly day is an antidote for literary inspiration and historical curiosity. Bennington Battle Monument
The Old First Church Covered Bridges of Vermont Robert Frost Stone House Museum (website under construction as of 2/5/18) Edgar Allen Poe in Baltimore Alajuela Province is an excellent region to pass through in Costa Rica and make a few stops. Just a bit out of the town named Alajuela is the Doka Coffee Estate. This is a stop you do not want to pass up, especially if you enjoy this beverage, and even if you don’t, just to see the coffee plantations is really something unique. This stop provides an exciting glimpse into the life and work of coffee-growers and makers. You can take a tour of the roasting-plant and fields, and see the coffee beans up-close and right behind a small restaurant and gift-shop, the Café Tres Generaciones. The smell is overwhelmingly delicious even if you are not a drinker, and may just tempt you to try a sip. A favorite was the Peaberry, but you can try any number of their goods from their website and have them delivered internationally (though they won’t be as fresh as from the plantation). If you haven’t had enough coffee from the Doka Estate or need something a little more emboldened with flavored syrups, try the Café that is about an hour from the estate and is at the entrance of the walkway for the Poas Volcano. I had a banana-syrup infused coffee with cream and it was divine. At the time of this piece, the Poas Volcano is unfortunately off-limits due to recent volcanic activity. But you can follow the park’s website for updates to see if and when it might be available to visit again. I am so grateful to have been able to have the experience to see these beautiful works of nature. There is a long and steadily inclined hike on paved walkway to be able to see the craters, and the oxygen-enriched air becomes diminished as you reach further heights—around 8,900 feet above sea level. Vegetation gets encrusted and brittle with ash and fewer living creatures can survive near the rocky summit. The view at the top is unbelievable. Look down into the rocky depression into the crater in the center and see steaming and bubbling liquid, presumably water, gasses, and minerals. The basin itself is an awesome sight of rock formations at varying heights and colors of sediment, and you will still see greenery in the distance away from the crater. Clouds float around you as you admire this gaping hole that you could almost walk around with some flat surfaces surrounding the opening. As you try to pull yourself away from this incredible sight, you head toward the lake in the same park and following that green background. You may wonder how there is a lake there, and is it worth going to see? The answer to the latter is profoundly yes. The Botos Lagoon is almost a surprise, so close to the landscape of the Poas volcanic crater. The lagoon is blue, cold, and looks like almost any other pond or lake, except it shares peaks with the volcano. This spot takes you as if to another world, and you see green vegetation forest all around and various forms of unique wildlife here. Enjoy another slightly athletic journey back down to earth, appreciating the influx of oxygen as you return. Costa Rican locals call themselves ticos, and add this as a suffix to several words in speech to more or less be playful with their expressions and very specific in their meaning. Returning to traveling the main roads, in the city of Sarchí there is an art shop, Tico Art, where you can purchase handmade woodwork and jewelry, and the omnipresent, nationally symbolic and brightly painted oxcart or oxcart wheel souvenir. Clearly, as we can see with the coffee plantations as an example, the oxen and cart represent the way the country was built and still functions in harvesting and serving its own people and for tourism. The people are friendly still, as one artist named Angelo welcomed my mother, also an artist, to try her hand at painting an oxcart and then some brightly colored macaws on a wooden serving platter. This may have been one of the most exciting points in our trip, to briefly become one among the locals. Much further north up the road from Sarchí, you’ll want to stop to appease your hard-earned appetite at Rancho de Ceci in Alfaro Ruiz for some flavorful typical Costa Rican fare in a friendly family-style atmosphere. Along with your delicious meal you can order one of the best blended fresh fruit drinks you’ll ever have in your life. This restaurant also seemed like the go-to place for local workers who stop by on their lunches, attesting to its worthiness by locals who know it well. Alajuela Province is full of treats and temptations for the eye and for the stomach. It is a fine area to be active in nature and take in the awe-inspiring landscapes as you traverse through them and meet all the wonderful, working people along the way, which makes for quite a pleasant and exciting excursion. It is difficult to choose where to start sharing about Costa Rica, as there are so many areas worth visiting and activities to do that I have decided against diminutively compiling them into one article. Several other experiences will be highlighted in future articles. This particular piece is a brief exposé of an experience in the capital city of San José, located in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is situated between Nicaragua and Panama in the lower peninsula of Central America, surrounded on either side by the Pacific and Caribbean waters. Arrive at San José’s comfortable Juan Santamaria International Airport just outside the capital, and ride into town for a stay at any number of hotels available throughout the city. If you’re fortunate you’ll get a higher view of the flat layout of the city. Beautiful at both day and night, daytime will offer you the distant misty-mountain landscape, with window views over the simple Spanish-style architecture with white or colorful buildings and rusty-brown shingled tops, with palm trees and other local foliage popping out between streets. Nighttime will bring you the beauty of city lights in the shadows of the cloud-enveloped mountains. The energy of the city will beckon you to return to its ground to explore. San José, bustling in any weather with people walking and biking around, has crowded streets of cars and motorcycles too, with a driving regulation depending on the digits of the license plates on a given day. Vendors will be walking throughout the streets and sidewalks trying to sell fresh fruits of the day. Tropical, lively Latin popular and folk music seeps out from various side streets. An important aside: Costa Rica has not had an army since 1948 following the country’s victory in its civil war, when the then president José Figueres had abolished it. During the year of this article, Costa Rica will celebrate 70 years without one. The country does regulate its gun laws, and so in some of the worst case-scenarios of any crime may include ‘only’ such violent acts of theft and robbery; so there are plenty of cast-iron gates on windows and surrounding much of the city’s residences and businesses that have been there for years, remaining throughout various political and societal changes. Despite these details, San José is a cheerful city and is still reasonably safe and peaceful, with much to offer its residents and guests. The country has since remained invested in security and law enforcement, culture, education, and flourishing tourism, and with good reason. The area where our tour stayed was close to downtown San José and near the country’s largest urban park, La Sabana Metropolitan Park. The park had plenty of room to roam the walkways, observe wildlife, play ball games, and admire the colorful Rainbow Eucalyptus trees growing throughout. Take a few-kilometer walk or ride going east to discover more to explore. You’ll find the ornate National Theater (Teatro Nacional), finished in the 19th Century and with erections to composers and musicians past in the front courtyard. Take a tour to see the inside and learn about the history of this beautiful theater. A bit further, you’ll find the National Museum of Costa Rica (Museo Nacional de Costa Rica). Housed here are numerous artifacts from centuries past in the Pre-Columbian Era before settlers came and materials from or influenced by surrounding indigenous peoples. One of the obscurities in Costa Rica is regarding the stone sphere, of which several are kept at the museum: massive round stone balls that had been discovered in an area of the country and seemingly man-made from very early in their ancestral time hundreds of years ago, with no real understanding what the use was for them. Just nearby is the National Artisans and Craft street flea market, where there are local harvested or prepared food and ample choices of handmade items to purchase. Take in a performance at San Pedro’s Eugene O’Neill Theater (TEO), the fourth largest theater in the country and also located in the San José Province; visit the University of Costa Rica in the vicinity, and observe the humble yet vibrant local children’s school buildings throughout the entire area. Stop in at any store off the street to pick up colorful Costa Rican garments or try a taste of neighborhood cuisine which almost always includes the staples of beans and rice with some kind of farmed meat, or fresh fruits. Discover the arts and education appreciation and history of this region in Central America around this urban center. Almost visible at every street corner, take in the views of the not so-far away mountains while you enjoy your time walking the city-life in San José. But venture out. There is even more to explore beyond those hills. |
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