Never say never. We may be back, but for now we’re exploring Colombia.

San Jose once again impressed. I would live there. The traffic (and therefore pollution) can be bad, but it can be avoided by living in a nice, walkable neighbourhood and driving off-peak hours, if necessary.

This time we stayed in an AIrBNB in Heredia, which is part of metropolitan San Jose, so to speak, to the north. The climate is so nice – high twenties in the day and high teens at night. This place was a short four-minute walk to the grocery store and a few other things, but otherwise was not a place we’d want to live because there’s not much to walk to. When we stayed in the Escalante barrio previously, we were within minutes of countless restaurants and 30 minutes walking from downtown.

That said, where we stayed was an interesting example of an older gated community. It was safe and reasonably quiet, given the road alongside. The AirBNB house was in some ways a typical Costa Rican or Colombian city home: Walk through the carport to the front door, which opens to a living room. Keep going and you’ll pass bedrooms, a bathroom, the kitchen…and then you’re outside but under cover in a large enclosed patio. To give an idea of how large and diverse it was, it includes a dining room table close to the exit from the kitchen, a laundry area further on, which is beside an open, grassed area that is not roofed. Bypass the grassed area to another table and chairs and sofa and chairs. Except for the grassed area, all this is covered by a roof and also open air. It’s a great arrangement in that climate.

The tree below was across the road. I believe there are vines growing throughout that produce the other flowers. We liked the ‘flowerpot’ too.

I don’t have photos of the neighbourhood because there wasn’t much special to see. Houses, shopping, road.

Costa Rica has many nationalities, similar to Victoria, but this, I don’t even:

Here’s another tree covered with flowers. San Jose’s climate is very similar to Victoria, BC in the summer. Imagine eternal Victoria summer, and that’s what San Jose offers. As a result, trees and flowers grow very well indeed.

A lesson learned for our journey is that we like this climate. Never too hot, never cold, just cool in the evenings. You can’t beat it. Puerto Viejo and the coasts of Costa Rica (and Colombia) are just too hot to live. Likely climate change will make those areas even hotter.

So, back to Colombia to explore! Sanji wanted to make sure he was not left behind:

We enjoyed the week in San Jose and, if you avoid the traffic, it is a great place to live in many ways. Live in the right neighbourhood and you can walk to all kinds of shops and restaurants, squares and fountains. San Jose doesn’t have beaches or ocean, but it has a wonderfully comfortable year-round climate, shops, restaurants, and walkability if you choose the right barrio. And it’s less than a two hours’ drive from beaches. We may be back.

Finally, waiting for the Uber to the airport. The driver was a typical Tico: rearranged the car and ultimately tied things on the roof in order to get us all in the car. 🙂

See you in Cali!