As our time in Boquete came to an end, we grabbed a school bus to David
and then, with a little help, found the Tracopa ticket office
and purchased two tickets to San Jose, Costa Rica. One note here, Tracopa buses are not air conditioned but they DO have internet,
but since we were heading to Costa Rica, we didn’t think it would be a big problem and it wasn’t. We hit the crowded border check point and got stamped out of Panama and then walked, with our suitcase and backpacks, to the entry check point of Costa Rica. We got our entry stamps and then were herded into a cage with our luggage and told to wait.
About 45 minutes later, 2 guys from immigration came into the cage and did a search of our bags. Then, we were back on the bus and headed to San Jose.
Just because the timing was right and the price was good, we signed up for an 8 day tour by Gate 1 around part of Costa Rica. We got to San Jose a few days before the start of the tour to give us a chance to look around. San Jose has many museums and we were able to visit two of them, The Gold Museum which contains a lot of pre Columbian era gold and was a fascinating place.
We also went to The National Museum
and had a wonderful time visiting the exhibits
and learning more about the fascinating history of Costa Rica.
We visited the market in downtown San Jose one day
where one can buy anything from chicken feet
to hand crafted items
in rows and rows of vendors
selling food,
clothing and miscellaneous.
There is one avenue that is opened to
pedestrian traffic only
and is lined with stores of every kind and many restaurants.
Great place for people watching too.
Bob & Suzi's Perpetual Vacation 
The pictures bring back the good memories of our visit to San Jose.
We really enjoyed San Jose. It certainly is a vibrant city.
Suzi
So fun to read about your experiences in Boquete, David and San Jose. We missed the immigration cage and entertainment but loved the Gold museum. Considering that the Spanish shipped so much gold and other precious metal and stones back to Spain it was amazing to see the wealth of artifacts that were left behind and displayed- gorgeous! Anita
Trust me, you didn’t miss much 🙂 Yes, the gold museum was a highlight. We really enjoyed the displays.
Suzi