Day 20: Santiago

The day has finally come. In 8 hours, we will finally be heading home after a long, exciting, and fulfilling adventure. Back in San Jose, our waking up to the sounds of cars honking and alarms beeping instead of the crow of a rooster was quite a change after our stay with the Bri Bri people, but we awoke ready for our last full day in Costa Rica. 

After another typical breakfast of rice, beans, and eggs, we followed our guide, Matt, on another walk through San Jose. We passed some familiar sights, but the standout destination was the Museum of Gold.

 

From the bottom floor up, the Museum of Gold was a self-guided tour through the culture and artifacts of past indigenous peoples, including those of the Bri Bri people, and other details of Costa Rican history, including the evolution of their currency. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the way the worldview was presented in museum exhibits and the stories told to us by Miriam and our host families in our host community.

 

We then visited two markets, the local central market we looked around at the start of our stay, and another, smaller one more tailored towards artisan and souvenir goods. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time in either before we made a grocery store snack run for our impending journey back. After a long rest in the hotel, we made our way to a restaurant to celebrate our successful and incident-free visit with a nice meal filled with laughter and reminiscing of our fondest memories from the past 3 weeks.

 

By this time tomorrow, we will be back home. See you soon!









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