mercado central

Today's adventure led us to downtown San Jose.  We stopped by Mercado Central, which has lots of vendors selling their handmade items. There are a lot of the same things for sale as at the beaches...only half the price! Stuff is a better deal here but still not super cheap. At least they make you feel as if you are getting a good deal though...for example: "This normally $10, but special price for you, only $7!" Wow, just for me?! haha. It was fun.  Downtown has every kind of shop you could want, lots of shoestores, food places, restaurants, etc.  Definitely fun to walk through.

Speaking of walking, we did a lot of that today! My host mom told us to take a bus because it was far, but we like to walk, and walk we did! Definitely got our exercise today.  We do a lot of walking here in general.  Also, I don't think of mentioned the driving here yet. It's crazyy. Cars will NOT stop for you.  Ever.  And speed limits don't seem to hold too much weight here.  And there must be some law that states that if there isn't much or any traffic, stop lights and stop signs are optional. Use your best judgement.  Also, beware when walking behind a stopped car, as it will roll back a little bit before it goes (bad news if you are walking behind it).  Honking is also a part of the driving culture here.  As it was described to us, there is a honk to tell you to go, move, that the light is green, that the light will turn green in a minute, or just to let you know that the traffic is not moving exactly how you would like it to. A word to the wise, if you ever come to San Jose, do not rent a car. =)

downtown San Jose