San Jose: Shopping

The funky 2-block stretch of San Pedro just south of the University of Costa Rica is the closest thing to Paris's Left Bank or New York's East Village you'll find here. Bars and cafes are mixed in with bookstores, malls, and shops.

Central Costa Rica is brimming with arts and crafts, you'll find enough chioces to fill even the largest travel bags. Take time to stop at the San Pedro mall where you can browse for leather goods and fine handicrafts. Visitors especially enjoy the Plaza de la culture, which every day of the week fills with colorful stalls selling T-shirts, paintings, trinket jewelry, and excellent-quality hammocks

Atmosfera, is one of the specilaty shops where a recently added gallery on the second floor displays fantastic Indian masks, carved fantasy beasts, and paintings. You can find brightly painted ceramic buses filled with people. Wooden and gold-plated brooches and pins are other bargains.

Anne Marie's boutique in the Hotel Don Carlos has a complete array of souvenirs, handicrafts, and artwork of every description, including Panamanian Molas and silkscreen scarves by Banana Republic. The upscale La Galaria has a fine selection of quality handicrafts and also features Barry Biesanz woodworks along with reproduction Pre-Columbian 14-karat gold jewelry. Suraska Gallery sells top-quality woodcarvings and furniture. The works of renowned North American artists/carpenters Bary Biesanz and Jay Morrison are on sale here.

Clothing

If you want to go home looking like the locals, check out he Mercado Central market , where you'll find embroidered shirts and blouses and cotton campesino hats. La Choza Folklorica specializes in replicas of national costumes. Typical Costa Rican dresses can also be bought at Bazaar Central Souvenir. A good place to find the handmade appliqued blouses and fabrics-molas-from the Drakes's Bay region and the San Blas Islands of Panama is Antic, next door to the Gran hotel.

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