Handicrafts

San Jose is brimming with arts and crafts, you'll find enough choices to fill even the largest travel bags. 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 (great buys at $20 - $30).

Atmosfera (calle 5, Avenida 3), is one of the specialty shops where a recently added gallery on the second floor displays fantastic Indian masks, carved fantasy beasts, and paintings. Some of the favorite items you'll find are the brightly painted ceramic buses filled with people (around $7). 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. 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;not cheap, but they're creations in exotic woods so unique and fantastic, with fine eye for detail. Jay Morris on is also owner of Magia, which also displays his work (calle 5, Avenida 1/3). 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.

Clothing

If you want to go home looking like the locals, check out he Mercado Central (Central Market) on Calle 6 and Avenida1, where you'll find embroidered shirts and blouses and cotton campesino hats. La Choza Folklorica (Avenida 3, Calle 1) specializes in replicas of national costumes. Typical Costa Rican dresses can also be bought at Bazaar Central Souvenir (Calle Central, Avenida 3). 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 (Edificio las Arcadas, Avenida 2 and Calle1) , next door to the Gran hotel. La Galaria, Suraska, and El Caseron (Calle Central, Avendas Central/1) also sell molas.

Much of the information on our site as it relates to Costa Rica is:

Courtesy of Christopher P. Baker and Avalon Travel Publishing.
© 2004 Christopher P. Baker. All Rights Reserved.

A2Z Languages highly recommends Christopher P. Baker's book: Moon Handbooks Costa Rica. Click on the image to visit his website where you can purchase this book or find out more about the author.