Shopping and Markets
San Jose's souvenir and crafts shops are well-stocked and in general fairly pricey; it's best to buy from larger ones, run by government-regulated crafts co-operatives, from which more of the money filters down to the artisans. Items for sale include an abundance of pre-Columbian gold jewellery copies, Costa Rican liqueurs (Cafe Rica is best known), T-shirts with jungle and animal scenes, weirdly realistic wooden snakes, leather rockers from the village of Sarchi, walking sticks, simple leather bracelets, hammocks, and a vast array of wood carvings. At the bottom of the Plaza de la Democracia, Av 0/2 and C 11/13, a long line of canvas-covered artisans' stalls sell hammocks, chunky Ecuadorean sweaters, leather bracelets and jewellery, mostly of the leather-and-bead type. You'll also find some Guatemalan textiles and decorative textile molas made by the Kuna peoples of Panama, though all at steeper prices than elsewhere in the isthmus. Traders are low-pressure and friendly, and gentle bargaining is allowed. ANDA , Av 0, C 5/7. Indigenous crafts including wooden masks, colourful molas , and bags and reproductions of Chorotega pottery. La Casona , C 0, Av 0/1. Large marketplace with stalls selling the usual local stuff along with Guatemalan knapsacks and bedspreads. Jewellery and Panamanian molas are the highlights. Quality at some stalls is pretty poor, however, and there's not one good T-shirt in evidence. Great for browsing, though. Mercado Nacional de Artesania , C 22, Av 2 bis. One of the largest stocks of souvenirs and crafts in the country, featuring all the usuals: hats, T-shirts, Sarchi ox-carts, jewellery and woodwork, including snakes and walking sticks. Tienda de la Naturaleza , Curridabat, 1km past San Pedro on Av 0. The shop of the private Fundacion Neotropica, this is a good place to buy the posters, T-shirts and other paraphernalia painted by English artist Deirdre Hyde that you see all over the country. She specializes in the landscapes of tropical America and the animals who live there - her jaguars are particularly good.
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