What's happening in San José this week?

The week's rhythm in San José starts at Mercado Central, open Monday through Saturday from 6am to 6pm and closed Sundays. The building dates to 1880 and the corridors feel every year of it, narrow and loud, with roughly 200 stalls selling everything from whole pig heads to bundles of culantro coyote. Go on a weekday morning before 9am for thinner crowds and cooler air. A casado plate at one of the lunch counters costs about 3,500 colones. At the current rate of roughly 453 colones per dollar, that's under $8. Saturday mornings shift the action to Feria Verde de Aranjuez in Barrio Aranjuez, a farmers' and artisans' market open 7am to noon. Produce from the Valle Central still carries the smell of wet soil. The single-origin coffee poured at the stands tends to be better than anything on Avenida Central.

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, founded in 1887 inside the old Bellavista Fortress, closes on Mondays. On that off-day, the Museo de Jade four blocks north is open and holds the largest collection of pre-Columbian jade in the Americas. Tuesday through Friday are the quietest days at both museums. The Teatro Nacional, built in 1897 with coffee-export money, runs performances most Thursday through Saturday evenings. The café on the ground floor serves espresso under gilded ceilings and is open daily even when no show is scheduled. The theater's program changes monthly, so check the posted bill at the box office on Avenida 2. The Melico Salazar Theatre on Calle Central, open since 1928, often programs free or low-cost concerts on weekends.

Barrio Escalante is where San José eats on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The strip along Calle 33 fills up after 7pm with restaurants that lean toward modern Costa Rican cooking. A main course with a craft beer runs 8,000 to 15,000 colones ($18 to $33). Weeknights are quieter, better for walking Barrio Amón north of Parque Morazán, where the converted Victorian houses feel damp and slightly creaky underfoot at dusk. Sunday is slow across the city. Shops on Avenida Central close. Families converge on Parque La Sabana, the old airport turned park on the west side, where the grass is soft and the empanada vendors set up near the Museo de Arte Costarricense.

The rainy season shapes the week's routine in a predictable way. Mornings are clear and cool at San José's 1,150-meter elevation, currently around 25°C with 63% humidity. By 2pm most days, clouds build over the Cordillera Central to the north and rain arrives between 3pm and 5pm. It falls hard for 30 to 90 minutes, then stops. The practical move is to schedule outdoor time before noon and save the Museo Nacional or Barrio Escalante for the afternoon. Evenings tend to dry out by 7pm. That said, Tuesday through Thursday are the driest midweek windows, while weekends can see longer afternoon cells that stretch into early evening over the Valle Central.