Costa Rica is 6 hours behind UK time. We managed to stay in bed till 6 am local time before getting up for breakfast in the hotel cafe. The weather was humid and the salt cruet had almost as much rice in it to stop the salt turning into saline solution.

We got ready to go out - sun hats, light tops and sunglasses. But within seconds of stepping outside we were back for fleeces and waterproof jackets. There was a robust wind blowing and also San Jose is over 1000m in altitude.

The first thing that struck us as we walked down the Avenida Central was the noise. Mainly pedestrianised, the streets bustled with hawkers shouting out their wares. The shops competed for the loudest music and impatient taxi drivers peeped their horns. For a Sunday morning, the streets were vibrant with lots of shops stuffed with goods. People were out Christmas shopping. It felt like the whole city was there.

The Mercado Central (main market) was a bazaar of stalls selling plastic Nativity figurines, souvenirs, herbs and spices, hen chicks, foil and plastic takeaway trays as well as food stalls selling unfamiliar but fantastic food.

Near the hospital Juan de Dios, in a plaza, streetfood was being sold from carrier bags on the benches.

The roads are busy and we had read the rules for pedestrians - i.e. you take your life into your own hands when you cross the road. Pedestrian mortality is high here. Plus there are missing manhole covers, deep drains and taxis who stop for no one. The pavements are narrow and cluttered with kiosks selling lottery tickets, phone cards and fruit.

Navigating is easy. The centre is a grid system. The Avenida Central runs East to West. Parallel streets to the south of Avenida Central are even numbers - Avenida 2, Avenida 4... To the north, they are odd numbers - Avenida 1, 3 etc. Calle Central (central street) runs North to south and crosses Avenida Central. Streets to the east are odd numbers - Calle 1, Calle 3... and to the west even. So just by standing on a street corner and seeing the numbers, you can work out where you are in relation to the town centre where Avenida Central and Calle Central cross.

There is a statue on Avenida Central of a chunky woman - La Chola de la Avenida by Manuel Vargas. Locals slap her ample buttocks for good luck.

Still a little tired from traveling we had a break in the hotel for lunch before venturing out onto the streets once more.

In the square near the beautiful Teatro Nacional, there was a stage with a band playing Christmas songs. We looked for a streetside cafe, but there were none. On the fringes of the centre, we saw some of the less salubrious side of the city - homelessness, adult cinemas, street workers and dealing. We headed back to the cathedral square.

Here we found a restaurant with an upstairs terrace where we could watch the shoppers come and go. The bar was heaving but we got a window seat but it took over half an hour to get a couple of bottles of beer. There was a guy dressed like a cowboy on the next table who obviously knew about the slow service. He ordered a special ice bucket of six beers for himself and his amigo.

We were fascinated by the food sellers. There were many selling the same yellow snacks, jostling for position and then moving on. They all seemed to have a cardboard box on which a plastic bowl of these bagged snacks were placed. For storage and an impromptu seat, they had a white plastic catering bucket with a lid. As soon as a policeman came near (there are plenty of policemen), they up sticks, only to come back minutes later.

The weather deteriorated and it began to rain. We had to keep our coats on to stay warm in the restaurant. It was a short trot back to our hotel. Still feeling full from breakfast and lunch, we decided to give dinner a miss.