The problem with tours is that they think you need to get your money’s worth and the best way to do that is to pack as much as possible into the shortest about of time possible.  When some of us complained a bit after a couple of days, we were informed that we should not confuse vacations and tours.  They are not the same thing.  We were on a tour, not a vacation.  Nevertheless, the tour did have some advantages like getting us into places we might have missed or never found on our own.  However, that was not really the case for Day Two.  That whirlwind morning in San Jose not only included the National Theatre and the Gold Museum, but also the Metropolitan Cathedral.  It does not have lighting conducive to photography with a “normal” camera, cell phone, etc.  Therefore, my attempts to photograph the endless and lovely stained glass windows proved futile.  Here is what I was able to photograph.

This is a large church.  Yes, we were there as tourists, but many others were there praying, sitting silently, worshipping.

I could not find a place where the chandelier did not interfere with the view where I could take a really good photograph.  Nevertheless, hopefully those of you who read this can get the feeling for this really wonderful place.

On a totally separate but perhaps related note, I watched Public Television for a while tonight about finding ones roots.  I keep thinking somehow my DNA results must be a bit screwy because the places where I feel most at home, the cultures in which I have an interest, the literature I love to read, and the music to which I usually listen have no relationship whatsoever with the places from which the majority of ancestors came.  I have been to Costa Rica twice now and to one particular town (besides San Jose)  twice–others were new this trip.  What concerns me is that all the tourists and people buying up property there who are from Europe, the US, and Canada will totally ruin its values and beauty.