Hotel Musoc, San Jose Costa Rica
- Av 3, San José, Costa Rica
- +506 6174 4258
Luz Marina Jarquin. on a Google review, says that the Hotel Musoc is a “lindo lugar (nice place)” Mirza Salazar writes of her experience there, “Frightening, the area itself is a terror, it is in the red zone and unfortunately there come buses to the terminal. We stayed there because it was the closest to no longer being stalked on the street. It is a flea market. Disgusting bed, the bathroom stinks, and at night they turn off the lights in the hallways. No exaggeration, seemed like a scary movie.” I personally found both of these to be true.
I will be honest. I like to go where we Gringos aren’t around so much. To experience people who actually live in a place is what I am after. Another waterfall just doesn’t do it for me. So to travel this way, I often find myself in unusual parts of town in different types of hotels that are often extremely cheap. They are found in every city. Usually right next to the bus stations, in the “dangerous” areas of town. And they are dumpy. Really dumpy. But the attraction besides the price, because I am a cheapskate, is the ability to see into the lives of people who live in the country. The guy from the country struggling in the city to find work or who has just started his new life and is now looking for a more permanent home. The student who is from a small farm in the mountains being financially supported by her entire family back home. The retired people who have no home or have left it to save having to work on it and get the monthly deal at the hotel, spending days watching never-ending futbol in the “lobby” or restaurant if there is one. The farmer couple who is having a wedding anniversary and coming to the “big smoke” to celebrate by staying in the hotel and going out for dinners, maybe for the first time in their lives. Many of the people here come from homes where everyone lives in the same room, they may have no lights or the roof leaks, there are no flushing toilets or someone to change your bed. A hotel, any hotel, is considered a luxury. For me, I look at these rooms the same way I would when going camping, the room becomes a tent for me overnight. I think defensively. I do not want any contact with the mattress, sheets or pillow. Nope! So I layer. I bring my own sheet, my pillow, my portable inflatable mattress( See my blog post about One Bag Packing). I take my board out of the bag if I brought it and put that down. First the bag or my Thermarest sleeping pad, then my sleeping bag, then my sheet and on top, my nice cozy airline pillow. And I always divide and hide my money, identification and cards. I wear my passport with cash and Ally ATM card on me and I tape my credit card to my Florida Drivers license and hide it, usually buried next to a bush outside. I put a bit of cash and business cards into my decoy wallet and leave that out in some kind of hidden place in the room. If somebody decides to rip me off, they can have that.It is all about a frame of mind. And the major crime in these hotels would be theft. You statistically have a pretty low chance of getting murdered. But after dark, I still don’t venture out past the local restaurant and head back to the hotel as soon as I get my takeout.
So climbing up a steep, narrow flight of stairs I arrive at the reception area to a person behind 3-inch glass with the door wide open. The lobby is a dark room off to the side with vending machines on one side, beat leather couches against the walls that are almost permanent resting places for old dudes who spend all day there watching the never-ending futbol (soccer) that blares from the television screen. While the girl behind the glass does the most excellent job ever of ignoring a six-foot white dude with a seven foot body bag staring at her, I decide to pick up one of the business cards at the desk. Cable television and free WiFi. Things are looking good. Finally, she decides to allow me to exist and looks up. “Buenas, tiene habitaciones?” I ask smiling. She purses her lips and looks even more bored than she did ignoring me. Shakes her head once to indicate yes in the most Pura Vida way. “Y cuanto vale?” I ask this just to get a reaction. The price is painted bright red on a giant sign halfway up the outside front of the hotel. “Cinco mil,” she whispers. I start to wonder if she is doing drugs. Everything about this place was starting to become interesting. “Y una ducha ( a shower)”, this time asking with my eyebrows raised in excitement to see if I can get her to show some kind of emotion. She just nods her head toward a black hallway. I took that as a yes. So for ten dollars, I get a room, new friends to watch sports with, snack machines and a shower. “O.k,!” I nod my head attempting to mimic her level of emotion, sticking my lips out like it was a tough decision. I point to the room closest to the reception. I like these rooms because usually if there is any trouble in a hotel, it won’t be near any staff. And also this was the interior of the building. In my opinion, the single biggest mistake you can make in a third world city is to ask for a room with a view. What you will get is a room without ANY sleep, staring all night at the ceiling as noise resembling aircraft taking off with stadium speakers strapped to the wings blasting music increases hourly until about 4 a.m. She gave me the key to number nine. The doorknob wobbled as I opened it, causing me to wonder how many times somebody had wiggled it to attempt to get in. The room was perfect, my nice and cozy cement tent for the night. And there on the bed was a clean towel, a new bar of mini soap and half a roll of toilet paper. Kind of a bit of heaven!
The first stop for me is always the bathroom to scope it out before dark. At 61, I get up a few times at night. If things are way too shady, I just have a 2-liter plastic bottle in the room for midnight relief. Pass the lobby, nodding in the dark at the guys there. They nod back. Friendly enough. And the bathroom is a bit narrow and the toilet is right on the door when you close it. A bit of a challenge, but not insurmountable. And a HOT shower! If you have never seen one of these, this is an electrified shower head. They are illegal for obvious reasons in industrialized nations. The heat is controlled by how much you turn on the water. For heat, you have to leave the water at the trickle level. Anything past that is what the shower would be without the nicer version of an electric chair attached. And no, you can’t turn it off. I check these to see if I will get shocked by inadvertently touching it with my hair because of how tall I am. A serious wake-up if you make that mistake! The Hotel Musoc requires some bending of the knees, but not too bad.
After three trips to San Jose and staying at the Hotel Musoc on each occasion, I have had zero problems with anyone and actually have enjoyed my stays there. The people who stay there are friendly and leave you alone. The Coca Cola Bus Station next door has a really bad reputation for thieves and drugs, but if you dress low key and keep moving, nobody hassles you. A short walk out the front door and to the right along Calle 16 features some excellent fried chicken take outs with beer for around eight bucks, a couple of Sodas which are small local food restaurants that are outstanding value for eggs, Gallo Pinto, the national dish of Costa Rica, and strong coffee for breakfast. Along the next block is a mini-market with super friendly and helpful staff. I always get a chicken dinner and head back to the hotel and hang in the lobby with the other old dudes, watching soccer until bedtime. If you run out of beer, the front desk people will sell you one from the fridge they have in their reception area. The whole neighborhood is hopping during the day with some great little local stores to check out for gifts back home. My favorite is the ground coffee at Cafe Trebol. You won’t find it on a map. Fire-roasted with a roaster over 85 years old, so tasty. Head to the Central Market, Calle 8 between Avenida 2 and Central. This is the only reason to visit the Central Market in San Jose, one of the nastiest places inhabited by man. Get your coffee and get out of there.
- 0% of the rooms with shower/WC or bath tub/WC
- Daily room cleaning, sometimes
- 100% of the lobby has color-TV together with remote control that is in the hands of the old dude sleeping on the couch
- Table and chair in the rooms
- Soap or body wash if you bring it
- Reception service
- A person at the reception
- Publicly available telephone for guests
- Beverage offer in the hotel – beer in the fridge for a reasonable charge
- Serious possibility of getting something stolen
- 100% adventure
- Best price in San Jose – 5000 Colones or $10!
Bueno Rating of 4/5 STARS ( So many characters come in and out, like your own personal movie set. Trying not to get ripped off is great mental excercise. Good location for leaving San Jose and interesting shopping in the neighborhood)
Bonito Rating of 1/5 STAR (Nothing especially pretty, lovely or beautiful here. The new soap and clean towel was nice)
Barato Rating of 5/5 STARS ( Ten bucks a night! Unreal cheap!)
BBB Rating – 10/15 STARS!
I would recommend the Hotel Musoc IF you are looking to see how most people in the country travel when they visit the big city of San Jose. Also, you will definitely have some kind of stories to tell and have picked up some excellent coffee.
Sleep on Sand 