Downtown San José has a new, temporary woodland. Dozens of native Central Valley trees now fill the entrance to the Central Bank Museums beneath Plaza de la Cultura, an installation called Bosque prestado — the Borrowed Forest — that's open to anyone for free until Sunday, October 25.
The trees are on loan from environmental protection and restoration programmes run by the national electricity utility CNFL and the Municipality of San José, hence the name. Viveros La Bonita handled the technical side, and the whole project was conceived by Esteban Bonilla — a cultural producer, DJ and landscaper who performs as Bunny Wabbit. The point isn't just to prettify a museum doorway. Organisers want people crossing the city centre to stop, look at the plants and think about how much space a city really leaves for nature.
If you're around this Saturday, there's an extra reason to go. Fiesta en el Bosque starts at 7:30 p.m. at the museum entrance, with a free DJ set from Bunny Wabbit himself among the trees. No ticket needed.
October is deliberately part of the concept. It's one of the rainiest months in the Central Valley, a season when outdoor cultural events thin out and locals tend to stay indoors. The museums are making the opposite argument: come walk through the trees in the drizzle and treat the wet season as an experience rather than a reason to hibernate. It's part of a push to keep the historic centre active when footfall normally dips.
The forest also ties into an exhibition inside, Los territorios que habitamos (The Territories We Inhabit), curated by María José Monge. It draws on more than 130 years of works from the Central Bank's collection, exploring landscapes, urban growth and how people share space with other species. The installation essentially takes those questions out of the galleries and puts them somewhere you can physically walk through.
For travellers, this is a good excuse to build some time into the capital rather than treating San José as an overnight stop between the airport and the coast. Plaza de la Cultura sits in the heart of the historic centre, the museums beneath it house pre-Columbian gold and numismatic collections, and everything here is walkable. The free entry to the forest — and to Saturday's event — makes it an easy, low-cost evening plan. Just bring an umbrella; October rain in San José is a given, and in this case it's practically part of the show.
