Since so many people at my University here have told me to check out this creepy place, I had to! Yesterday, my friend and I ventured to the Sanatorio Duran. It used to be a hospital that was founded in 1918, and now is a place to visit for fun! Sounds odd, but it was worth the (long) trip.

We caught a bus to the city over, Cartago- a very pretty and historical city. It was a 45 minute drive through the mountains. We arrived and thankfully saw Las Ruinas- a landmark that we needed to find to be able to get to the next bus! For clarification, we asked someone where the stop for Tierra Blanca was- luckily it was nearby and not hard to find. Thinking it would be a quick ride to the Sanatorio, we were wrong. It was another 40 minutes!

We were told that our stop was the last one, so we waited until the end. The last stop ended up being almost in the middle of nowhere. Concerned, I asked the driver where el Sanatorio Duran was. Luckily, he gave a precise answer and it was nearby. We had to walk up a very steep road (without a sidewalk) for about 10 minutes and finally made it to the left turn we had to take. It felt like we were in a scary movie!

The clouds started to become grey and we heard thunder in the distance. It really set the scene and started to creep us out! We knew we were in the right place because we saw very old and run down buildings. We walked through the entrance past the pay booth which looked closed then walked through an old rusty playground and began looking around. A man came out of a building and asked for the fee to enter which was 1,200 colones (about 2 dollars). I was almost relieved someone was there or I would have been extra scared to be there!

We went into the first building. It had 4 floors and seemed like a maze! There was graffiti everywhere and broken windows. The view from the top floor was amazing- the mountains and the rest of the Sanatorio. Every sound of footsteps I heard made me think they were ghosts- but then realized other people were here. I wanted to get out of that building immediately!

We went to the next, which was the children’s center- even more creepy! Oddly, we saw a group of teenagers hanging out in one room. I wouldn’t want to hang out somewhere that scary in my free time!

It began to rain so we went into another building-the darkest one. At one point we heard echoes and quickly tried to leave, but it was almost like a maze to get out! We felt better being outside. We went on the swing set before leaving. My friend Felicia was on a swing, and one monkey bar began swinging by itself! This place definitely has some paranormal activity.

We had enough and began making our trek back to the bus stop. When we made it, no bus was there, but we saw a bus in the distance so we quickly walked to it.  The driver almost started driving away before we got there so we had to yell “espere!!” (Wait!). We asked if it was the bus to Córdoba and luckily it was. When we arrived to Córdoba we then had to find a bus back to San Jose. We asked about 4 people that said different directions but we made it eventually.

It was a long journey but we felt accomplished to have navigated successfully! And as for the Sanatorio Duran, though it scared us a bit, it was worth checking out!

Let’s see where my next journey leads me!

Laura