The city center, as in most Latin cities, is the pulse of San Jose. Thousands of people flock to the Mercado Central on the weekends to shop for food, flowers, and to stare at Americans evidentially. I love to go here on the weekends and enjoy the scene and stare back at people.
Flowers are abundant and extremely cheap in Costa Rica. 12 birds of Paradise (Ginger Lillies) will run you about 3 or 4 dollars. Roses under 50 cents a piece and gerber daisy's are 10 cents a stem. The variatals and abundance of flowers here are amazing. There are flower services here that will fill every room in your house and take care of them once a week for 30.00 US. There are flower stands on almost every corner here and as usual the prices (though already ridiculusly cheap) are always negotiable espicially if theres a neighboring flower stand.
San Jose has an overwhelming European Influence. Like Argentina, many europeans settled here after WWII and espcially Italians. Theres an over abundance of Italian resturants and Italian culture here. Architecturally, the city reminds me of Buenos Aires. Very European, almost Parisian. Ther are few new, modern office building here, most seem to have been built in the late 70's and early 80's when the Coffee trade here exploded. The streets are brick and there are absolutely NO street signs whatsoever.
Banking and Coffee and now Tourism drive the Costa Rican economy. There are banks on almost every corner here and unlike many Latin American countires, the Costa Ricans are perfectly comfortable putting their money into Banks. The Statues in the picture on the right are an homage to the victory Costa Ricans fared against American military "adventurer" William Walker in 1856, who invaded Costa Rica with an army of captured nicaraguan slaves. Costa Rica now has the distinct honor of being the only contry in the world without an army or Navy, they were disbanded in 1949 and never returned. National security only exists on the local police level, and you rarely see them (I never have).
I take The Pan-American Highway everyday to work and I fight for road real estate all the time with these busses. The roads here are atrocious, espicially during the "green" season (AKA Rainly season officially renamed by the Costa Rican Travel and Tourism Board). Water causes massive sinkholes to occur unexpectedy. Cars will run into to them and the result is often deadly. Thers are also mudslides and washouts that can close the road for days. People walk and ride their bikes on the highway here too. I often see children running across the road in between traffic and I cringe. Costa Rica actually has a program in place to incentivize people to buy new cars. Most peopel drive 10-15 year old cars here that break down or fall apart on the highway causing traffic accidents. There are no street lights here, so driving at night can be a game of chicken with pedestrians in the roads. People get hit by cars here extremely often.
Tarantulas, Scorpians, Sankes, earthquakes, mudslides aside, im glad I took the plunge and moved here. I've met amazing people, had interesting cross-cultural experiences and besides, how often do you get to live 5 miles from an active Volcano?
2 comments:
You sound very upbeat. Can't wait to see it all (with exception of the critters)when we visit. We are going to visit aren't we? Cross check my work schedule with your travel schedule for a good time for a visit, hopefully when we & Miss Em can come. Will miss your blogs while you work.
Thank God for Italians they sure bring culture to a place. One other thing that someone told me about Costa Rica is the people are pretty much European in that there really is not much indeginous peoples or mestizoes (sp). It that true?
Maybe you need a Masshole driver. We know how to claim real estate on the highway and how to cut off four lanes of traffice from the right lane to make a left.
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