To enter San Jose, you must either go by car or train. This means seeing the country side in two different ways. If you go by train, which we did, this is the route that many products have taken in the past. The railway was created to transport bananas to port on the Pacific coast. This brought in a great deal of money to the city which was used for construction. Buildings that are ornate and large can be found throughout San Jose. These are typically older buildings from when the trade first started.

San Jose and Pittsburgh both have a great deal of big name stores and family businesses. But what makes them really stand out is their preferred method of giving directions. In Pittsburgh, we like to use land marks when we give directions. This is a very common way of giving directions in San Jose. The difference is that in Pittsburgh, we have street names and house numbers. In San Jose, they have pretty ordered streets, because of the way they are named. But the issue is that they don’t use house numbers. This can be really confusing to both locals and foreigners. We found out that Ticos like to use land marks that don’t exist any more. When a business closes or moves, Ticos will still use that old location when giving directions.

When delivering packages, one needs an address. Because of poorly named streets and lack of house numbers, it can be very difficult to deliver packages to homes and businesses. This is an issue when giving directions to foreigners and for truck drivers who must deliver packages to new locations. Everyone will have a difficult time finding the destination.

I believe the system works well enough right now. That being said, it can be improved by adding house numbers. That will help delivery drivers and tourists find the location of different businesses and destinations. But as of now, the system offers a unique experience to tourists and locals alike. Tourists will be able to see more of the city that they weren’t expecting to see and locals will have a chance to meet someone new.