Today, I visited the wonderful city of San José for the first time. This was a very interesting experience, as it had much in common with American cities like Pittsburgh, but also had a very unique atmosphere. We took the train from Heredia into San José. This train only runs twice a day: in the morning and in the late afternoon. This accommodates workers, but can be annoying for others who need easy access to the city. When we arrived in San José, we first walked through several parks that were all in very close proximity. Even in the bustling capital city, Costa Rica embraces its natural beauty. There was a lot of traffic in the city, but it did not seem to be at the same level as the traffic in the United States. With a lot of narrow one-way streets, it appeared to be somewhat difficult for cars to get around quickly.

The lack of prominent street names made the city very hard to navigate as a pedestrian. I have no idea where we were today or how I would get back there, because many streets were unmarked. This, combined with the strain on transportation, is probably hindering San José’s growth. I can’t imagine how the city would be able to hold any more people or cars, as I was constantly bumping into people as I walked down the streets.

Pittsburgh can also be a hard city to navigate in a car, but luckily, the public transportation in the city is very accessible and makes city travel much easier. There are one-way streets, but multiple lanes help reduce congestion on the road. Pittsburgh may have its problems, but I find it much easier to navigate than San José. This could also be because I’ve lived there for a year now.

What I find really interesting about San José is that it wasn’t built to be a capital city because it wasn’t supposed to be one. When Costa Rica established itself as an independent nation, the plan was for the capital city to move to different cities in the Central Valley every four years. Obviously, this was a horrible idea and the capital settled permanently in San José. As San José was already beginning development when this decision was made, it was hard to completely redesign the city to accommodate the government and large number of people that moved there. To me, this seems like the root of San José’s problem, but it’s definitely too late to fix it all now. All we can do is enjoy the city with all its quirks and challenges, as I certainly did today.