Today we traveled to San José. While there we had a chance to look at the city and how it has been influenced by the history and culture of Costa Rica. Especially considering the past production of coffee and bananas.

First, the most glaring feature of San José is how its streets are organized, and that is to say not organized at all. San José’s streets aren’t made on a grid system, as it wasn’t intended to be the capital for more a year at a time. However, now it is the capital. This is combined with the fact that there are no addresses in Costa Rica. Making navigating the city very difficult. Especially with the copious amount of traffic. Fortunately there is public transit, unfortunately, the busses still face the same traffic as the rest of the city. When compared to Pittsburgh which has bus lanes, and mostly gridded system (yes there are quite a few exceptions), and actual addresses, it is easy to understand why San José might be a little difficult to navigate. The only advantage to San José is that it does have a train running in and out of the city.

San José’s train has been running since the Minor Cooper Keith created them to help export coffee and bananas. However, today it runs as a form of public transit during the early morning and late afternoon.

Despite the public transit and the confusing streets, San José does play host to some of the countries biggest cultural centers. Many of which have been directly influenced by the history of Costa Rica. Like the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. Which used to be a barracks but after don Pepe abolished the military it became a museum. Or the National theater, which has various paintings honoring the roots of coffee and banana exportation in the country. In fact, according to Tico times, the mural on the ceiling of the National Theater is one of the top ten ceilings in the world.

Overall you can clearly see San José has been influenced by its history and its culture. I hope I might on these upcoming days to learn more about it.