Esta edición: la vida en la ciudad de San Jose. The Costa Rican coffee and banana trade have interesting influences in San Jose. For example, there is an influence on its history and art. The National Theater, known as the city’s prized possession, is home to a historical painting by an Italian artist who attempted to depict Costa Rican culture and lifestyle. While the depiction has some critical faults regarding accuracy, it still conveys the fact that coffee and bananas are significant parts of Costa Rican history and art. Furthermore, coffee and bananas can be found in the area’s local food. To exemplify, Pop’s is an ice cream shop with many flavors of ice cream, and both coffee and banana are flavor options. It is clear that coffee and bananas heavily influence Costa Rica, no matter the location in which you travel.
During my time in the city today, I noticed some similarities between San Jose and Pittsburgh. For instance, both cities have various museums that examine the culture of the area. Museums within San Jose include the Gold Museum, the Jade Museum and the National Museum. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh there exists the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the Carnegie Science Center, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Mattress Factory. Each of these museums uniquely describe the local history and/or culture of either Costa Rica or Pittsburgh, respectively. Another similarity that I found between the two cities was that there is the existence of homelessness in both cities. Neither city has an overwhelming amount, but it exists, nonetheless. Additionally, in both cities it is important to be aware of your surroundings and belongings since there are quite a few people in close quarters. Pittsburgh, however, does not have much of a problem with pickpockets while it is imperative to keep an eye out for petty theft in Costa Rica. To conclude with a difference between the two cities, Costa Rica has many persistent vendors selling in the street, whereas Pittsburgh only has vendors in some areas such as the Strip District or wherever an event is occurring. The vendors in the Strip District are not as persistent in attempting to sell their products, however. I do not want to call the way of business of the vendors in Costa Rica aggressive or forceful since they are very kind, but the vendors do persist and try their absolute best to make a sale with persuasion tactics.
In San Jose and many other locations within Costa Rica, anachronisms exist such as a lack of street addresses and house numbers. This fact stands out as incompatible with the modern world, especially when, with the advancement of modern technology, many people receive directions using a GPS by searching the specific address to the desired destination. Without a particular address, it inherently becomes more difficult to locate places especially if the place is located in an unfamiliar area to the traveler. In Costa Rica, people find a location by its relative location to landmarks and features. This lack of street addresses has an impact on logistics like delivering mail and packages, as well as locating tourist spots; it automatically adds difficulty to the process unless you are familiar with the area and its features. It becomes even more challenging when there is a language barrier, or when directions are given with a landmark from the past that no longer exists. Although this system appears to work decently well the locals, I think it ultimately holds back San Jose along with the rest of Costa Rica. It is evident that many tourists find their way to Costa Rica as tourism is a large portion of the country’s economy, and many of these foreigners do not have much knowledge of the Spanish language and/or the relative location of the landmarks used when directions are given. Thus, while locals may know the area well, foreigners do not. It is also important to mention that locals of Heredia may be able to give directions within Heredia, but they may not be able to give as specific directions to destinations within San Jose. For these reasons, I believe that the lack of street addresses in Costa Rica is somewhat problematic and that the situation could be improved by simply using addresses; however, every city has its distinct features and those form a fragment of that city’s culture.
Hasta pronto,
Taylor Siegfried