Today we visited San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. We saw both the National Museum of Costa Rica and the National Theater, both of which were in my Costa Rican bucket list. San Jose has a population of over 333,000 residents, making it the largest city in the country. Additionally, with an elevation of approximately 1,161 meters above sea level, San Jose sits in the center of the Central Valley. Throughout the day I only saw glimpses of influence of the coffee and banana industry in San Jose. When walking through the markets I saw plenty of bananas being sold, but not so much coffee. 

Additionally, Pittsburgh and San Jose have some similarities and differences. First, I noticed both cities have high foot traffic. While walking through both cities I noticed many people also on foot. However, a couple differences are while San Jose had many more parks and green spaces, it had very few tall buildings. In fact, most buildings in San Jose were 2-5 stories. This compares to Pittsburgh where there are multiple skyscrapers throughout the city. Additionally, the street addresses are very prevalent in Pittsburgh, compared to barely being existent in San Jose. This makes it very difficult to navigate around the city as a tourist, as you pretty much just have to wonder around without a map. I think this system holds San Jose back, because for people visiting the city it is difficult to navigate. Also, the lack of street addresses discourages people from living in the city. Therefore many people live outside the city and commute, causing lots of traffic.