Today we started the day with a delicious breakfast made by our lovely Mama Tica! Soon after, we headed over to the train station to explore San Jose.

When we arrived, we were able to explore some of the city, seeing parks, a theater, a museum, and all different kinds of shopping experiences and political buildings. It was interesting to observe the differences between Heredia and San Jose, as San Jose is definitely more busy and chaotic.

Learning about San Jose was interesting, as coffee and bananas still have had a role here! San Jose is built land that previously was used for plantations. This is similar to Pittsburgh, as steel was one of the main things the city was built around. Pittsburgh is called Steel City after all!

Another connection San Jose has to Pittsburgh is Andrew Carnegie. Here in San Jose, he funded money for a court. While Costa Rica and Pittsburgh are not geographically close to each other, it’s extremely interesting to see that one person could have an impact in both places, leaving Pittsburgh and San Jose always a little bit connected!

However, a major difference between these places is that Pittsburgh has addresses while San Jose does not. We were able to run into the difficulty of this situation today, as our meeting places were definitely more difficult to find. I think this sets Costa Rica and San Jose behind places that do have addresses. I believe that addresses would help boost an e-commerce industry into Costa Rica. Additionally, since Costa Rica thrives in tourism, I think addresses would assist tourists in traveling more easily and efficiently.

Can’t wait to keep exploring more of Costa Rica tomorrow!