San Jose, Costa Rica – City Behind Fences

We arrived to San Jose in rush hour. First order of business: find our hostel, which is clearly marked on the map in our guidebook. This simple task proved to be so illusive that it took us three frustrating hours to accomplish! There are no street signs in San Jose. When we stopped and asked about the street we wanted to go to, no one seemed to know. Worse yet, no one could even tell us what street we were on so that we at least get our orientation right. Asking a gas station attendant what street his own gas station was on led to a mini-debate that involved his friend, with no decisive answer to ever come out.

Later that night, while having dinner with a Costa Rican couple, we finally figure out what’s going on. People in San Jose don’t use street names. Instead, they describe locations and directions in terms of landmarks, some of which no longer exist. Street names have little meaning, including one’s own street!

Walking down the streets of San Jose, the most noticeable thing is how all houses – all buildings actually – are fronted with high iron-bar fences. Many have barbed wire on top of that. It’s like walking through a land full of small fortresses, except that immediately behind the fences, one sees all the usual signs of normal city life: a small yard here, a parked car there, a garden with a couple of trees, people hanging out on a porch. It’s as if someone decided to paint an average-size city through the filter of black bars of iron.

Talking to people we met, there is definitely a high degree of concern about crime, but only the non-violent one. Burglaries and thefts seem to happen quite often, but not murders or muggings. There’s a fear for losing one’s possessions, but not a fear for one’s personal safety.

There’s something surreal about being in the middle of rush hour traffic in San Jose. Despite the loud car horns and the many roaring buses, we can distinctly hear birds that are even louder than all traffic noises combined. Not sure what types of birds are so vocal, but their songs add a kind of serenity and peace that is not to be expected in the middle of such a bustling city.