Mini-Tour of San José

Sometimes, you can go years knowing people electronically, and never meet them in person.  Well, this morning, I met an e-friend in downtown San José - in person!  She was on her way through town, so we met at one bus station, and ended at another.  In between, we meandered around downtown, and ended up seeing a number of parks - and closed museums :-(.  Holidays are usually fun in Costa Rica, but a drawback is that a lot of places are closed (and buses often run on a Sunday schedule).  Today, Guanacaste Day, was a holiday.  And a Monday.  And San José was *quiet!*

I was amazed at how much I had forgotten!  What was the history of the metal school?  Who is that and what represents which country on the national monument?  sigh.  Fortunately, detailed information is available with a click of the mouse.

I've been having fun with Google maps lately, so you can see where we walked :-)


View Mini-Park-Tour San Jose Costa Rica in a larger map

San Jose Photo Safari

We had gone on Photo Safaris in Costa Rica before, but hadn't really focused on our part of San José much. Today, we fixed that!

We left this morning, while it was still sunny, took the bus to the first park, and continued walking to downtown and then lunch. It was a beautiful day, and it didn't take us long to see a few sights that we had missed before, as well as several familiar from our usual errands.

*AND* we left plenty of photos for future trips! :-D :-D :-D

This is "Place de France" or Parque Francesa - it is a nice place to sit in the shade and listen to the fountain. The statue of Marianne commemorates the 200th anniversary of the French revolution.



One French woman, one future French woman. I don't think I quite have the look down just yet...



The old customs house, La Aduana, was renovated in time for the transfer of presidential power in May. One side is old brick, and the other side is modern glass. There are a lot of concerts and exhibits held here now. You can see the Santa Teresita church nearby.





Rick leaving La Aduana - the entire wall across from the old train station is covered in murals, and the mountains behind are nice too :-)



On a whim, I thought I'd try this shot - turns out I like it!



The old train station has recently been renovated. I just liked this view.



The figures at the top of the National Monument represent the 5 states that joined in repelling William Walker at the Battle of Rivas.



Close-up of one figure on the other side.



Looking South from the National Park, along one of the pedestrian walkways. San José has a lot of these streets restricted to pedestrians, and there are more being added all the time - perfect for walking tours and photo safaris!

Alajuela Living: Pros and Cons

I’ve been putting off posting a review of living in Alajuela, and I’ve finally figured out why. I didn’t want to write anything negative about it! Our rule for town reviews is to write pros *and* cons, and Alajuela has always felt good – I didn’t want to dig for bad.

Well, since our plan for Costa Rica is to live in several towns for several months each before deciding where to settle down, we have to try to stand back; we have to toss the rose-colored glasses. I struggled with the Orosí review as well.

During our visits, we have been trying to keep in mind that we are looking for the best place for us - this is difficult because it is so easy to focus on the positive and ignore or downplay any negatives. It is easy to say "Oh, we can live without that," etc.

We lived in Alajuela for 4 months, from the end of the rainy season until the end of the dry season. When we left, we kept it on our list as a possibility. We let our impressions settle for a while, then came up with this list of Pros and Cons.

Costa Rica update

• Affordable: While still affordable, CR has gotten more expensive.
• Safety: We believe CR is getting more violent.
• Year-round living: We have our residency (no change in outlook)
• Religion: We’ve seen many saints’ processionals, we’ve met more people who attend church, but are not fanatics. However, Alajuela central park often had yelling bible-thumpers. (no change in outlook)
• Interesting (culture, activities): There are many universities, museums, theaters, and a symphony (but mostly only in San José). Music is a big part of life. Cowboys (sabañeros) are alive and well, contributing fancy horse-back riding, topes, and rodeos to the scene. A question we still have is how easy is it to get involved?
• Dangerous diseases (few or none, please): Dengue fever is on the rise.
• Medical care (accessible and good): We bought into the state-run medical insurance ($61/month for both of us). There are several excellent private and public hospitals, but the best ones are in San José. I had surgery – so far, so good.
• Water – must be drinkable (bottled water is available, but too expensive and bothersome). Neither of us could drink the tap water without some degree of discomfort; we ended up using bottled or filtered water for drinking and for making soup and coffee. This has been true in every town so far, so we have decided that we will need a water filter for anywhere we live in Costa Rica. We found a faucet-mounted water filter at EPA in Escazú, and brought a large supply of the replacement filters from the states.

Alajuela Overview (see here - http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CS/index.html - for data**): Alajuela is a large city – it is the second largest city in Costa Rica, and has about 72,000 people. It is the city nearest the “San José” airport. It is about 17 km West of San José (560,000 people). It is in the central valley - a bit lower in elevation (918 m / 3015 ft) than San José (1146 m / 3763 ft).

Pro:

• Friendly people – Alajuela has some of the friendliest people! On our nearly daily walks, we exchange smiles and greetings with many people. We have met and become friends with many people there. Alajuela is on par with small towns in its friendliness. We felt much more welcomed than in Grecia (for example).
• We fit in (purely a feeling): We are comfortable walking around Alajuela. The neighbourhoods make us feel energized.
• Very few of the helpful people have ulterior motives (e.g., they genuinely want to help; they are not just trying to sell you something).
• Alajuela is not a tourist town, but we saw a lot of travellers.
• A Central Park – Alajuela has an excellent central park, as well as many others. We regularly walked through 3 on our short trip to the bus station; all are beautiful and relaxing.
• Excellent central market; a lot to chose from. However, we didn’t shop there often enough to develop a sense of what were fair prices. There is also a weekly farmers market, verdurerías, and super markets.
• Good doctors are available in town; there are both a clinic and a hospital. It is a decent bus ride (20-45 minutes) to San José for private hospitals and major public hospitals.
• Easy to find things – it is a large town, and the provincial capital, so most items are available (shoemakers, tailors, spices, appliances, furniture, bedding, “unusual” medications). Specialty items (CPAP) are available in San José.
• Many ethnic restaurants – Chinese, Columbian, Peruvian, Italian, Tex-Mex…
• (Pro for Julie) ¨Good¨ climate - not too humid, a little bit too hot. “Hot” was 84-87 inside. A fan helped, and Julie got used to the heat. At the peak-heat time of day, there was usually a nice breeze, so going outside (like to a park:)) helped. Our apartment got pretty cold at night – 67 was not uncommon (a thicker blanket would have been welcome).

Con:

• (Con for Rick) Climate – Rick needs a cooler elevation (perhaps 1200-1300 meters or higher); Alajuela’s elevation is about 900, and is on the hot side. Temperatures in the upper 80s were common. It was too hot for Rick.
• Somewhat difficult to have a horse nearby, but there is a stable. We didn’t see any riders.
• Not as affordable as smaller towns – rent was double; food was more expensive.
• Few opportunities for social interactions and meeting new people. There were few events for such a large town (although the soccer stadium had games and a few concerts). Limited to “hang-outs” such as Jalapeño’s, and private parties.
• Able to find housing within 10 blocks of the center of town – we found an apartment that was 5 blocks from the central park, but it is more expensive than in smaller towns. It was also hard to find!
• Feels safe (emphasis in addition to above list) – safe enough that a woman can walk around alone at night? I used to do this in Alajuela, but now I would think twice about going by myself after dark.
• Community – need to be part of an artist/music/movie community (how far away is too far?) – near UCR, or other center. Didn’t find this in Alajuela.
• Entertainment / Mental Stimulation – we need a town with more than churches and bars (of course, parks are very entertaining) – Difficult to find.

** use some caution when looking at populations – this site counts the population within a 7 km circle. So, large towns are under-represented and small towns get more population than actually live in town.

December 14, 2008 - Sunday in the Park with Friends

Today we caught up with some more friends! We met Norman, Isabel, and Nico in La Sabana park – Nico is now 2 years old! He didn’t quite remember us, but we didn’t scare him either :-).

We hadn’t been to La Sabana park before, just ridden buses past it, so it was nice to experience the park as well.

August 09, 2007 - Where Am I? 101

Where Am I? 101
Or, finding your way around a Costa Rican town.

First, REMAIN CALM! All will be well – don’t panic. Every time I panic, I get lost.
I finally feel confident stepping off the bus in a new town. OK, proud. Cocky even. I don’t expect to find everything on the first trip, and I know I will find plenty of interesting places that I didn’t plan on. Here’s what I do.

Do some planning ahead, but don’t get anal – this (the latter) was the difficult part for me, but I’m getting better. If the town is fair-sized, look it up in a guide book. If you are staying in a hotel, see if they have a hand-drawn map. If not, make your own. Get some grid paper (or just any paper), and lay out a basic pattern, with a central park and cathedral in the center. These are usually a full block each, and within a couple of blocks of the center of town. If the guide book has a map (this is important), COPY it onto your paper – guide books usually show no more than 10 square blocks. Add some of the landmarks, like banks and perhaps a hotel. Mark the bus stop (coming and going) if this information is available. Mark a couple of avenidas and calles, and mark the compass directions. If you have any specific destinations, mark them on the map. Of course, if you are starting from scratch, your map will start out with nothing but a street grid and a central park & cathedral. That’s OK, because you will add to it as you go! Also, if you start with another map, keep in mind that parts of it could be wrong (or changed since it was published). This is also OK, since you will be marking it up.

Bring your map, a pen/pencil, and a compass (not always needed, but nice to have). Leave the guide book at home. The guide book is conspicuous and distracting – you are exploring! If you don’t know “enough” Spanish (“enough” is individually defined), bring a small dictionary or phrase book – if it makes you feel like a newbie, guess what? You are! You’ve never been here before! Most important, bring a smile and a “buenas.”

Which brings us to a very important aspect of this excursion – Attitude! Be flexible. Don’t expect to find everything you look for. Treat this as an adventure. When in doubt, know that a taxi is always near; relax and enjoy yourself. Accept that you and your travel companion will have moments of stress and get snippy – let it go. Best of all, go with Rick – he’ll let it slide unless you go off the deep end, *and* he’ll let you apologize gracefully (I know, that *could* be sarcasm, but it’s not).

As your bus is coming into the town, look for landmarks – Tribunales, parks, churches, banks, taxi stands, etc. Have your compass out, and try to fix North in your head (if you can’t, that’s OK – it will come). The bus ride is where I still get anxious. I often end up getting off WAAAY too early (click on “bus” in the tag cloud, and you will see what I mean). Wait till you can see the central park and/or central market, then ring to stop. Many bus terminals are within a couple of blocks of the central park (bigger towns have multiple terminals, and many small towns don’t have terminals). Sometimes it is difficult to tell if you are even in the right town. I find that bus passengers are very friendly, and love to tell you that your town is still ahead (and they aren’t pulling you leg).

Stop, look, and listen. When you get off the bus, your first instinct is to walk - anywhere. Don’t! Find a place to sit, or stand out of the press of people. Pull out your map and compass. Be discreet but not paranoid. Notice which direction most of the people are going. Notice which compass direction is uphill (most towns have at least a slight incline), and mark it on your map. Look around for the park, market, church, or other landmark. Look for the bus stop sign – it usually has some (but not always all) interesting information, like where it continues, schedule, and whether the return is from the same place. Keeping up/down and North firmly in mind, put away your compass and map, and start walking. You are looking for the park. Turn a few corners. Look for trees and spires.

Stop and smell the orchids. When you find the park, have a seat! This is a good time to update your map. Mark the bus stop and any landmarks you noticed on the way. I like to do this several times in a visit, and add stores, restaurants, schools, whatever. Mostly I just like parks . Don’t worry if you can’t remember exactly how many blocks or turns. Just mark what you think is right, and check it on the return. I once added an entire block to Grecia’s downtown – it stayed that way for nearly a week (no one seemed to notice the longer walk).

Ask and ask again. I have rarely had trouble finding the park within a few blocks, but in larger towns, you may want to step into a shop and ask. Also, if you have any destination in mind, like a bookstore or a Chinese restaurant, but you don’t have an “address,” just ask around. I have had conversations in parks that turned towards recommendations for restaurants and stores, and I have asked bookstore owners for directions to a close Chinese restaurant. I’ve asked bank guards and bus drivers about which street we were on. Sometimes you get an answer that is wrong, because (as my Spanish teacher says) Ticos don’t like to say they don’t know something, but most of the time you get the right direction. If you don’t find what you are looking for, ask again (and remember, stay flexible).

Helpful information:

· Este (East) and Oeste (West) are the directions that start with vowels. Avenues (with a vowel) go East and West. Towns are a rough grid, with street numbers (rarely names). Calles are even (2,4,6) West of the center and odd East of the center. Avenidas are even South of the center and odd North of the center. The saw to use is “North-Easterners are Odd.” What do I know about Odd – I’m from California.

· You can usually see the tree-tops of the park and the spires of the church many blocks away.

· The central market is usually within a couple of blocks of the central park.

· Streets hardly ever have signs. Sometimes even bank-guards do not know which street their bank is on.

· Usually the wait between buses is half an hour or less.

· Banks usually have bathrooms available.

· Most of this will also work in San José, but there is so much more to deal with. I start with an actual city map here.

I’ll post some of my maps soon – you can see how messed up things can get :(

August 03, 2007 - Orosi Living: Pros and Cons

Our plan for Costa Rica is to live in several towns for several months each before deciding where to settle down. During our visits, we have been trying to keep in mind that we are looking for the best place for us - this is difficult because it is so easy to focus on the positive and ignore or downplay any negatives. It is easy to say "Oh, we can live without that," etc.

We lived in Orosí for almost 3 months, from the end of the dry season through the beginning of the rainy season. When we left, we knew the town wasn´t a perfect match for us. We let our impressions settle for a while, then came up with this list of Pros and Cons.

Overall: Orosí is a small town of about 2,000. The surrounding community brings the population to 10,000. It is near a wildlife reserve and a lake (used for hydroelectricity and fishing). It is about 20 km South of Cartago - about 45 minutes by bus, or 25 minutes by car. It is in a small valley, surrounded by coffee fincas - a bit lower in elevation than Cartago.

Pro:

· Very Friendly

· Easy to have a horse nearby

· Not a tourist town, but you will see a lot of travelers

· We made many good friends there

· ¨Good¨ climate - not too hot or humid, although we needed a fan

· Quiet; not much going on; easy to get lazy

· Good dentist available in town

· Some opportunities for social interactions via Montaña Linda Spanish School and private music parties

· Good place to visit and have visitors

· Very few of the helpful people have ulterior motives (e.g., they genuinely want to help; they are not just trying to sell you something)

· Affordable

Con:

· No Park

· No Central Market

· San José is multiple-bus-rides away

· Neighboring cities are uninspiring (that is an opinion, based on *our* needs)

· No ethnic restaurants

· The locals do not recommend the local doctor or clinic; it is a long way (San José or Cartago) for good health care

· Neither of us could drink the tap water without some degree of discomfort; we ended up using bottled water for drinking and for making soups

· There were a few aggressive drunks - in a small town, you have to avoid the same ones

If a small town suits you, Orosí is a wonderful place to consider. You can click on the ¨orosi¨ tag to see more posts on the town.

Something we have noticed in general is that the people in small towns have lives which are more influenced by religion. The church is a central part of the community.

June 27, 2007 - Alajuela

Ahhh - Alajuela! We took the bus from Grecia to Alajuela yesterday.

It is pretty good weather now (sorry Mark, I didn´t know!); apparently, the few days around the "Festival of San Juán" (last Sunday) is known as the summer of San Juán - usually somewhat overcast in the morning, but not much rain at all. In a few weeks, we expect the "little summer" that usually lasts a couple of weeks.

We finally figured out the right direction to walk from the Grecia bus stop - I´m getting less shy about asking shop-keepers for information :). We walked all along the pedestrian walkway to the central park - most of it is still dug up, but the block next to the park has a nice brick pattern, and looks ready for light posts. It looks like it will be a very pleasant way to shop soon. But, of course, the car traffic is pretty bad - lots of people don´t yet expect the closed roads.

We said good-bye to a few friends and places - we got reacquainted with the central park (we sat a lot), then got coffee :D in the lovely courtyard of Café Britt, then lunch at Jalapeño´s, and dropped in on Vida Tropical.

Then we walked down to see the progress on the Juán Santamaría park - it was torn up on our last trip, and they were just getting it started at the beginning of this trip. Now it is nearly done - certainly usable; it has the same nice brick pattern as the pedestrian mall by the central park, and the statue of Juán Santamaría is now surrounded by a stage-like area. The benches and lights are not in yet, and we suspect that the stage will get a roof as well.

We very nearly stayed to get dinner at Cugini´s, but decided we were a bit too tired. So, we headed back to the bus stop. I forgot that the stop is 2 blocks from the central *market,* NOT 2 blocks from the central *park!* Ugh! Well, we asked more shopkeepers, and the police (who asked a taxi driver), and made it :). That's what I get for thinking I know a city pretty well - overconfidence got us lost (-ish).

We had heard that there was a scheduled increase in the police force, and we sure saw more in Alajuela, mainly near the parks and central market.

June 24, 2007

The electricity went out again today :( - from 7am till 1:30pm. We passed the ICE guys working on it on our walk to lunch, and about half way through our pizza, we got to see the TV come on - USA vs Mexico in the Gold Cup!
Fortunately, our hotel has a gas stove, so we still got a nice breakfast; just no shower (yuck) until the afternoon.
Most cities with a park and bandstand have live music on Sundays at 10:00, right after church. Certainly Heredia and Alajuela do. So, we head to Grecia´s park - no music. Oh well, we still enjoyed the park.

May 03, 2007 - First Cartago visit

We made our first trip to Cartago yesterday - before now, we had only passed through. Our main objective was to shop for all those things a little town doesn´t have: shower caddy, bath mat, books, a small fan, and certain spices (found curry, chili, and coriander!). We had a quick breakfast, gave our laundry to Loli, and caught the 9:45 bus - got to Cartago in about an hour, and immediately turned the wrong way. But we quickly found the right direction, and headed towards ¨Las Ruinas¨ and the central park (uphill from the Orosí bus stop). We got some of our shopping over with, then sat in the park again (I sure do miss that in Orosí). We met a woman there (she heard us speaking English, and said she hadn´t heard it in a long time) - she had lived in New York for 40 (!) years, and had moved back to Costa Rica 3 years ago. We asked her where the central market was (just a bit further uphill), then asked for a good place to eat lunch. The young woman with her pointed out the McDonald´s and the Burger King (hmm) - we said we´d like something Costa Rican, so then she pointed towards another restaurant (uphill from the right-hand corner of the ruins, and pretty good).

After lunch, we went on the hunt for books - we found a small used-book store uphill from the central market, and a fair-sized new-book store just up from the park. I got another used Agatha Christie in English, and a new Peter Pan in Spanish. We knew immediately that the Don Quixote in Spanish was waaay beyond us.

We found appliance row - an avenue about 1 block uphill from the park - and got a small fan. Interesting procedure... We found one we wanted, the salesman wrote up a form, we went upstairs to pay, and came back down to pick up the fan. While this was going on, I checked out some prices for larger appliances (yikes!). A *very* small stove w/oven was $250, a good-sized fridge w/freezer was $1500, a combo washer/dryer was $1000, and a stand-alone washer was almost as much. A large-screen, flat panel TV was $2000 (I probably missed something subtle here, because it seemed pretty cheap for how it looked, and compared to everything else). The chairs I sat in were not comfortable - didn´t see a price. I sure do miss my double-recliner :(.

After several more stops in the park, we head home. We took the long way (again) to the bus stop, but at least we found it with no real problem. Caught the 2:15, and were back in Orosí in time to use our new umbrellas.

Weather report: rained from 3-9 pm, with sun and a nice fresh breeze the rest of the day.

Electricity: was out from 1-4, but most of Cartago was business as usual, and part of that time we were on the bus coming home. The water stayed on the entire time.