Observations of San Jose
We’ve already been in Costa Rica for 5 days. We’ve been pretty busy since getting here and we’ve already learned quite a bit about the city since arriving. Here’s a small list of observations since we arrived:
- It’s hot, hotter than I expected although I am getting used to it. I also haven’t seen a drop of rain since arriving.
- You need to get around by car, there is not a lot of public transit and from what I hear it’s hard to figure out exactly where each bus goes as well. Also since everything is so spread out you need a car to get around, taking taxis all the time will start getting expensive.
- Traffic can be insane here. We went looking at properties yesterday and after 4 hours we had only looked at 2 because of the traffic.
- When there is a traffic accident Costa Rican law states you have to leave your car where it is until the police arrive. Due to the small roads and many cars this can cause major backups for hours with no way around. See above point.
- Our office here, The Hangar, is pretty cool and everyone there is super nice.
- It gets bright here very early. Costa Rica is on the same time as Calgary but it should really be on Central or even Eastern time zone. Because of this the sun is up at 5:30am and it gets dark a little after 6pm right now.
- There are security bars, gates, fences everywhere. It’s going to take getting used to seeing all of the security everywhere.
- Costa Rican customs can be … interesting.
- Coke here is good. Better than back home because it’s not made with that corn syrup crap. It has real sugar like it’s supposed to.
- People here are real friendly and I really need to learn some more Spanish so I can communicate better.
Geoff on April 21st, 2009
You’ll get used to it, dude. It’s like travelling anywhere in the world and staying long enough to notice the differences.
The question is whether or not they’re drive you batty.