I've been wanting to do another post about my observations of Costa Rica for weeks now, but I always seem to be catching up on my location-specific posts. Since I haven't been volunteering since I left Monteverde, I've been moving from place to place more often and don't have as much time to sit down and write or go into as much detail as I'd like. Now I have a bit more time though, so, in no particular order, here are some more of my observations of Costa Rica.
Cemeteries
Almost all of the cemeteries I've seen in this country have been quite different from the U.S. Most of the plots consist of an above ground box that appears to be made out of, or at least covered in, ceramic tiles. The picture below shows what I mean, and also includes some plots that appear a little more like the typical American cemetery plot (but those seem to be much less common here).
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| Cemetery in Monteverde |
Tourism vehicles
Tourism is a very large industry in many places in Costa Rica, and there are various tour companies operating that offer transportation to their destination, or between different destinations in the country. You can tell which vehicles are for tourism because they have signs on them that say Turismo, like the picture below.
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| Apologies that the picture is taken from far away, but maybe you can see that the van in the middle has orange signs on the side and back marking it as a tourism vehicle |
I'm not sure why exactly this is so common, if it's a law or something that the vehicles have to be marked. You can also see similar signs on other vehicles saying transporte de estudiantes (student transport), and servicios especiales (special services--I've never found out what those are actually for).
Buses
I've mentioned buses several times in my other posts, but I figured they deserved another mention because there are so many things I've noticed about them.
First of all, some of the things I've noted before is that they don't have air conditioning, they are cheap (about $5 for a ride that is several hours long, and as little as about $0.60 for a short ride), and the bus network is very comprehensive. It is also very easy to catch most buses anywhere along their route. Even for buses that go between cities and towns, there are typically many bus stops along the way, or sometimes you can get on or off anywhere just by alerting the driver. In the U.S., both of those things are only typical on local buses within cities, whereas longer bus rides between cities typically only stop once in the center of each city along the route.
However, in spite of how convenient it is to get from place to place by bus in Costa Rica, finding the schedules and the bus stops themselves can be tricky. There is no national bus company, so each area has it's own bus companies that each operate certain routes. Also, very few of these companies have websites, and even those that do often don't post the schedule. Websites that do post these schedules usually aren't up to date, so you don't really know, if you're lucky enough to find an online timetable, whether it's actually right. Recently I found four completely different schedules online for exactly the same bus route. In addition to that confusion, there is rarely a central bus station, so each city has several, each of which is used by a couple of companies. San Jose has at least four that I know of, and when I took a bus out of there, I again found differing information online about which bus stop the bus left from. Then some buses pick up and drop off at locations that aren't even official stations, just a specific intersection or road in the city. In all of these situations, it turns out to be much better to ask someone who lives there, or even just ask at the station when you arrive.
Some other observations I've made on buses are that most buses seem to let people over 65 ride for free. I'm not sure if this is a law in Costa Rica, or just something the companies decided to do, but I think it's pretty neat. Also, there were a couple of times that the driver let vendors onto the bus to sell drinks and snacks, and once a disabled man came through asking for money to help him buy a special wheelchair. That sort of thing would never happen in the U.S., and I couldn't help wondering whether these people ever get stranded somewhere random if they're not able to catch a bus coming back the other way to get them back to where they started.
Dogs
I think I may have mentioned dogs in a few of my posts, but again, as with the buses, I thought they deserved another mention since I've noticed a few things. The first thing I noticed is that spaying and neutering is not popular here, so all of the dogs I've met or seen, except for one, were not fixed. People also seem to have no problem letting their dogs run loose, so I'm sort of surprised that I don't see more stray dogs running around. There are some, but not as many as I'd expect, so I guess most people take care of the puppies when their dogs have litters.
Another thing I've noticed is that dogs don't seem to be as much a part of the family here as they often are in the U.S. Most dog owners in the states keep their dogs inside most of the time, let them up on the furniture or into their beds sometimes, and generally treat them as if they're children. I haven't seen as much of that here, so it means that dogs seem to be left to entertain themselves, sometimes chained up, or expected to be guard dogs. It doesn't seem like training dogs is as big of a deal here, which to my great dismay leads to people not seeming to care if their dogs bark at all hours of the day and night. I've come to realize that a barking dog is one of my least favorite sounds, right up there with snoring, and it makes me unbelievably furious to listen to a dog barking incessantly when I'm trying to concentrate or sleep. Most people in the U.S. will usually quiet their dogs if they are barking for too long, but some people here obviously don't care, and it drives me nuts.
Mail and addresses
Something I noticed even before I arrived in Costa Rica is that most places don't have real mailing addresses as we are accustomed to in North America and Europe. The address for the lodge I volunteered at was literally just "5 kilometers south of Puerto Viejo, across from the Hotel Shawandha, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limon, Costa Rica." Not exactly what I was expecting. And unless you are in a big city like San Jose, that is pretty typical.
Maybe because of this vagueness, the postal service here is incredibly slow! I'm not sure if it's better domestically, but internationally it's abysmal. I sent some postcards one of my first weeks in Playa Chiquita...it's been about 2 months, and as far as I know, only one of the recipients in the U.S. and Europe has gotten their card. And I'd given up that they would ever arrive! I'm not sure how much Costa Ricans use the postal service, but I'm guessing it's not very much.
Addition: I've noticed since I wrote this that people can send packages on the public buses, which seems like it is way more effective that the postal service. They just have to drop the packages off at the bus station or stop, and then someone has to be at the destination to collect it. Very effective, and not much waiting involved.
Addition: I've noticed since I wrote this that people can send packages on the public buses, which seems like it is way more effective that the postal service. They just have to drop the packages off at the bus station or stop, and then someone has to be at the destination to collect it. Very effective, and not much waiting involved.
Humidity
This is something I meant to include in a post quite a while ago, but I never got around to it. I'm sure I mentioned that it's hot and humid, but what I haven't mentioned is how that affects things in ways I had never thought about. My first week in Costa Rica someone gave me the advice to not leave clothes sitting in one place for too long, because they would start to get moldy. So every so often, I would pick up my folded clothes, smell them, and move them around to make sure they were okay, which so far they have been. However, one thing I didn't think about was my belt. When I was on the Caribbean coast I didn't wear pants the whole time, only shorts, so I didn't need my belt, and when I picked it up to pack it when I was leaving, it was covered in green mold! I hadn't thought a leather belt just sitting on a shelf would mold, but it did. Luckily I was able to just wash the mold off the surface and I was good to go. But other things of mine haven't fared so well. All of my bags and backpacks have started to smell and show mold spots, and even after I wash them and the spots are gone, the smell lingers. I bet there's mold still growing inside the fabric, so I'm not very hopeful that I'll ever get it out. I also didn't think to put my passport in an airtight bag, so when I took it out of it's envelope a few weeks into my trip, it had started to warp. No more nice perfect-looking passport for me. I have it compressed now to try to flatten it out, but I think it will always be a bit bent.
Safety
Before I got here, I heard all of this advice about how to stay safe and healthy during my trip. "Don't drink the water," "Don't eat raw veggies and fruits unless you wash them yourself" (or "Don't eat raw veggies and fruits at all"), "Don't walk on the beach at night," "Watch out for pickpockets," etc, etc. Although it is obviously good to be aware of safety any time you travel, I have found much of the advice given to me before my trip to be overly cautious.
For example, as I mentioned in my first Observations post, you can drink the water here. Everywhere I have been in Costa Rica I have drank the tap water and been perfectly fine. Many places it comes from natural springs, so it's probably even better than some of the water I drink in the U.S. I also have forgotten or been unable to wash my fruits prior to eating them almost every time, and again, I have not gotten sick from it. I have gone onto the beach at night and nothing bad happened, although I still took precautions by not going alone and not bringing anything valuable with me. And overall, I have hardly ever felt unsafe my entire time here. Even in San Jose, which is a big city with some dangerous areas, the places I went were very safe, and were patrolled by police on just about every block. Of course there is crime here, as there is anywhere (I met two women when I was volunteering in Monteverde who had a backpack with lots of important items stolen out of their rental car), but I think many people assume that just because Costa Rica is in Central America that it's dangerous and has lots of crime and drugs. I do think there are many countries in the region that are much more dangerous, but Costa Rica is not one of them.
Roads and driving (again)
I mentioned roads and driving in my first observations post, but it deserves another mention because I've noticed more aspects of it since then. I mostly commented about city driving in that post, but now I have much more experience with mountain and country roads.
Firstly, there are a lot of dirt roads in and around the towns I have been to. Usually the very center of towns will be paved, but even a few blocks outside the center can have dirt roads, in residential neighborhoods that would surely be paved in the U.S. My couchsurfing host in La Fortuna lived about three blocks from the central park in town, and his street wasn't paved. Then there will be random places where a dirt road has a paved section and then turns right back into dirt again. Most of these spots I've noticed are on very steep hills to give the cars better traction, especially if the hill also corresponds with a curve in the road.
The most shocking thing about these dirt roads to me is that large vehicles seem to have no problem using them, which I'm pretty sure would be a no-go for most American drivers. The buses here drive on dirt roads that would never have bus routes in the U.S., and the drivers seem to have no trouble navigating the steep, twisty dirt roads that barely seem big enough for two small cars to pass, let alone a large vehicle. I was especially shocked in Monteverde, when I was walking along a very narrow dirt road and saw a tractor trailer driving by! It did seem to have a bit of trouble getting around an especially sharp corner, and all of the traffic had to stop and wait, but it made it just fine. I guess when those are the roads you have to work with, and you need to get supplies to the stores in town, you get used to it.
Speed limits and cell phones
Similar to the previous category but I think deserving of it's own mention is speed limits. Most of the time when I'm in a vehicle and I see a speed limit sign, I'm fairly certain we are going much faster than the posted limit. I've also never seen anyone stopped by the police on the side of the road, so I highly doubt the police are really looking out for speeders like they do in the U.S., lurking in the bushes with their radar guns to catch drivers unaware. Therefore, it seems like the speed limit signs are more like suggestions then actual enforced laws (although maybe this is because I've mostly made this observation when we're on out of the way country roads).
Another road-related observation I've made is that there must not be laws about cell phone use while driving because a surprising number of people blatantly use their phones while driving. I've even been on buses where the bus driver was using his phone while the bus was moving! Not cool!
Safety
Before I got here, I heard all of this advice about how to stay safe and healthy during my trip. "Don't drink the water," "Don't eat raw veggies and fruits unless you wash them yourself" (or "Don't eat raw veggies and fruits at all"), "Don't walk on the beach at night," "Watch out for pickpockets," etc, etc. Although it is obviously good to be aware of safety any time you travel, I have found much of the advice given to me before my trip to be overly cautious.
For example, as I mentioned in my first Observations post, you can drink the water here. Everywhere I have been in Costa Rica I have drank the tap water and been perfectly fine. Many places it comes from natural springs, so it's probably even better than some of the water I drink in the U.S. I also have forgotten or been unable to wash my fruits prior to eating them almost every time, and again, I have not gotten sick from it. I have gone onto the beach at night and nothing bad happened, although I still took precautions by not going alone and not bringing anything valuable with me. And overall, I have hardly ever felt unsafe my entire time here. Even in San Jose, which is a big city with some dangerous areas, the places I went were very safe, and were patrolled by police on just about every block. Of course there is crime here, as there is anywhere (I met two women when I was volunteering in Monteverde who had a backpack with lots of important items stolen out of their rental car), but I think many people assume that just because Costa Rica is in Central America that it's dangerous and has lots of crime and drugs. I do think there are many countries in the region that are much more dangerous, but Costa Rica is not one of them.
Roads and driving (again)
I mentioned roads and driving in my first observations post, but it deserves another mention because I've noticed more aspects of it since then. I mostly commented about city driving in that post, but now I have much more experience with mountain and country roads.
Firstly, there are a lot of dirt roads in and around the towns I have been to. Usually the very center of towns will be paved, but even a few blocks outside the center can have dirt roads, in residential neighborhoods that would surely be paved in the U.S. My couchsurfing host in La Fortuna lived about three blocks from the central park in town, and his street wasn't paved. Then there will be random places where a dirt road has a paved section and then turns right back into dirt again. Most of these spots I've noticed are on very steep hills to give the cars better traction, especially if the hill also corresponds with a curve in the road.
The most shocking thing about these dirt roads to me is that large vehicles seem to have no problem using them, which I'm pretty sure would be a no-go for most American drivers. The buses here drive on dirt roads that would never have bus routes in the U.S., and the drivers seem to have no trouble navigating the steep, twisty dirt roads that barely seem big enough for two small cars to pass, let alone a large vehicle. I was especially shocked in Monteverde, when I was walking along a very narrow dirt road and saw a tractor trailer driving by! It did seem to have a bit of trouble getting around an especially sharp corner, and all of the traffic had to stop and wait, but it made it just fine. I guess when those are the roads you have to work with, and you need to get supplies to the stores in town, you get used to it.
Speed limits and cell phones
Similar to the previous category but I think deserving of it's own mention is speed limits. Most of the time when I'm in a vehicle and I see a speed limit sign, I'm fairly certain we are going much faster than the posted limit. I've also never seen anyone stopped by the police on the side of the road, so I highly doubt the police are really looking out for speeders like they do in the U.S., lurking in the bushes with their radar guns to catch drivers unaware. Therefore, it seems like the speed limit signs are more like suggestions then actual enforced laws (although maybe this is because I've mostly made this observation when we're on out of the way country roads).
Another road-related observation I've made is that there must not be laws about cell phone use while driving because a surprising number of people blatantly use their phones while driving. I've even been on buses where the bus driver was using his phone while the bus was moving! Not cool!
No "WC"
As someone who has to pee a lot, especially, it seems, while traveling, I've gotten used to looking for and taking comfort in the letters "WC" (for "water closet") while traveling around Europe. However, I discovered that those universal letters are not quite as universal as I thought, because they are not used here. I can still look for the pictures of the man and woman that are typically on bathroom signs, but the words to look for now are servicios sanitarios (which translates to "sanitary services").
And another bathroom-related observation, I've noticed that bathroom doors here usually have a lock on the outside as well as the inside. I'm not really sure why that is, my only ideas are that it helps the door not swing open and get in the way, or it's used as a way to tell if the bathroom is occupied (assuming that if it is locked on the outside, it must not be locked from the inside). However, neither of these seems a very compelling reason, and it also seems impractical because you could, accidentally or on purpose, get locked inside the bathroom. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
As someone who has to pee a lot, especially, it seems, while traveling, I've gotten used to looking for and taking comfort in the letters "WC" (for "water closet") while traveling around Europe. However, I discovered that those universal letters are not quite as universal as I thought, because they are not used here. I can still look for the pictures of the man and woman that are typically on bathroom signs, but the words to look for now are servicios sanitarios (which translates to "sanitary services").
And another bathroom-related observation, I've noticed that bathroom doors here usually have a lock on the outside as well as the inside. I'm not really sure why that is, my only ideas are that it helps the door not swing open and get in the way, or it's used as a way to tell if the bathroom is occupied (assuming that if it is locked on the outside, it must not be locked from the inside). However, neither of these seems a very compelling reason, and it also seems impractical because you could, accidentally or on purpose, get locked inside the bathroom. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
So that's it for now for my observations. I have more to share so I will try to write another post before too long. Thanks for reading! And if you missed my first observations post, you can check it out here.
I was thinking maybe the servicios especiales vehicles could be for transporting people with disabilities? There are some vehicles/services like that here in Germany so that came to mind.
ReplyDeleteThat's weird that the bathroom doors lock from the outside. I wouldn't want to get locked it!