Welcome to part three of my Observations of Costa Rica series! If you missed the first two, click here for Part I, and here for Part II. I don't think this post needs much introduction, so let's just jump right in, shall we?
Architecture of houses
Most houses here are built much differently than I am used to. Because it doesn't get very cold here, and air conditioning is rare, it is not necessary for the houses to be airtight to keep in heat or A/C. Therefore the structures can be very simple, with thin walls and simple metal roofs. This means there is no insulation to block sound between rooms, and people don't seem to be bothered if there are slight cracks in the walls, which you can look through and see outside. I also have rarely seen screens on the windows, although we did have them in the volunteer house in Playa Chiquita (I think mosquitoes were more of a problem there than other places I've been since).
Poverty
This is sort of a difficult topic to address because I think my perspective might not be complete given that I have mostly seen touristy places that aren't necessarily a full representation of the country. However, I have made a few observations so I will share them.
My first glimpse of what I noticed as poverty was when I was on a bus leaving San Jose. As we drove past some of the neighborhoods farther away from the center, I saw streets where the houses appeared to be basically square box-like structures made from mostly sheets of metal. This was a bit shocking to see because even extremely impoverished areas in the U.S. usually do not seem to have so little in terms of housing options and construction materials. Given the differences in house construction that I just mentioned, it's hard for me to say whether these areas that appeared to be, for lack of a better term, basically shanty towns were a sign of extreme hardship, or simply a different way of living that I am not used to. Maybe those people live relatively comfortably, but just don't have the money for luxuries when it comes to housing, or maybe they really are barely scraping by. I really don't know.
On the flip side of this, I have seen a surprisingly few number of obviously homeless people or people begging on the street, probably fewer than any other country I've been to. Again, maybe this is because I've seen mostly touristy areas, but I think it also suggests that the economy here is good, and the government probably does a good job of making sure everyone is taken care of (not having a military must leave them lots of money to do other things). The other day I saw a disabled man in a wheelchair begging on the street, and it made me realize how long it had been since I'd seen that, and it was a refreshing realization.
Eco-friendliness
I'd heard a lot before I arrived about how eco-friendly Costa Rica is and how they have the capacity to run the whole country on 100% renewable energy. So I guess I expected to see lots of evidence of that, and I was sort of surprised that I didn't see more examples of renewable energy and environmentally friendly initiatives. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting (solar panels on every roof? Wind turbines on every hill? Signs everywhere promoting environmental protection?), but it's been more subtle than I thought it would be. I have seen wind turbines a few times (although hardly any solar panels surprisingly), there are recycling bins and municipal recycling pick-up in most towns, and most places I have been have composted food waste. I also discovered a company that sells bottled water in 100% recycled plastic bottles, so the few times I have needed to buy water, I have looked for that brand. There are many national parks and reserves in this country, which is more testament to Costa Rica's commitment to environmental protection. So there are lots of great things going on here, but I guess they just manifested differently and less obviously than I expected before I got here.
Bananas
I really like bananas, so it's great for me that they grow here. In the U.S., we pretty much just get one type of banana and they're all about the same size and have to look pristine to be put out on the supermarket shelf. Here, however, there is a much wider range. I've more typically seen a smaller variety of banans, which Costa Ricans say taste different, but I can't really tell. Maybe they're slightly sweeter? There's also a larger variety that I've had recently, which has a slightly softer texture and doesn't peel quite as cleanly as the American variety.
Another difference is that it's common to be able to buy bananas here still on the stalk in much larger quantities. They are still green at that point, so you choose which one to eat first by whichever one starts to ripen the fastest. Since you have them for a much longer time in this situation, some of them get very ripe by the time you eat them, or develop dark spots on the skin which I'm sure most American consumers would avoid in the supermarket.
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| Two stalks of bananas at Playa Chiquita Lodge. You can see that the ones at the bottom of the bunch in front are starting to ripen first. |
Food in pouches
This might not be specific to Costa Rica, but I've noticed here that you can buy certain semi-liquid foods in pouches, as opposed to jars like in the U.S. Mostly I've noticed jams in these pouches, and more recently, pasta sauce and salsa. It seemed strange to me at first since I'm so used to finding things like this in glass jars. Maybe the pouches make it easier to buy these foods in smaller quantities, that's the only reason I can think of to do it that way, because the pouches are much smaller than a typically jar of, say, tomato sauce you can buy in the U.S.
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| A pouch of pineapple jam |
Silverware in bags
Many times that I've gone out to eat, the silverware has come in a little plastic bag. I'm puzzled as to why this is necessary. Is it supposed to be more sanitary? I suppose that's the reason, but it just seems wasteful to me. The first time it happened, my first thought was that it meant that the silverware was disposable, but it wasn't. It's done for regular metal cutlery, so I continue to be confused.
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| Example of silverware in its perfectly silverware-sized bag |
Paying Bills
As an American I'm used to paying pretty much al of my bills online these days (except for rent, which is often still paid in check form). However, in Costa Rica, I noticed that you most often have to physically go somewhere to pay bills, and they are paid in cash. For example, one of my couchsurfing hosts had to go to the pharmacy to pay for his internet while I was there, which seemed like a strange place to go to do that. I also saw many stores and even some restaurants/bars with signs saying you could pay your bills there, including phone, internet, water, electricity and various other things depending on the location. So the trend of paying for most things in cash in Costa Rica even extends to utilities that normally we can do completely online in the U.S.
So there you have it, the last of my observations of life in Costa Rica (there were more things that I noticed when I was there, but not all of them were very interesting, and I have to draw the line somewhere otherwise I would end up with way too many posts). As I mentioned before, I will have more blog posts coming up in the next few weeks, and hopefully I will be better about posting more regularly. We'll see how busy I am with work and settling in to my new place. Thanks for reading!
The stuff in pouches makes me think of the foods here in Germany that come in tubes, like mayonnaise and mustard, which also come in glass jars in the U.S. It's still so weird to me to squeeze mayonnaise or mustard out of a tube... It feels disconcertingly like squeezing out toothpaste onto my food, lol.
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