where the streets have no name

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

where i catch the bus in the morning.

evidence for all of my friends and family that i am getting up at 6:45 every morning, and catching the bus at 7:30. unbelievable, si?

Culture shock is an unavoidable part of living in any country other than your own. Since I've done a bit of traveling in my life so far (on tour for 7 months living in hotel rooms, a semester abroad in London, living on my air mattress at Katie's :), living for a year in a tiny studio in NYC) I've experienced many different ways of living, many of which could be jarring or uncomfortable to some people. For instance, a lot of the people here are so shocked as to how full the buses are here in San Jose, recounting "horror" stories about being pressed up against people on their commute home. This particular aspect of living in Costa Rica isn't new to me at all after having lived in Washington, DC and New York...all I have to do in remember my trip on the 4,5 train to Yankee stadium for a play-off game once. NO mode of transportation could ever be more crowded than that one, I would venture to say. When an absolutely full train pulled into the station, one that you couldn't possibly think would fit another person, let alone another molecule of air, inevitabley 10 drunk Yankee fans would manage to squeeze themselves into the car somehow. They made room.

So, I haven't experienced any huge culture shock just yet, maybe just little culture sparks here and there (not considering the language thing obviously), except for one huge thing: the streets have no names. No...really. They have no names. Okay, the streets in the downtown central area have some names, numbered streets, calle 16, calle 17. None of the neighborhoods where people live, however, have proper street names. How does anyone give directions to another person you ask? It's all about the landmarks. This can be interesting, and make for a scary experience in the taxi when your taxi driver doesn't know exactly where your house is, and you have to help him find it, and it's dark, and you've only been here a week, and you're not sure where you are, AND THE STREETS HAVE NO NAMES!!!

When I say they have no names, I mean they have no names. Earlier I was skyping with my mom, and the conversation went like this (as it has gone with anyone who doesn't know Costa Rica):

Cristina: Yeah, I got a little lost last night in the taxi, it was a little scary.

Mom: The taxi driver didn't know where your house was? He didn't recognize the address?

Cristina: Well, there aren't really addresses...it's different here...the streets don't have names.

Mom: The streets....don't...have any names?

Cristina: Nope.

Mom: Wait...the streets....the streets aren't named at all? They don't have....NAMES?

Cristina: That's correct.

Mom: Hm.

Cristina: YEAH.



To drive the point home I will show you my address here in Costa Rica (and I changed the numbers and colors, etc, for my protection..never know who's reading!):

Sabanilla, de la Cosecha
200 sur y 50o oeste
Carmiol II casa #8,
color azul con verdas negras

So basically, this address is telling you that I live in Sabanilla, a part of the city, and FROM the fruit stand I am 200 meters south and 500 meters west, and the house is blue with a black gate.

Yup. Just like that.

Also, another interesting element of all of this is that landmarks are very very important (for instance the address of my school is in relation to the Subaru dealer on the corner), but what happens if a landmark disappears? A store closes? Relocates? Well...people continue to use the now nonexistent landmark, and anyone who isn't aware that that landmark existed is out of luck. ha!

It's so different than my time in any other new city. When I first moved to New York I was pretty fearless about leaving my apartment and venturing out into the unknown, but the sequential street number and avenues made all the difference. It was kind of difficult, at least in most parts of town, to get completely lost if you know how to count at least.

Just wanted to share this tidbit with y'all. Muy interesante, si?

Adios, for now :).