Aero: Kyle Hubble – Costa Rica 2013 – City Life
Aero: Kyle Hubble – Costa Rica 2013 – City Life
Aero: Kyle Hubble – Costa Rica 2013 – City Life
After a long day of travel, including two lengthy flights and a five-hour lay over, I was looking forward to getting settled in my temporary home of Alajuela. My first encounter with the city was late at night driving with my host family through the streets to our house. My first impressions of the city reminded me much of my own downtown Rochester. It was dark and absolutely everything was covered in bars, including doors, windows, and all draped in barbed wire. Where did I send myself?
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The next morning I saw the light, rather the city in the light, and what a difference! So many different shops and small produce stores on the streets and tucked away between buildings in small little alcoves. We even discovered a small restaurant tucked inside an alley that to our knowledge had no name. Still, the food was delicious! Living next to one of the schools there was a football, or soccer, field taking up a whole block where kids were playing. People were out with their giant shopping bags, heading to the bank, and enjoying a day in the central park. I got a completely different feel for the city opposite the feeling from the night before. Everything is in walking distance and everything seems so much more “mom and pop” here. Its still business but not so commercial as it is here in the U.S.
The next thing I really want to hit on is the traffic here. There are streets and there are vehicles, and the vehicles drive in the streets. Forget traffic laws or rules, the yellow lines in the middle of the road are just for show. My advice is to ride with a native who knows how to “drive” or take a taxi, otherwise walk and walk carefully.
What I learned from my host family was that for the most part Alajuela was a nice city as long as you used your common sense. They mentioned that there was very little nightlife in Alajuela especially after 6 which, myself and the others quickly discovered. However, the daytime offered plenty for us to take in.
– Kyle Hubble
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