Aero: Autumn Clearwater-Day – Costa Rica 2015 – City Life

Aero: Autumn Clearwater-Day – Costa Rica 2015 – City Life
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project

Aero: Autumn Clearwater-Day – Costa Rica 2015 – City Life

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Autumn
Clearwater-Day

Throughout my trip I saw the diverse areas in Costa Rica. There were cities, towns, and villages that were completely different. When I was with my host family I lived in the city of Alajuela. This city had many streets that divided Alajuela into blocks. In the middle of the city of was the central park and cathedral. The central park was always busy with people during the day and night. I consider Alajuela to be a smaller city where on the outskirts of the town everyone knew everybody. People would walk or drive through Alajuela and see people that they knew, waving and saying hello. Every store and home was guarded with metal gates, it would be the front door for homes and used for stores during closed hours.

When I visited La Fortuna for four days I stayed in a backpackers hostel. La Fortuna was more of a town that had one main strip of restaurants and stores. It seemed to be more tourist friendly with booths that advertised tourism sites and tour guide details. I walked around La Fortuna and it had lots of souvenir shops and restaurants with american food. There weren’t many houses around La Fortuna but more places to visit and it wasn’t ever busy with lots of people.

ML@FLCC Costa Rica
2015 Flickr Gallery

In Orosi Valley there was a small village that had a soccer field in the center, two or three markets and one small cathedral. Orosi village was secluded in the mountain and wasn’t filled with many people. This town was very small and was clearly defined as a town for the people and not the tourists. There wasn’t souvenirs shops or tourism advertisements, no paved streets and not many stop signs.

When I went to San Jose I was able to compare the city to Alajuela. San Jose was much bigger and more crowded than Alajuela. We walked the main strip of San Jose and it was like any other city; full of people, and stores. There were more people handing out advertisement sheets and bands singing on the street for money. I wandered into the restaurant The Spoon to see the food they had, but it was so packed with people I walked back out. I could never imagine why anyone would want to eat their food in such a crowded place. I ate at taco bell and I have never seen it so busy, the line was long and there were tons of people eating in the restaurant. My one thought about San Jose was that it was too busy for me.

Autumn Clearwater-Day
LEAF Contributor