Aero: Shelby Seeley – Costa Rica 2013 – City Life
Aero: Shelby Seeley – Costa Rica 2013 – City Life
Aero: Shelby Seeley – Costa Rica 2013 – City Life
Living in a foreign country was quite different for many reasons. Costa Rica is such a different setting compared to western New York which was awesome to experience in January! I live in a rural setting in New York so the biggest change was living in a city. From my bedroom I could hear the city come alive long before the sun was up. When in the city there is activity going on everywhere and that makes it extremely difficult to focus on one thing at a time. The amount of barbed wire and bars on buildings was a bit of shock to me. Where I come from there is very little barbed wire out in sight. The only place that I have ever seen barbed wire is around farm pastures. Seeing so many homes and businesses covered in barbed wire did not instill much confidence in me about how safe the city was.
After spending a bit of time in Central Park it became apparent to me that many police officers spend a great deal of time there and for good reason. Central Park is where many locals as well as tourists congregate during the day so it is understandable that the police would want to be around in case anything happened. I was approached multiple times while in the park by men asking for donations to clean the park up, to shake maracas and I was even approached by a slightly intoxicated man. When I came across the last man I saw two police officers immediately place themselves about ten feet away from us which made me feel a tiny bit safer. Sitting in Central Park also allows you to see so many different shops. Living within the city truly allows you access to many different eateries and shops.
See The Flickr Gallery!
Traveling outside of the city for day excursions was a chance to see another side of the country. Driving away from city life allows much more greenery to catch your eye as you pass by. There is a gradual shift in how much barbed wire is visible on houses and businesses. Each house visibly has more land than people who live in the city do. I was surprised at how many people were at bus stops in the mountains. Seeing them made me wonder where they were going. On the way up into the mountains there was a definite switch in the amount of people versus animals in favor of the animals. The best part of driving up mountains, to the volcanoes especially was when we were looking down on the clouds. It is an incredible feeling being above the clouds and still being on the ground. I wish that more people could experience that feeling. The differences in areas of Costa Rica make it such a great place to visit!
Transportation in Costa Rica is not what I was expecting it be. Alajuela is such a hub of activity and people need to get to so many different places quickly that there are buses and taxis all over. I imagined that there would be both in Costa Rica but the sheer amount of people who use them astonished me. I could not tell you the last time I used public transportation which is why I was a bit intimidated by it at first. We only rode the bus once and that was from Zoo Ave back to Alajuela. I’m glad we only took it once too! The seats were not comfortable and on the slight chance of sounding like a snob, it was extremely hot on the bus.
Taxis were a whole new experience for me just like the bus. A taxi is easy to spot because they are all bright red in Costa Rica. Even with a small knowledge of Spanish a person can get to where they are going pretty easily. I only sat in the front of a taxi once while we were there and I can say that is most likely going to be the last time I do that. There was a certain anxiety about it because it was rush hour and I kept watching the meter go up. Taxi fares are relatively cheap in Costa Rica and it is a great way to practice speaking and bartering at the same time. Much of the streets in Alajuela are one way so drivers must know where you are going. Turn signal lights must never die either because they are so rarely used by drivers. Honking horns are more common than turn signals. Someone honking their horn in the U.S. would seem rude but in Costa Rica it is more like a friendly acknowledgement.
The streets can become extremely congested at certain times of the day but Costa Ricans have a solution for this. There are men who work specific stretches of streets to direct traffic, assist people park their cars as well as watch over them for a fee. Security is an issue in these areas and that is why the people take it upon themselves to police specific spots. Traffic could be hectic with motorcyclists weaving in and out of traffic at times. Even in crazy traffic there are good deeds done by random people. One afternoon I was taking a taxi home with the girls and the car in front of stalled out. Within a minute or two there was a motorcyclist who stopped to help jump start the man’s car.
Costa Rica is also getting ready for a presidential election within the next year. While staying with Marta and Marco I learned that Marco’s boss was in fact running for election within his party. While we were there Marco found out that his boss had won the primary for his party against another incumbent who backed out. Even Daniel and Marco Jr. talked about their father’s position and how important the upcoming election was going to be. Normally teenagers are not interested in politics but they both seemed to have a good grasp of the presidency and elections.
Being submerged in Costa Rican culture especially city life was an experience that I will always remember. Living in this area of Costa Rica also confirmed that I am a country girl. I love visiting the city but for short periods of time. One final lesson that I learned from living in the city is to always have a plan. When plans are made little time is wasted and more time is spent exploring and enjoying.
– Shelby Seeley
The LEAF Project
www.leaflanguages.org
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
