The basics of life in Costa Rica
Jan. 7th, 2025 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glowingfishI should probably mention a few things about Costa Rica!
The first thing is that Costa Rica is a "middle income country", at least that is what I would call it.
But what does that mean?
Basically, for me, it means that I don't see a lot of extreme poverty, but that things are a little bit more cracked/jury-rigged than I am usually used to. But also, some of that is cultural.
There are a few "shantytowns" or "precarios" in Costa Rica, places built out of spare lumber and tin, but they are less common than homeless camps are in the United States, from what I have seen. There is also not anything like a problem with obvious malnutrition (and any malnutrition that does occur is probably due to fast food/junk food). There is also probably close to 100% literacy. There are schools and medical clinics everywhere.
The big difference that I've noticed is that a lot of the infrastructure is older. Bus lines, of which there are many, sometimes use old American school buses. Sidewalks disappear. Traffic has to alternative over one lane bridges. San Jose's passenger train network is based on a century year old freight railroad.
Some of the difference is cultural. I especially notice this with transportation: there aren't routes or schedules for the buses. The buses aren't operated by a central transit agency. If you want to figure out where to go, you just have to kind of...know. But this isn't due to a lack of technology or money, at least sometimes. I walked into a small grocery store in a little mountain town, and the cashier had a 30 inch flat panel monitor for her register. But the train stations don't even have a dot matrix display for arrival or departure time of trains. Part of the jury-rigging of infrastructure just seems to be a cultural thing.
The first thing is that Costa Rica is a "middle income country", at least that is what I would call it.
But what does that mean?
Basically, for me, it means that I don't see a lot of extreme poverty, but that things are a little bit more cracked/jury-rigged than I am usually used to. But also, some of that is cultural.
There are a few "shantytowns" or "precarios" in Costa Rica, places built out of spare lumber and tin, but they are less common than homeless camps are in the United States, from what I have seen. There is also not anything like a problem with obvious malnutrition (and any malnutrition that does occur is probably due to fast food/junk food). There is also probably close to 100% literacy. There are schools and medical clinics everywhere.
The big difference that I've noticed is that a lot of the infrastructure is older. Bus lines, of which there are many, sometimes use old American school buses. Sidewalks disappear. Traffic has to alternative over one lane bridges. San Jose's passenger train network is based on a century year old freight railroad.
Some of the difference is cultural. I especially notice this with transportation: there aren't routes or schedules for the buses. The buses aren't operated by a central transit agency. If you want to figure out where to go, you just have to kind of...know. But this isn't due to a lack of technology or money, at least sometimes. I walked into a small grocery store in a little mountain town, and the cashier had a 30 inch flat panel monitor for her register. But the train stations don't even have a dot matrix display for arrival or departure time of trains. Part of the jury-rigging of infrastructure just seems to be a cultural thing.
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Date: 2025-01-08 08:22 pm (UTC)The buses aren't operated by a central transit agency.
I mean, neither (outside London) are ours, thanks to Thatcherite deregulation in the 1980s. My thoughts on that get too political for here, but suffice to say I envy London.
But the train stations don't even have a dot matrix display for arrival or departure time of trains.
That, on the other hand, we do have. Ouch. I remember before those signs existed, and waiting in the snow at a small unstaffed station could be a bit heart-in-mouth until you actually saw the train appear!
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