San Jose, Costa Rica is the kind of modern that is unabashed, purposive, unironic. It is all busyness and bright-lightness, all the time. It exhibits a kind of world pan-modernity that knows nothing of labels like "third world" versus "northern" versus whatever. And yet... okay. In Portland you don't hear a rooster crowing from the dry goods store just off the main pedestrian shopping street. But that main shopping thoroughfare has more transnational chain stores than all of downtown Portland and Seattle combined. Did I come to Costa Rica to eat at Quizno's Subs or KFC? No, but no more than I would visit Boston or Santa Fe for the same reason. KFC et al may be there, but the real place and its uniqueness is just around corner.
Costa Rica abolished its military in 1949. OMIGOD! Why is not the sky falling? Why didn't the commies take over? Questions worth pondering, to be sure.
I am staying at a house-hostel run by a very friendly dual American-Costa Rican citizen named Maria Elena. Her mother was Costa Rican. Maria Elena inherited the house and now rents out the extra bedrooms to travelers. It is very peaceful with a little burbling fountain, lots of interesting books, and a quiet little leafy courtyard garden. The place is not advertised and I was lucky enough to land here simply because they lost my reservation at the other hostel I was going to stay at, and Maria Elena is a friend of theirs.
Notwithstanding the niceness of the hostel house, I won't be in San Jose much longer. It is not a bad city by any means, but many other things beckon.
I'm about to head to Central America for my second trip there in 2 years. This one will involve more countries. I am flying to San Jose, Costa Rica on Jan 28/29 and flying back from Mexico City on April 15. I will be traveling overland in between with the majority (or plurality) of my time in Nicaragua, including time spent helping to build a cob library in the village of Jicaro, Nicaragua. I will send postings as often as I can manage.