Costa RicaMap
January Passengers flying into Costa Rica are greeted by a cardboard person with a poster promising serious consequences for having sex with someone under 18. ![]() Road signs urge you to buckle up to protect your life. ![]() Spots where someone died in a car crash are marked with hearts and halos on the asphalt. On this spot, a soul departed for heaven. ![]() Stop signs have arrows under them indicating the directions in which the sign applies. ![]() Railroad crossings are marked with big Xs on the pavement. ![]() A normal pedestrian. ![]() A more complicated crossing. The sign prescribes a speed limit of 25 km/h when there are schoolchildren present. ![]() A sign warning that speed cameras are in use. It’s interesting how cameras are symbolized differently in different countries. ![]() The fork and knife on the “food” sign have slits in the handles. For some reason, this is the convention in Central America. ![]() A sign consisting of a vertical row of three black circles on an orange background, found only in Costa Rica, indicates a crossing over a stream or river. ![]() Bus drivers leave all their old inspection stickers on the window. ![]() A license plate. ![]() An incredibly beautiful post box. It resembles a mailman’s backpack. I encountered one only once. ![]() A remarkable local detail: the constructions on which advertising signs are mounted. They look like crane arms. I never did manage to find a rational explanation for why such a utilitarian task as mounting a sign requires such a complex technological solution. ![]() Every end user latches onto the power lines directly, so the lines end up looking like sheet music. ![]() Electrical meters are installed on posts along the road in boxes that look like bird feeders. ![]() Although by law, all the meters must be placed on a freestanding concrete wall (like in Panama). ![]() Like in Nicaragua, there are no street names. For instance, the address of the Russian consulate looks like this: go 100 meters north from a certain reference point in the capital, and then 150 meters east. San JoseMapTraffic lights in the capital. ![]() A pedestrian traffic light. ![]() There are interesting retro columns supporting the pedestrian lights along the local equivalent of Moscow’s famous Arbat Street. ![]() All Costa Rican cities look alike. They’re differentiated by their fire hydrants and trash cans. One type of hydrant in the capital. ![]() Another type. ![]() The predominant trash can model in San Jose. ![]() An interesting docking station for dumpsters. The dumpsters hitch onto the central column, forming a neat flower. ![]() All the kiosks take up half the sidewalk, so they have a fairly shallow depth. It looks nice. ![]() Payphones. ![]() Taxis. ![]() A kooky pair of religious preachers. ![]() Costa Rica used to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but then decided it was better off being friends with China. Friendship with China automatically implies the end of friendship with Taiwan. To celebrate, China gifted Costa Rica with a stadium whose roof resembles the crown of the Statue of Liberty in New York. ![]() An advertisement for a rehabilitation center. ![]() AlajuelaMapOne model of Alajuela trash cans. ![]() Another model (how did someone ever come up with this?). ![]() An intersection with a traffic light. ![]() San RamónMapBecause of the rainy season, all trash cans in Costa Rica are made with tops. ![]() So that rainwater doesn’t collect inside them. ![]() A hydrant. ![]() CartagoMapCartago has many different kinds of trash cans. ![]() And fire hydrants. ![]() The payphones are the same as in the rest of the country. ![]() A bus stop. ![]() The city is completely uninteresting. ![]() Poás VolcanoThe crater of the Poás Volcano is considered a must-see for every tourist. Of course, since the crater is always shrouded in mist, no one has ever actually seen anything except a milky cloudiness. Hundreds of people stand like idiots in front of a railing, past which, for all we know, is a smoke machine that’s been making fake fog this whole time. ![]() La FortunaMapThe biggest tourist draw is the volcano which towers over the town of La Fortuna. You have to drive to the volcano. ![]() Indulge in the standard recreational activities: ride horses, trolleys and boats, see the volcano itself. ![]() And leave. ![]() Costa Rica has managed to create several tourist-oriented nature reserves with standard programs for killing time, but there’s nothing to see here (like in most of the neighboring countries, generally speaking). There are lots of coatis in Costa Rica. ![]() And frogs, too. ![]() And toucans made from old car tires. ![]() |
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