Los primeros impresiones
Here are some photos from San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica and the city where I arrived.
Near the hostel, in the “old town”.
Street-seller (like a German “Kiosk”, only directly on the sidewalk and “open”) in the central avenue.
Place I stayed in the first night. Nice hostel! Tranquilo
It’s odd. I thought that after India and Marruecos, I’ll immediately find my way around Costa Rica. Especially because I heard (and it is true), that CR is more of a vacation-country and also relatively rich as opposed to other central american countries. So I was suprised to see myself being afraid to go out alone of the hostel in the dark on my first day and even through the area near the bus station. The scenery changes really fast in San Jose. I also first missed out a lot of things and probably still am. I noticed the hookers near the hostel, the NATO-barbwire on almost each balcony, the a little bit broken streets and that distinctive smell in the poorer part of the town (near the bus stations) but for example not that right on the other side of the road from the hostel, there was a college.
But of course, the deal about less developed countries (or, say: less westernized countries) is I guess that they are pretty different from Europe/North America but each in a distinct way. So, one needs to get used to the culture, rules and society anew. And a little more caution at the start of the travel can not be wrong.
