Around town

Believe it or not, I have had a little time to explore San Jose.  A few stories. 

The first weekend here I was getting my bearings.  As I asked people what to do over the weekend, the number one response was: have you been to Multiplaza?  Multiplaza is a big shopping mall here.  I’m not a big shopping mall guy (and even less so a shopper), but since that seemed to be the thing to do I went to check it out.  It’s probably the biggest and nicest mall in Costa Rica, and it is gargantuan.  Inside, it looks just like an American mall, and half of the stores are shared in common, too.  The part I find most amusing (here and everywhere else) are the stores that are “American,” like Caterpillar (a clothing store using the Caterpillar heavy machinery brand) – things that use the aura of America but don’t actually exist in America.  I wandered into some stores, and everything with an American brand was automatically double its cost in the U.S. (e.g. Levi jeans, Dockers, etc.). 

As I wandered by the food court I did a quick tally, and 50% of the shops were American fast food chains: Taco Bell, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway, Quiznos, Burger King, and KFC. 

Malls are great for people-watching.  At one point I saw a lady in 4” heels… that had probably a 2” platform base (so the actual heel was probably 6” tall).  She tottered along with a kid in tow.  I just watched, mesmerized by the unique body mechanics required to walk in them. 

Back to clothing costs: I talked about relative cost of living with the person helping me find an apartment and talked about clothes.  She says she buys everything in the U.S. on yearly trips, even cheap casual stuff (she loves Target).  I expected that there would be a few tiers of clothing here:

1. expensive global brands
2. “overpriced American brands
3. cheap local quality (e.g. the “Costa Rican Target”)
4. the cheap cheap stuff 

She said that #3 doesn’t really exist.  I’m not sure if this is because she has above-average income here and doesn’t really search for it, but from my impression I doubt that is the case.  I think part of it may just be the supply chain: everything in the system is optimized to send big volumes to the U.S. as cheaply as possible, so even though lots of clothes are made here in Central America it may be more expensive to divert small batches to CR than to ship to the U.S.  Thoughts from the audience?

I spent part of an afternoon in a plaza listening to a live band; these guys had a helicopter UAV with a camera that they flew around as they recorded the crowd.

 

Skateboarding is a surprisingly big deal here.  I met two Americans who are very involved in the skateboarding community here, and on my way home from work there is a public space that is a combination basketball court and skate park.  When I think about it, though, a skate park is pretty simple and cheap: lumps of concrete that need almost no maintenance.  And if it gets painted with graffiti, it just adds to the ambience.

Motorcycles are ubiquitous here and, like other developing countries, they are the most efficient mode of transportation because they go zipping between and around cars that may be stuck in traffic.  Unlike Africa – where people seemed to have no regard for even their own life – people here seem to try to add a modicum of safety.  Almost everyone wears a helmet, and a strong majority wear small reflector vests that look like crossed bandoliers. 

Police here typically drive around with their lights on as part of standard operating procedures.  They do this in other countries, too, and I have never figured out why. 

Gas stations here are full-service, which I dislike.  I don’t have anything against tipping a guy a bit at the end, but unlike other services that save me time, this one doesn’t.  I just sit there in the car awkwardly and hope the radio has a good song on.