Addresses in Costa Rica

Being an foreigner in a country, one of the main phenomenon one experiences is cultural shock. In Spanish it is called "choques culturales"...now the internationals here have slowly re-invented the concept to something that is defined as: an experience that you would feel surprised, or literally shocked, mostly with the behaviours or the way things function. We simply refer them to "choques".

Now, overtime, I have encountered quite a bit of choques. My last post on the Saprissa game was definately one. One of the classic examples of another choque when I arrived here was the address system in Costa Rica.

There are no road names, no numbers. Even if there are road names, nobody uses them. Everything is referred to "landmarks". A bank and a church are the most common landmarks in towns. So for example, the address of the AIESEC office is: 600 meters south, 100 meters east of National Bank in San Pedro. Every block is 100 meters. If you write a letter to someone, this would exactly how addresses are put on the envelops.

Last weekend, I was at an activity that took place at a house. And by far, it deserves "The most tico address award"...

De la UNA 500m al norte hasta topar con cerca, luego a mano izquierda 700m oeste, luego a mano derecha 1.5 Km al norte (pasa el Automercado y llega hasta Musmmani, de ahí 100 este y 75 norte. Casa beige a mano izquierda con portones blancos!!!

in English:
From the National University, 500 metres north till you hit the fence, then on your left hand 700 metres west, then on your right hand 1.5 km north, passing the Automercado supermarket, and reach till Musmanni bakery shop, from there, 100 meters east, and 75 meters north. Beige house on the left hand side with white gates!!!

And guess what happenned when we were trying to reach there? We got lost.