Ox-carts used to rule the Puntarenas highway and Costa Rican drivers had a more relaxed attitude to the meaning of life
After a very enjoyable time journeying all around the rural central highlands and Pacific coast side of Costa Rica in our minimalistically budget rent-a-car we drove back to the centre of San Jose and the Dollar rental car company on Paseo Colon only to find the way barred by a reminder of bygone transport times in Costa Rica.
The festival of the ox-cart parade is almost exclusively homage to a very ecological transportation method of yesteryear. In observance of the importance of agriculture to the country and hopefully also at least as a passing salute to the ecological urges of today, Costa Rica reveres its oh so sublime method of transporting goods in the past. In the 19th century yoked oxen pulling a cart loaded with coffee bound for export to the wealthier markets of Europe and north America was the means by which the Costa Rican farmer got his produce out of the Central Valley to the main Pacific coast export outlet of Puntarenas.
These ox-carts were first introduced in the 1840s, taking over from the presumably less yokable mule, and lasted through to the middle of the 20th century although coffee was increasingly transported via the Atlantic-bound railway towards the turn of the century. The railway offered the coffee industry a huge double gain. Not only was the previous 10-15 day ox-cart journey reduced to one but incredibly the Atlantic outlet at the port of Limon circumvented the need to take coffee all around the Cape of Good Hope to markets in the northern hemisphere.
The colourful pageantry of the festival of the ox-cart parade follows along the central Paseo Colon from Sabana park of San Jose every November 29th.
“There is a quirky rickety little single railway track with a quirky two carriage train that slowly passes very near-by continually sounding its horn and quaintly tingling its bell in warning because there are no level crossings and I suppose also because it does run right in the middle of the street “.
When I first arrived in San José I thought it was ever so atmospheric to hear that train jangling its bell repeatedly as it passed through barrio(district) Lujan, just a stone’s throw from Hostel 1110. While walking and jogging over and around the simple single track I often pondered as to the meaning of ‘its’ life. The track seemed very old and I observed two types of train: either rather dilapidated looking haulage engines or extremely modern passenger trains that, oddly, never appeared to have any passengers. Whichever way I looked at it it left me with a sense of sadness. Something really wasn’t right? How could they possibly run a two-way service on a single track? They certainly wouldn’t be able to keep this train running economically with the passenger numbers I saw. I could only conclude that it would eventually degenerate to a standstill and San José would be left without any railway service, not even have the minuscule service that it appeared to have.
A casual inquiry of Rodrigo, the main man in charge back at Hostel 1110, soon revealed that there was far more to this than met the eye. Juan, one of Rodrigo’s partners had been very much engaged in the city’s urban transport planning and he explained to me that the introduction of an urban train network was part of a green plan for a “Liveable City” (Una Ciudad Habitable) for San José. What I had been observing was merely part of a kind of pilot plan.
This put a wholly different complexion on my sad quirky rickety confused train and its track. It immediately dispelled the sadness and engendered a new sense of well-being with the culmination of all good things coming together in a bright new future: modernization, reduced traffic congestion and numerous ecological benefits; not least less pollution. The in-depth coverage of the full plans on the TREM (Tren Eléctrico Metropolitano) web site backed up the seriousness of the initiative and heightened my own enthusiasm. “So when is this all going to happen, Juan?” I asked. “Well”, and those dirtily arresting words were uttered, “it is all so political”.
The project has been on the table for many years and has been subject to numerous stops and gos usually for political reasons and even now, although a timetable was set up up last year for full implementation to begin between this year and next, the latest Costa Rica administration under President Laura Chinchilla is currently in contemplation of another grand metropolitan transport plan which could result in well… presumably a bit of a delay at the very least. The announcement of those particular plans has rather inconveniently not been given a date yet either.
That is the story seen principally from barrio Lujan in downtown San José but to be more San José-encompassing there has at least been greater movement on plans along the principal stretch of the urban network between central San José and Heredia. The inauguration finally came about in August last year, overseen by the then President Oscar Arias Sanchez, but it has a limited service running in the rush hour on weekdays only. The global San José urban transport plan is now waiting for Laura Chinchilla and her government for the launch of that Liveable City initiative.
Potholes, recklessness, falling trees and earthquakes – have a safe trip!
Now that the 2010 World Cup that Costa Rica could have won is over (don’t forget Costa Rica only very narrowly lost to the team that narrowly lost to the triumphant Spanish) the country can get back to planning and not just for the Brazil World Cup in 2014.
Some serious attention to transportation control and transport infrastructure planning would certainly not go amiss.
I have in previous blog posts passed comment on different aspects of San José’s transport situation and by way of an easily identifiable example I highlighted in some detail the very surprising lack of street signposting in San Jose causing considerable difficulty for the directionally challenged. I surmised from what locals said that the old bureaucratic evil of corruption was the villain behind this. Ticos were again willing to offer this as the ready reason for the deplorable state of some of the roads outside the capital.
We journeyed by car the length and breadth of the country and observed that virtually anywhere away from the notably “developed” Guanacaste region on the Pacific north side there was a serious problem with potholed roads. I came across this highly illustrative cartoon from a national newspaper noting that the problem has hardly gone unnoticed in Costa Rica.
The translation of the caption would go something like: “Look, excellent!... they’ve put down road markings!”
We observed apart from the fact that potholes were a common occurrence the true danger lay in their sporadicness and occasional dramatic size. In simple terms, just as you may be relaxing your attention on a relatively long uninterrupted section of smooth asphalt a single huge hole can suddenly appear that can swallow a large part of your car momentarily with underside damage being the least you are likely to get away with. I often cringed imagining what the perils must be like for motorcyclists and at night… dios mio!
Unfortunately driving dangers were not restricted to this but added to by commonly observable reckless driving habits. Some while ago I recounted my views of the narrow margins of safety afforded the pedestrian in San Jose by the car driver. Well, the San Jose car driving mentality is given space to fully blossom out in the provinces where speeding circuit takes on a more sinister meaning. Our observation was that the going rule for Tico drivers is that completely regardless of whatever else is happening you really must overtake. Very regrettably there were few days that passed without us seeing multiple remnants of accidents on the road side including numerous upturned cars. One could only conclude that many of these other drivers failed to see any correlation between the overturned vehicles at the roadside and their own overtaking recklessness.
Nature also plays its hand occasionally. Tropical rain quite easily loosens the soil and before you can say “timber” you might have to stop for a fallen tree or two. Here you can see -during our only night-time journey- the simple technique of removal. This particular tree blocked our way on the very scenic lakeside road that hugs the shores of Laguna Arenal.
And do not forget the aftermath of earthquake damage to Costa Rican roads either.
Bon voyage (buen viaje)!
For more background on aspects of current road transport in Costa Rica read “therealcostarica” blog especially the section on Road Conditions
With the South African 2010 FIFA World Cup in its final stages I have found another surprising smiling winner. I had already awarded the Danish footballer Simon Poulsen a personal award for his Buddha Smile but now I have discovered another. Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura gets my runners up medal although if points were also awarded for breaking with tradition he would perhaps get the first prize.
Nishimura San was the referee appointed for the Brazil versus Netherlands quarter-final match and in spite of his cultural background: usually requiring that all official matters be taken extremely seriously and should errors be made, well… the ultimate atonement, of course, is seppuku (hara-kiri), he completely dispensed with aeons of tradition by chuckling in front of the world when he made his mistake.
Andre Ooijer (wearing the unlucky 13 shirt) had committed a relatively minor infringement by kicking the ball away contrary to the spirit of the game and Nishimura San came running over initially brandishing a red card. He soon realised the error and the funny side by chuckling as he proudly thrust the correct yellow card up in the air in front of the extremely relieved Andre Ooijer.
It looks like it is a red card Mr Ooijer
Just a moment! – ちょっと待って
Yellow, that’s better and not too bad after all eh, Ooijer San?
It has to be said that Nishimura was credited with an excellent refereeing performance at this and other games and Andre Ooijer also played his part in a positive result for the Netherlands which eventually took them through to the final.
So well done Nishimura San, de heer Ooijer, Simon Poulsen and last but not least South Africa.
I have already chosen my own world cup winner. He is Simon Poulsen of the Danish team and I award him a winner’s medal for the nicest smile ever for scoring a goal and the opportunity to see his beatific smile unimpeded by his fellow players jumping all over him in congratulations. The simple reason is that he scored his goal and not Denmark’s goal (that is presumably why they are referred to as own goals) not necessarily at the right end, or perhaps at the right end but not in the right 45 minute period. Whichever way you look at it he didn’t get something quite right but the Buddha smile most certainly he did.
Simon says "smile" - the winningest smile in football
For a little extra World Cup entertainment I have focussed more on the football fans as my contribution to the South African World Cup fun with these videos:
Here in the northern hemisphere -on our small planet at least- spring is jumping into action and spring cleaning is in the air, though be it mixed together with a sprinkling of free flowing Icelandic volcanic ash. I have taken this opportunity to not only spring clean but also move house and from now on blog posts are to be found right here until further notice.
One significant difference is clearly the generous dash of colour but it does not stop there!
There is also an interesting little gizmo that you can see in the right side bar that I have called “Word Gyrator”. This is what they refer to as a plug-in widget and this particular widget was devised by a man named Roy Tanck Simply drag your cursor across the widget to see the lively effect. You can also click on any of the rotating captions to cunningly take you to a previously linked story. I love it and I hope you do to. Thank you Roy.
I am also extremely interested to know what impressions and ideas pop up when you see the calm sea, land and lighthouse graphic in the header. I just cannot get it out of my head that it depicts the English coastline facing over to France. I would be interested to hear any ideas that you may have as to what kind of images it provokes for you. By all means post your view by clicking on “comments” and posting anything that “springs” to mind really.
La limpieza de primavera y mudanza es completa. Ya mi blog se encuentra adelante aquí. Si tengan opiniones sobre mi casa nueva o cualquier otra cosa déjenlos en “Comments” por favor para contribuir un poco de internacionalismo.
Admiration from German and Japanese Industry Just-In-Time Experts
The motor car and bus dominate the transport scene here in San José. There is a quirky rickety little single railway track with a quirky two carriage train that slowly passes very near-by continually sounding its horn and quaintly tingling its bell in warning because there are no level crossings and I suppose also because it does run right in the middle of the street. If the trains were a frequent occurrence I would imagine it could become irritating but seeing as they are few and far between the fanfare of its passing adds another dynamic dimension to the local bustle and an almost romantic yesteryear dimension in contrast to the humdrum of the all-pervasive motor transport.
It seems to me that Cost Ricans are drastically different animals when they are behind the steering wheel. In the limited time I have been here they appear to be amiable, placid, polite and considerate when you meet them in person but I would not describe them that way if I were to judge their temperaments based on their car driving.
On the bigger scale I get the impression that they have completely given up on a concept of car and pedestrian integration. It seems to be starkly one or the other. Where the car roams they not only have thrown up their arms in surrender to its power but have arranged things to accentuate its dominance. Thankfully there are some extensive pedestrianised central thoroughfares where you can walk mostly oblivious to this other dualistic landscape.
The overriding objective seems to have been to speed the cars on their way as much as possible thereby encouraging drivers to believe even more in their right to priority. Most of the roads are one-way. Traffic lights hang up high often at difficult-to-see angles when you are not in a car seemingly intentionally denying the pedestrian the opportunity to anticipate whether a car is about to stop or start at junctions. Then the road surface seems to be maintained in surprisingly good slick-asphalted condition, at least here in the downtown district, in complete contrast to the poor pedestrian who has to negotiate over and around countless holes of every magnitude to get to wherever he or she might want to go on the sidewalk. Next come the gulleys separating the roads from the sidewalks. I suspect that this was not intentional but set up to handle the not infrequent torrential downpours but all the same adds to the sense of alienation between car and walker. On top of this there is very little on-street parking which certainly creates less of an eye sore but, my goodness, the greatest beneficiary is the motor driver who can whisk through the city just as fast as he likes with the only impediment to his progress being that of the traffic signals.
This whole observation came to my attention because of the surprisingly narrow margin of safety I noticed when trying to cross the road. I haven’t seen anybody injured yet, though at the same time I have yet to see a single old-aged, infirm or invalided person have a stab at such a challenge. It could be I haven’t seen it because none has ever made it to repeat the exercise!
If you put your foot on the road you have the sense that any hint of hesitation could be your undoing. You will be allowed time to cross but it is an interval that demands an efficiency level that even German and Japanese industry would admire. I brought the subject up with Geraldo the resident maintenance man, a man with dual US Costa Rican citizenship and he was quick to agree that it was a problem. Excusing it by being a gap in Costa Rican education but swiftly added it is notably worse in Mexico – “Dios Mio!”
There is a sense when writing a blog that it is a kind of news report and if that is the case then the report should be of the moment. So here it is of the moment. Hot on the heels of this morning’s blog post and perhaps because of the energy drain of that little exercise in conjunction with the usually well rounded Costa Rican lunch I was lying on my bed having a very welcome siesta only to very soon have the odd sensation that the bed was shaking. I thought some fancy trick was being played on me: although wide awake I actually decided I was asleep. As the shaking intensified my thoughts jumped to this morning’s recollections of Tokyo and Kita-ku wondering if perhaps that was inducing this surreal experience. At the same time I had to acknowledge how my geography for dummies level of knowledge had failed me so badly recently and so could it after all be that Costa Rica has earthquakes and if so how strong do they get? I now decided I was awake and acted as if I was by leaping from the bed to stand in the door frame just in case I really was awake and just in case it really was an earthquake but just as the earthquake shook itself out.
So hot off the press is it that I cannot find data on the internet yet but the local residents inform me they think it was about 4.3 on the Richter scale and the TV reports that it was at precisely 15.20 (21.20 GMT) that a very strong (actually muy muy fuerte) quake was felt in the area . In respect of real live reporting I will take that figure as given and pass right over the fact that in the real world of news and science you have to readjust the figure up or down depending on where the epicentre was.
