Sights & Attractions in San Jose

San Jose Sights

The Irish group U-2 could have written its song "Where the Streets Have No Name" about San José. Admittedly, some of its streets have names, but no one seems to know or use them. Streets in the center of the capital are laid out in a grid, with avenidas (avenues) running east and west, and calles (streets), north and south. Odd-number avenues increase in number north of Avenida Central; even-number avenues, south. Streets east of Calle Central have odd numbers; those to the west are even.

The farther you get from downtown, the scarcer street signs become. Costa Ricans rely instead on a charming and exasperating system of designating addresses by the distance from landmarks, as in "100 meters north and 50 meters west of the school." Another quirk: "100 meters" always refers to one city block, regardless of how long it actually is. Likewise, "200 meters" is two blocks, and so on. (As you can imagine, getting a pizza delivered here is quite a challenge.)

Historically, the reference point was the church, but these days it might be a bar, Burger King, or even a long-gone landmark: the eastern suburb of San Pedro uses the higuerón, a fig tree that was felled long ago but lives on in the hearts of Costa Ricans. Your best bet is to follow the time-honored practice of ir y preguntar (keep walking and keep asking).

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