www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Many of you guys know this, but it's interesting. Didn't know that Nicaragua has the same 'system'. From today's LA Times:

With Costa Rica's mail, it's address unknown

A nation without street signs or numbers tries to sort out a new system.
By Marla Dickerson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

November 5, 2007
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA -- Pity the poor Costa Rican postman. Sure, he doesn't have to deal with sleet or snow. But consider what passes for an address here:

From the Tibas cemetery, 200 meters south, 300 meters west, cross the train tracks, white two-story house.

That's actually a pretty easy one. Making his rounds on the outskirts of this capital city one recent morning, carrier Roberto Montero Reyes pulled envelopes from his canvas sack whose addresses read like treasure-hunt clues or lines of haiku.

There was one for someone who lived on "the south side of the Red Cross" and another for a family whose home is "125 meters [410 feet] west of the Pizza Hut."

"You've got to be a mind reader, . . . a historian and a detective" to do this job, said Montero, a 27-year veteran, who walks his route in camouflage-print sneakers.

It may be difficult for GPS addicts to comprehend, but Costa Rica doesn't have a standardized system of addresses -- at least not ones that can be typed into MapQuest. Many streets aren't named, and virtually none have signs. Many houses don't have numbers. Only a few pockets of the country use anything close to the "123 Main St." format that Americans would recognize.

Instead, most Costa Rican addresses are expressed in relation to the closest community landmark. In colonial times, that was the church or town hall. Today it could be a fast-food joint or car dealership.

For some, the quirky system is a reassuring link to their country's agrarian past, a colorful affirmation of what it means to be "Tico," or Costa Rican. Almost everyone beams when they talk about the "old fig tree" and the "old Coca-Cola plant." Both of those San Jose-area landmarks have been lost to history, but locals still cite them when giving directions as if they still existed. For a disoriented visitor, it's proof that magical realism is alive and well in Latin America.

"It's part of the idiosyncrasy of Costa Ricans," said historian Francisco Maroto Mejia, director of the postal museum for Correos de Costa Rica, the nation's postal service.

The trouble is that these rustic addresses aren't keeping pace with Costa Rica's development. A nation of more than 4 million, Costa Rica boasts the highest standard of living in Central America and has a vibrant technology sector. But until recently it took an average of nine days to deliver a letter -- if it got there at all. Postal authorities say that 1 in 5 pieces of mail is undeliverable because they can't figure out where the addressee lives. The problem is worse in new subdivisions, where neighbors don't know one another and can't advise carriers.

Mail is just one problem. Emergency crews, cabdrivers, utility workers and delivery people spend an inordinate amount of time on cellphones and knocking on doors to find out where they're supposed to be.

"It's total chaos," said San Jose-area retiree Claudio Gonzalez, 73, who recently spent three fruitless hours searching for a friend's home in an unfamiliar suburb. "I could find my way easier in a foreign country."

Postal authorities have embarked on a major overhaul. Recent changes in the way mail is sorted have cut the average delivery time to two days nationwide. Now the postal service is assigning numbers, street names and ZIP Codes to every home and building in the country, which at about 20,000 square miles is slightly smaller than San Bernardino County.

Officials have rolled out more than 430,000 streamlined addresses, mostly in urban areas. They hope to convert the entire country over the next two years if the government allocates about $1 million to finish the job.

Erecting street signs will take a lot longer and cost a bundle. Correos de Costa Rica is trying to persuade the private sector to help pay for that effort. But the biggest challenge will be altering the Tico mind-set, said Alvaro Coghi Gomez, the postmaster general.

"It's a cultural process," Coghi said. "We have to stop thinking about the fig tree."

Costa Rica isn't the only nation with an address system potentially befuddling to outsiders.

Neighboring Nicaragua uses the same landmark system, with a few added wrinkles. Residents often write arriba, or "up," to denote east (where the sun rises), and abajo, "down," for west (where it sets). Instead of meters, they use city blocks, or varas, an antiquated Spanish unit of measurement equivalent to about 33 inches.

Costa Rican carrier Montero has his hands full at home.

A third-generation postal worker, he joined the ranks because it was respectable work and he liked the benefits, which include company-paid pants, shirts and shoes.

read on...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... ines-world

Very interesting article. It is one of those things that require you to change your mindset when you decide to live here full time. While it takes some work and a little time but it is amazing how you adapt and become proficient
in finding your way around.

The only thing wrong I found in the article was when the writer said



Costa Rican use 100 meter to indicate one block not 328 feet. The block might be 100 feet or 1000 feet it is still 100 meters in directions and addresses. One half a block is 50 meters and one quarter of a block is 25 meters.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Nicaragua is worse because the streets there don't even have names, everything is references to landmarks. And to make it more difficult, some of the landmarks don't even exist anymore. The arriba and abajo thing is also extremely confusing because depending on the barrio it doesn't always mean east or west, sometimes arriba also means away from the lake, or up the hill.

I've actually thought about this one in the past. How many of us, especially ones that don't speak spanish, would be able to describe where you are if you needed an ambulance or police.

For example, how many of us would be able to give the "address" of Sportsmens. It's something like 200 meters west of the ramp of Hospital Calderon Guardia and 25 mts south. Like ID said, all that means 2 blocks west and 1/4 block south.

Try giving the address of Zona Blue. I couldn't do it.

would any taxi driver you have met understand esquina de Calle 3 (tres) Avenida 9 (Nueve) I doubt it.....

I would probably say something like 200 metres oeste de INS edificio, 50 metres norte and direct them myself..

They really need to do something about this issue. How in the world can GPS systems they offer in rentals help

The new VIP hotel sponsor Freebird(?) Hotel has an actual street address. Something like 125 11th street. Good luck finding a taxista that knows which one is 11th.

As I previously posted Calle 11 is not a problem. Almost every taxista knows where Tin Jo restaurant is located and it happens to be on Calle 11

As El Silencioso posted most cab drivers have trouble knowing avenidas and calles so you have to pick out a close landmark and then direct them turn by turn to the place you want to be.

Hint to newbies learn the Spanish word for right, left, straight, back

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

As a letter carrier in Florida, I can appreciate the difficulties encountered by my Costa Rican counterparts. Personally, It took me a very long time to comprehend the ""Tico addresses"but after many trips and countless frustrations, I finally realized that I had to learn the system if I wanted to find my way around in Costa Rica.

_________________
NON ILLEGITIMI CARBORUNDUM

DG

Calle 3bis 1 block uphill from the Clarion Amon.

Forget that I can't give anyone the address to my house in Costa Rica. I went to ICE to get a house phone and they as me for the address to my house I had to have the person with me describe where I live. Thank goodness all I have to do it tell the chicas the nearest landmark and they mostly know where that's at and I can drive and pick them up if not I would be in deep deep deep trouble.

Sat. night I had to pick up a chica that lives in Gaudalope which is north east of San Jose and I live in Alajuelita which is Southwest of San jose. I got so lose trying to find her house I had to drive to the park which usaully is the center the town and had her take a cab their. Later that night I dropped her home and of cause I got lost and ended up in Heredia which is north of Gaudalope

made it back to my house 40 min later only because I saw the stadium of Saprissa the futbol team and realized that I was heading the wrong way. When I have gotten lost in Desampardos I usually find high ground and try to locate San Jose down below. The problem is during the day driving is simple but at night it is a misson.

_________________
Living Life To the Fullest {Pura Vida}

Taxista would never figure that out. Assuming he knew where the Amon Plaza Clarion was you would then have to tell him uno cientos metros sur

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Calle 3b is also a one way street (NORTH) in the wrong direction, you would have to go two blocks south and swing around the block from Amon since both Avenida 9 and Avenida 11 and Westbound Only...

Think 3B is one way south amigo If it isn't I sure as shit drive the wrong way on it

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

You are correct, my mistake, thanks for the correction mi amigo

Sandino,
I thought "al Lago" always meant to the NORTH and "al Montagne" always meant to the SOUTH, at least in Managua, because there Lake Managua is to the north and the mountains are to the south. Are you saying that is NOT always the case (maybe al lago sometimes means Tiscapa)? Or are you saying that is just the case in Managua and that other cities with different geography may use those terms differently? In any event, I agree with you that Managua is waayyy more confusing to get around then San Jose. BTW, San Jose ALSO uses some landmarks that don't exist anymore and Managua DOES have at least some street names. However, at least the streets in SJ are mostly on some sort of grid pattern and the street names (when you can find them) are on a discernable number system. In Managua, lacking a grid, it seems much easier to get disoriented to the point you can't really tell your arriba from your abajo.