As you can see from the Downtown San José map in Chapter Six, San José's streets are laid out in a very logical system. Odd-numbered streets (calles) are east of Calle Central, even-numbered streets are west. Odd-numbered avenidas are north of Avenida Central and even-numbered avenues are south. So if an address is on Calle 17, Avenidas 5/7, it is in the northeastern part of the city.
 However, most Ticos completely ignore the street numbering system. Calles and avenidas appear in the phone book, and that's about it. The accepted way to give directions is from puntos cardinales or landmarks. If you call for a taxi, you have to give the name of a church or a pulpería (corner store) or a well-known business (like Pollos Kentucky). Then you state how many metros you are from there and in what direction. Cien (100) metros roughly corresponds to one city block. These are some examples of typical ways of giving directions: "De la pulpería La Luz, cien metros al norte y cincuenta al oeste. "
"From the La Luz grocery store, one block north and half a block west.") "De la Iglesia La Soledad, doscientos al sur y trescientos al este." ("From the Soledad Church, two blocks south and three blocks east.") The absence of street signs complicates the issue, but the post office has ambitious plana to put signs on all streets and numbers on all houses. We will see if the Costa Ricans adopt the program or if they ignore it the way they ignore the already logical and efficient street numbering system. |
Important to Know 
