The 'hood

29 January 2009


I’ve now walked about 75 miles around (and around) the neighborhood near and far around our flat.

We’re in a place where there is a significant gradient in quality as a function of position. Probably, in CR terms, we are living one notch below where we would be on the US scale. And, the CR scale is probably a notch or so offset downward relative to the US. Within a few miles east and north, I can find neighborhoods where the quality of the best houses is better than ours in the US, on an absolute scale (two notches up from where we are living). Within a few miles west and south, neighborhood quality slides to a level where I would be uncomfortable, I think. Not favelas, but not much above shantytowns in the worst cases.



Today’s photos come from our immediate surroundings.
The view from our bedroom window (beautiful palm tree and blue sky; ugly pink wall and weedy parking strip)



The “sidewalk” view on our street, appropriate since I spend so much time pounding the pavement



My “office,” where I spend even more time!

The weather is one of the treats of being in San José. There is a fairly steady wind, much higher than I’m accustomed to. The temperature seems to vary from the high 50s overnight to the low 80s during the day. We are at 1200 m elevation and the humidity is comfortable. It has only rained 1 day out of 16. (And that was a travel day, so I’m not sure how much it rained here in SJ.) We get a mix of sunshine and clouds, and the clouds are often spectacular, as in the picture at the top of this post.