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Costa Rica Mail: I Hope You’re Not In A Hurry

By Jane Goodwin | November 8, 2007

Costa Rica has a pretty reliable Postal system, especially when you consider that the country has few street signs, many streets with more than one name, no house numbers, and people who think “just a little ways down from the blue house with the big tree in the yard” is a reasonable address to put on a letter.

If you relocate to Costa Rica, be prepared to be occasionally frustrated at the mail service. Don’t be angry with the mail carrier, though; it’s not his fault. It’s not really anybody’s fault.

Costa Rica simply doesn’t have a standardized system of addresses. Most addresses are based on the proximity of the house to the nearest community building, such as a courthouse. These days, an address might be something like “fourth house from Pizza Hut, to the north.”

Before the big tourist and retiree boom, this system worked just fine. Now that the population of the country is growing, however, many people are finding that the old ways just aren’t convenient any more.

Don’t hold your breath for a quick change, though. Costa Rica is a laid-back, comfortable, easy-living country, and eventually everybody gets his/her mail, even if it’s addressed to “Jorge’s grandmother, the maternal one who lives in the red house by the used car lot where the soda fountain used to be.”

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Topics: Central America, Latin America, Costa Rica, Communication, Lifestyle, Culture, Retirement Overseas |

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