It just doesn’t stop. Cranes go up and build and build and build over on the west side of San José. Just when a new crop of buildings are about to wrap up it up, a new bunch starts. I don’t exactly remember the ins-and-outs of “urban sprawl” in the States, but now I think I’m witnessing the Costa Rica version.

All of these photos are within a mile of each other - as the crow flies. Since the reality market is a bit in the doldrums, it is hard to imagine who is going to rent all these places? It seems as if paradise is immune to market whims. I know this is not exactly true. For sale signs and for rent sound are everywhere I look. Perhaps developers initiated a project before the market took such a dive.

In the mean time, it is interesting to watch tower after tower go up. Down the way from me a mall is adding a parking lot and some new shops. When I first arrived in Costa Rica, I could never understand how the stores made it. No one seemed to be heading to the shopping center and most left without purchases in hand. Today, cars straddle the grass and park on the sidewalks to get in. People are loaded with goods in hand when they leave. If I need to go, I make it early.

So for awhile we have to live with cranes, bulldozers, and muddy streets as the cement mixes and the nails fly. Cows and goats will have to move farther out to the country as the grass is gobbled up by commerce. This part of Costa Rica will never look the same again.