We sent out Tico Times staffers to write off-the-beaten-path vignettes about Election Day. Here’s a snapshot of Sunday morning in San José:
The sun was bright and the streets were eerily quiet on election morning in downtown San José. As the day went on though, motorists filled the air with obnoxious honking. Many displayed flags supporting their chosen candidates as they flocked towards the polling stations. On Paseo Colón, I watched as a truck with a yellow flag raced another with a green flag. Green won.
Near the center of San José, kids in red visors and shirts that read, “Ya es hora,” (“Now is the time”) passed out fliers for Libertarian Movement Party candidate Otto Guevara. Along the south side of a park, each political party had a small tent set up, but there really wasn’t much activity. In front of a nearby grocery store, an area usually gridlocked with cars and buses, three boys played soccer in the road.
Outside the National Theater, a few clowns had gathered to paint faces. When asked who they were voting for, they began to pantomime the voting process, taking long wind ups and pressing imaginary buttons. In reality, though, none had voted.
“They’re all choriceros,” one clown explained, using the Costa Rican slang for officials who accept bribes. “It’s despicable.”
