Once again, I am having a problem with how I title these writeups.
Montes de Oca is a canton in San Jose province in Costa Rica. San Jose province, San Jose canton, and San Jose "city" are all separate things. Montes de Oca is a "suburban area" of the "city" of San Jose. Administratively, it is a canton, meaning it has its own city government. It is about a kilometer from what is considered the heart of San Jose, the Costa Rica National Park and surrounding buildings. Montes de Oca starts close to the city, and is shaped like a long thin wedge, with one end pointed at the heart of San Jose, and the canton expanding into increasingly more suburban and rural areas up to the flanks of the Irazu Volcano.
Montes de Oca is generally affluent. The main campuses of The University of Costa Rica and University Latina are located in Montes de Oca. So are the embassies of several countries, including Colombia, Chile and Italy. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is located there, as well. Just down the street from Costa Rica's oldest (but no longer fanciest) shopping mall, Mall San Pedro. In other words, it is a pretty happening place, at least on paper. I mean, I live here, so it has to be cool. But San Jose is more of a big town than a city, so this area, home of the country's best universities and prestigious institutions, is not, as I discovered, a place where the wine flows and the dancing and singing goes all night, but rather a sometimes scrappy assortment of small stores and clogged roads. I like it, but if you are expecting a tropical Parisdise in the eternal party of a university district, you might be disappointed when you find yourself eating stale bread from the AM/PM.
Oh, also, Montes de Oca is split into four districts: San Pedro, Mercedes, Sabanilla and San Rafael. These districts have official boundaries, but most locals are unclear on where they are, and will refer to them as general areas, except for Mercedes (where I live), which they don't know exists, instead referring to it as "San Pedro".