charliedoggett.net
Life is made up of small pleasures. ~Norman Lear
Photo of flower Costa Ricans call “Once de Abril” (11th of April) to commemorate the only war and battle Costa Rica ever fought and of course won with the heroic help of Juan Santamaria (name of San Jose Airport). It is so delicate with such tiny blooms like Santamaria was just a boy.
See more tiny pleasures in my photo gallery Flora & Forest.
¡Pura Vida!
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| Catedral de Alajuela seen from Juan Santamaria Park |
Even though I have rental car, I really don’t like to drive in the big cities and wanted Reagan to experience how I get to town and walk around in the old, simple city of Alajuela – more crowded and dirty than Atenas and with more old buildings. So we rode bus to town where we walked and took taxis to and from the mall. He did not particularly like it until we got to the modern City Mall
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| Juan Santamaria Statue Alajuela, Costa Rica |
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| Main entrance to City Mall, Alajuela, Costa Rica |
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| Reagan in the City Mall Food Court Where he finally got to eat at McDonald’s! |
Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of his visit here!
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| Juan Santamaria statue in Juan Santamaria Park in central Alajuela, Costa Rica |
Who was Juan Santamaria? See this short article on Wikipedia for more details about the drummer boy who set William Walker’s fortress on fire and led to the defeat of the crazy American trying to turn Central America into his slave farm. He had actually conquered Nicaragua, so our Alajuela guys is their hero too! The San Jose International Airport is named after him as are a few other things in Costa Rica. He is the perfect national hero as a poor laborer of a single mother. And he died in his act of heroism in 1856. The history museum in Alajuela by Central Park is also named after him.
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| The central plaza of the Juan Santamaria Park |
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| Colorful Alajuela sign at one end of the park near my x-ray clinic |