25 sept 2006

When we first came to Costa Rica, I lamented that there was no public art. San Jose, like most big cities, is not a pretty one. Too big, too dirty, no litter laws, way too many cars, pigeons, beggars and homeless. I love it… I'm a city girl, can't live too far from the concrete jungle, the people, the noise, the energy.

San Jose's architecture is riveting. It runs the gamut from wacky to fabulous and everything in between. You never know what you will see around the next bend. No HARC here, no aesthetic police. Thank God.

But no art, either. That I could find. I was elated to see this about the tile mural being constructed on an underpass in downtown San Jose. I had to go see it! The following Sunday, we took off for downtown San Jose, España Park and the underpass.

We were looking so hard, we drove right thru the underpass without seeing the mural. Duh. We did find the park, though, and parked! The park is lovely, we strolled thru and made our way back to the underpass and found the mural, realizing that we'd just driven right past it.

It is a wild thing – what an undertaking! Actually, the next day, Monday, we had to go downtown and drove by again. There were about 7 people working on the mural.

metal building: (link is to google translated page) Now a city landmark located west of the city's Parque España , the
Edificio Metalico (metal building) was one of San José's first
educational buildings. It was actually constructed in Brussels and
imported to Costa Rica by way of France. Today, the eye-catching
building is still a school, hosting elementary students each day.

flicker photos

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