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ALAJUELA CITY |
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| With a population of just 35,000, ALAJUELA is nonetheless Costa
Rica's second city. Though it was founded back in 1657, at first sight
there's little to distinguish it from San José, at least until the
pleasant realization dawns that walking down the street you can smell
bougainvillea rather than diesel. The city's few attractions, such as
they are, are all less than a minute's walk from the Parque Central.
Most impressive is the sturdy-looking whitewashed former jail that
houses the Juan Santamaría Cultural-Historical Museum , Av 3, C 0/2 (Tues-Sun
10am-6pm; free), dedicated to Alajuela's most cherished historical
figure, the drummer-boy-cum-martyr Juan Santamaría, who sacrificed his
life to save the country from the American adventurer William Walker
during the battle of 1856. The museum's curiously monastic atmosphere is
almost more interesting than the small collection itself, which runs the
gamut from mid-nineteenth-century maps of Costa Rica to crumbly
portraits of figures involved in the battle of 1856. |
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