The New Birds Begin






I went to the top (6th) floor of the hotel and looked down our street. That interesting, abandoned, building just down the way was clearly seen. I wonder what its story is.


The building with the turret and red roof down the street.




A ground level view


The hotel's free breakfast system was to issue a chit, good for a meal at the attached restaurant. The restaurant only offers a few choices, so that makes it simple.  We chose one Gallo Pinto, which is practically the national breakfast dish, comprising a rice and bean mixture,  some fried plantain, scrambled egg, mystery sausage, and two  pieces of very weak toast. To this we added the fruit salad choice - fresh pineapple, papaya, and watermelon with granola and honey. We found this all perfectly fine, and once we had split out 1/2 for each, balanced and good.

Our breakfast choices



We had seen some posts from tour companies like Get Your Guide and Viator that touted the grounds of the University of Costa Rica as a close in place to see birds. They said that for  $US 50 per person, biology students from the U. would guide walks around, twice per day. We took this hint, and set off to hike to the campus, about 5-6 km to our west.


Out to the Campus

This route had the advantage of taking us into a part of the city off the tourist track, while also picking up one tourist sight that I had noticed in the guides and was curious to see. This was the so called Metal Building oir Edificio Metalico.  The building dates from 1896 when it was designed and built in Belgium, before being transported and assembled here on site.  It is described as both "neoclassical" and inspired by the Eiffel Tower. The building has always been a school, and operates still today as Escuela Buenaventura Corrales.






The Metal Building


The walk to the campus afforded a lot of different things to observe, particularly as we passed through several parks, with statues and plants of some interest. We also spotted a few  very pretty birds, but we'll cover those at the end.



We often wonder in countries with electrics that look like this, how anyone figures out how to make any changes or repairs.


Our here in the sort of suburbs, we discovered the one and only bike path. We assume it's because of the  university.



Wow, faded but real!



A nice "suburban" house.




Trains do not seem big in this country, but maybe in 1908 they were.

                                   


Ah yes, still here.

The station is still somewhat in use.






Living on the wrong side of the tracks?

"In the 19th century, Nicaragua was beset by political problems, allowing William Walker, an American Southerner seeking to establish English-speaking slavery states in Latin America, to ascend to the Nicaraguan presidency.

Walker believed in the doctrine of manifest destiny, and established himself in Nicaragua in the guise of offering help, but his real intentions were to conquer the five provinces of Central America, a manifesto he entitled, "Five or None.""

Costa Rica eventually led the opposition to the American, and defeated him and his allies at the Battle of Santa Rosa in 1856. The statue here depicts the battle. It was designed by a French sculptor who had studied under Rodin. The Guide notes that Americans are surprised that an American got whipped here at that point.

The Santa Rosa hacienda where this happened burned in 2001, but has been rebuilt. Total casualties of the battle were 79 combatants on all sides, so this was not really a huge event.

Quite a complicated statue.




The park is gearing up for Christmas celebrations and sales.

Beyond the parks was an extensive theatre complex. The site used to house a national liquor factory.

We assume this was part of the former factory equipment.

The whole park area was nicely tropical. That's a bust of Queen Isabella of Spain in the foreground.

A statue of a typically mean looking Spaniard. This section was called the Spanish Park. It was only established in 1994.

Several statues and plaques around town establish an anti-fascist ethos, like the one of Anne Frank by the cathedral. Here below is a memorial for a doctor that went to Italy to help ward off the Nazis, and was killed in 1944. There is also said to be a section of the Berlin wall nearby, donated by Germany, but we could not spot it.









This bandstand in one of the parks is apparently famous.








We were looking for birds mainly, but we would also have been thrilled with a sloth. OK, how about this Variegated Squirrel!

We made it to the campus, where the buildings are surrounded by lush vegetation. There is a stream running though it all, in a small ravine. There are several small bridges crossing the ravine. From home we had spotted a larger green area near the ravine, housing a butterfly house (Mariposario). We figured this would be the birding hotspot as well.


But when we got close, we found our old nemesis, a route barrée.

We continued to stroll around near the stream, and did spot a bird or two. Check the next entry for the continuation of the story. As you see, Blogspot formatting has me totally tangled, so I will just try a new page!



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