A rainy day in San Jose-town

What better way to explore this city on a rainy Sunday afternoon than a walk to El Museo Nacional de Costa Rica and a little shopping! There's a great little mercado de artesanias right near the museum, so I swung by there first because I had my eye on these beautiful fabric squares with brightly colored designs called molas.


I learned from the vendor that the molas are worn by the Kuna indigenous tribe in Panama and that these were handmade there.  They are gorgeous!  Here's an example of what they look like and how they are traditionally worn:

WikiPedia.com

   

WikiPedia.com

I thought it would be cool to frame them for my office or maybe make them into pillow covers? Even though they're made in Panama, the colors and lines remind me of Costa Rica too.  A fun souvenir!


Then onto the National Museum.  The building was the former fortress for the Costa Rican military, but when the government dissolved the national military in 1948, it became a museum.  It's full of jade and gold artifacts, a replica of what the barracks and the commander's house looked like, and an example of a home in el campo in the late 1800's or early 1900's.  

Outside the commander's home

Looking south over San Jose

The front of the museum

A government building across the street from the museum

Looking south on the pedestrian walkway

Parque Nacional, about 5 minutes from our apartment

Beautiful murals near our apartment

"Todos los hombres nacen maravillosamente diferentes." - Jorge A. Livraga
("All men are born marvelously different.")