The National Theatre and the Gold Museum

We visited the National Museum and got a deeper look at Costa Rica’s history, from its indigenous cultures to modern times. One of the highlights was seeing the giant spherical stones—mysterious pre-Columbian artifacts that still leave historians guessing about their purpose. 

These are acouple of images during a walk down the walking mall street. 

In the evening we stopped at a restaurant called Em Boca, which turned out to be a real treat. The food was excellent, and the cocktails were incredible—definitely a place worth remembering.

We wrapped up our San José tour with a visit to the Gold Museum and the National Theatre. The Gold Museum is a fascinating dive into Costa Rica’s pre-Columbian heritage, with hundreds of gold artifacts, jewelry, and ceremonial items displayed in beautifully arranged cases. It really gives a sense of the skill and artistry of the region’s early cultures. 

Inside the Museo del Oro Precolombino, we came across a powerful temporary exhibition called Rutas Clandestinas: Los Sin Nombre by Costa Rican artist Ingrid Rudelman. Instead of focusing only on ancient objects, this show uses more than 20 sculptures to make you think about the human side of migration — the difficult, dangerous journeys people take when they leave home looking for a better life. The figures don’t even have names; each is labeled with the latitude and longitude of the route it represents, and the mix of white and black marble symbolizes both fragility and resilience as people travel through harsh conditions. Rudelman’s work is meant to foreground the individuals behind the statistics, showing the complexity, risk, and often hidden human stories of migration across continents and borders.

After the gold museum we took a walk around the tourist area looking for another Museum that ended up closed, but it took a while and we got a chance to walk around all the tourist streets. 

Afterward, we toured the National Theatre, a stunning example of neoclassical architecture with a lavish interior filled with chandeliers, murals, and carved wood details. It’s easy to see why this theatre has been called one of the most beautiful in the Americas—just walking inside feels like stepping back into a grand, cultural moment.

Pura Vida, Costa Rica

Well, we left Mexico and headed to Costa Rica to spend some time with friends for what is normally a Sheepshead night—and somehow turned into a week. : )  Our first stop was San José. (Yes, the song ran through my head immediately. No, it’s not really about this San José, but that didn’t stop me.)

We made our way through three major stops in San José: the National Museum, the Museum of Jade, and the Museum of Gold. Each was fascinating and very well organized, with a clear focus on its subject. They’re all national history museums at heart, so visiting any one of them immerses you in Costa Rica’s story, just from slightly different angles. We started with the Jade Museum.

Yes, that's right...  Even back then....

Catching up...

It’s been a little while since my last post. Somewhere along the way I lost a bit of momentum, which happens. But before we head off to Southeast Asia, Let's sit down and have a drink and get back and catch up on Mexico. 

Right before we left, we visited the Secretariat of Public Education building, which is still an active government building dedicated to education. Inside are extensive murals by Diego Rivera, spread across multiple courtyards and corridors. What makes this so striking is how accessible it all is—these massive, political, unapologetic works aren’t tucked away in a museum, but displayed in a public building meant for the people. The murals depict workers, teachers, farmers, revolutionaries, and everyday life, reinforcing Rivera’s belief that art should educate as much as it inspires. It’s one of those places that quietly stops you in your tracks.

The ofrendas set up in the Zócalo for Día de los Muertos were massive—far beyond the small, personal altars you usually see in homes. An ofrenda is meant to welcome the spirits of the dead back to the living world, built with offerings like marigolds, candles, photos, food, drinks, and objects the person loved in life. In the Zócalo, that idea is scaled up to a civic level. Entire sections of the square were filled with towering installations, each one layered with symbolism, color, and detail. It felt less like a single altar and more like walking through an open-air gallery dedicated to memory, ritual, and the very public way Mexico honors its dead.

Just outside the Zócalo, we came across a flower carpet, or alfombra. These temporary works of art are made from flowers, colored sawdust, and natural materials, laid directly on the street. Like the ofrendas, they’re meant to be fleeting—created to be walked past, photographed, and eventually disappear. This one stretched on for a blocks dense with color and pattern, a quiet counterpoint to the scale and spectacle of the Zócalo installations.

And speaking of counterpoints: the Zócalo ofrenda in the distance, the Mexican flag nearly fully unfurled, Palacio de Hierro—Mexico’s upscale department store—standing off to the side, and, at street level, an active protest cutting through the same space as the flower carpet. Celebration, commerce, remembrance, and dissent, all sharing the same few city blocks.

Next Stop.....  San Jose....  Does anyone know the way??  

The Catrina Parade!!

The Catrina Parade on Avenida Reforma was everything we expected: bright colors, towering Catrinas, musicians, dancers, and a surreal, joyful chaos that Mexico pulls off better than anywhere else. I ended up with a large number of photos and videos, so I stitched them into a short movie. Apologies for the Cuban music, it was the only thing I could figure out how to drop into iMovie. But it still works.

Enjoy

Two Stops: O’Gorman’s House and the UNAM Library

We visited the O’Higgins–Rivera workshop, where the Day of the Dead ofrendas were set up throughout the house—each dedicated to the three artists who lived and worked there. The place still looks like a working space, and seeing how Pablo O’Higgins and Diego Rivera shared that environment adds to the history of the building. 

The place still looks like a working space, and seeing how Pablo O’Higgins and Diego Rivera shared that environment added to the history of the building. 

O’Higgins’ home and studio were built in a stripped-down, utilitarian style that reflected both his politics and his practical personality. He used just simple forms, exposed materials, and a layout meant for work, collaboration, and daily life. It followed the same spirit as the early functionalist movement in Mexico: architecture as a tool, not a luxury. The house was meant to serve artists and activists who came through its doors, not to impress anyone from the street.

After that, we headed to the UNAM campus, stopped to see Rivera’s mural on the Central Library, and happened to catch a graduation ceremony spilling out across the walkways. 

Rivera painted an important mural right next door in the Rectoria building, where he depicted Mexico’s struggle for freedom and culture. 

The Central Library at UNAM is covered in huge mosaic murals by Juan O’Gorman, done very much in the spirit of Diego Rivera. Each side of the building tells a different chapter of Mexican history — pre-Hispanic life, the colonial period, modern Mexico, and the story of the university itself. Rivera didn’t create these mosaics, but his influence is all over them: the focus on Indigenous culture, a look at colonization, and the celebration of workers, science, and education. 

Together, the murals on the library and Rectoria form one of the strongest public-art statements in the country.

We made our way from the library to MUAC through the theatre district. The museum itself was excellent. The standout was a “womb” installation built from compacted earth it was quiet, dim, and very  immersive, it was like stepping into a geological exhibit.