San José (a vista de pájaro) de Máximo Soto Hall

Abstract

In the fourth volume of E l L ector C ostarricense , a short piece of writing, meant to be used by most of the Costa Rican public schools appears a beautiful chronicle named “San José (A vista de pájaro)”, written by the Guatemalan scholar Máximo Soto Hall (1871-1944). He lived in Costa Rica from 1896 to 1902. San José’s description allows to explore, nostalgic and closer, the process of urban transformation of the Costa Rican capital, the far way of the XIX Century to the XX Century. Through this pages it will appear a phlegmatic British traveler who was captivated by “a miniature cosmopolitan city”, the National Park with its haughty Monument to the 1856-1857 Heroes, a National Theater that symbolizes the Costa Rican elite’s desire to imitate the European and the joy of stroll in a carriage by La Sabana.