by Michael Miller
(September, 2021)
Preparing the INS Building for the Bicentennial.
This past weekend, while the USA was commemorating 20th anniversary the September 11th terror attacks, workers in Costa Rica were getting ready for a much happier remembrance: The Costa Rican Bicentennial.
Workmen hanging from ropes labor to secure huge strips of red-white-and-blue bunting that will extend from top to bottom of the INS Tower in San Jose. The other tall building in this photo is the Holiday Inn, about 3 blocks away.
This Wednesday, September 15, 2021, marks the two-hundred year anniversary of Costa Rica's independence from Spain.
All over San Jose, and surely all over the country, Costa Ricans have been putting up signs on streetlights announcing “200 Años,” they have been mounting flags at offices and restaurants, and they have been decking out major buildings. Like the USA, the national colors of Costa Rica are red, white and blue.
These photos show brave workers helping to decorate the INS Building on Avenida 7 in Downtown San Jose. The INS Building is the headquarters for Costa Rica's largest insurance company and it is one of the tallest buildings in the city.
Michael Miller is the author of the guidebook The Real San Jose. And he has just released the novel, Tribune Man, a noir-like adventure set in Oakland, California during the tragic Oakland Hills Fire. Both books are available on Amazon. Click here: tinyurl.com/wefs2xe7
Looking just over the roof of The Yellow House (Casa Amarilla), the foreign ministry of Costa Rica, the workmen can be seen adjusting the patriotic bunting on the INS Tower.
Working during the drizzly, sometimes rainy weekend, the men hanging from the INS Tower put on the finishing touches to the Bicentenial decorations.
All decked out. The INS Tower in Downtown San Jose has flags at street level and mezzanine level, and a red-white-and-blue bunting strip from top to bottom. Ready for the country's Bicentenial Celebration on Wednesday, September 15.