In the past years this park was in sad condition, but now that it had a major overhaul, it's renovated state looks great! Skateboarders love it, it has some nice benches surrounded by trees and bushes, flowers, ... just very well done.

It has recently been renovated and they have done a pretty decent job of it and during celebrations in Alajuela, they have most of their ceremonies there. One little footnote though, the statue that is in the park is not Juan Santamaria. When the statue was ordered it was delivered to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. however, another country in South America also ordered a statue to be sent to Puntarenas in this country. They got Juan Santamaria and we got their hero. Since the cost to switch was prohibitive, they decided to call it a wash and hope that none would notice. The telling clue is that Juan Santamaria was a barefoot peasant with a machete, not a military figure with a rifle. I'm not at all sure, but I think that we saw the real Juan Santamaria when we were in Argentina.
One shame about this park is that they never clean up the graffiti.

Juan Santamaria's park is located near central park in Alajuela, a city in Costa Rica, where the airport (also called Juan Santamaria) is located. This park occupies around one block, and it has in its center a statue of a male, holding a torch and a riffle. This was placed in there to remember Juan Santamaria, a young boy, whom in 1856 perform the heroic act, of torching a small house in Nicaragua, where some people, who want to invade Costa Rica where hiding.
This park is used mostly by bikers and skateboarders, but has a lot of crime in the night hours. You can watch the statue really well if you drive by, no need to get out of the car.

If you are interested in the history of Costa Rica it may be worth stopping at the Juan Santamaria Park in Alajuela. We stopped here briefly on the way through the town to see the statue of Costa Rica's national hero.

The statue is quite large and shows Juan Santamaria holding a torch, which he used to light a building on fire housing enemy troops during a battle. He lost his life for the cause and is now widely honored for helping Costa Rica maintain independence. The park is quite small but it's an easy stop if in Alajuela.