Iglesia de la Soledad
La Iglesia de la Soledad is one of the few churches undamaged by earithquakes, maintaining much of its orginal architectural elements of the neo-baroque movement. Last year the church was fundraising on Facebook in order to make necesasry updates to the facade and electrical systems. 

A few weeks ago work began on the exterior and here we can see the front face with a beautiful new paint job and the addition of gold trimmings. As work continues this church regains its original luster. 

The past 3 years have seen some remarkable restorations of more than 20 buildings in downtown San Jose but the same marvel persists in all cases. Buildings are individually restored but entire blocks continue to clash in a 'visual cacaphony'. For example this beautiful church is 50 meters from the recently completed "Barrio Chino" pictured below, each individually interesting but difficult to imagine next to one another. I've decided San Jose's lack of themes is its theme. 

To see some more of the best architectural clashes in the city book our Bird's Nest Tour for $22. 

Barrio Chino
The gateway to Barrio Chino is now complete. What's left is the filling in of new commercial space in the same block. To date you can still find a corner bar, fabulous bakery, hardware store, street pizza, ice cream and a Claro store. 

Unfortunately nothing chinese greets you at the entrance to this new piece of architecture but if you wonder far enough south you will find chinese restaurants, supermarkets and trinket stores. 

For more history on why there are Chinese people in Costa Rica and why this new gateway was created book our Bird's Nest Tour for $22.