SANTA ANA, San José — The soul of this place comes alive when viewed through the blue eyes of Héctor Aguilar — architect, antiques dealer and prolific profiler…

SANTA ANA, San José — When the ocelot was spotted in a tree at a kindergarten here, animal handlers came out and shot it with a sleeping…

SALITRAL, San José — Carlos Marín had already finished giving me a tour of his pottery workshop, from the clay pits to the oven to the warehouse,…

SANTA ANA, San José — It’s a geographic mystery 455 years in the making, but most historians agree that the first Spanish settlement in Costa Rica’s Central Valley…

SANTA ANA, San José — Just south of Lindora’s Miami-style “Golden Mile,” past the coming-soon Maserati dealership, the Quizno’s, the Taco Bell and the Caterpillar lot, there’s a…