Villa Mills. Blink and you'll miss it.
It is not much more than a broad spot in the road. Harder to miss, just beyond the blue sign, is a crisp-looking red and white restaurant, which may have several cars and a bus parked in front depending on the time of day. That's La Georgina, founded in 1947, just a year before the 44-day Costa Rican civil war that sparked the abolition of their army and instigated several social reforms that carry on today. Must've been interesting times for this spot, since a lot of the fighting occurred up here on Cerro de La Muerte.
I have doubts whether this place was ever in any danger of being obliterated by that war, but in any case we're certainly glad that it's still in operation. It's a spacious place and has restrooms built for no-waiting. The food is the usual Tico buffet, not bad, but not terribly creative either. The main attraction for us is in the back.
Today in Costa Rica is a national holiday: Juan Santamaría Day. The schools, P.O. and other government offices are closed in honor of the death of a fabled young soldier who gave his life to defeat the adventurer, William Walker, who had installed himself as the president of Nicaragua in his quest to conquer all of Central America. At the time, in 1856, most of Central America, having only recently gained independence from Spain, was very disorganized and unable to adequately defend themselves against Walker's relatively small mercenary forces.
The President of Costa Rica at the time, Juan Rafael Mora Porras called up a citizens army to march north to Nicaragua to oust the mercenaries. Their first battle with Walker's troops was in Santa Rosa, in Guanacaste province (annexed by Costa Rica in 1824 from Nicaragua). They won that battle and a National Historic Park is today at that location. They again encountered a larger contingent of troops in Rivas, Nicaragua where Walker's men were holed up in a hotel that provided a particularly good defensive position. Several of the citizen soldiers had already died attempting to burn down the building with torches.
