Hotel Los Héroes – Nuevo Arenal, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica

With the construction in 1989 of an imitation alpine cow stable overlooking Lake Arenal, a man-made reservoir at the foot of the volcano of the same name, a somewhat kitschy corner of Switzerland was created in Central America. Two years later, the owners opened Hotel Los Héroes, housed in an imitation Swiss chalet. The murals on the wall pay homage to two historical moments: 700 years of the foundation of Switzerland and 100 years of Costa Rican Democracy.

The painting on the right depicts Arnold von Winkelried (a legendary hero of Swiss history whose sacrifice brought about the victory of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Battle of Sempach in 1386 against the army of the Habsburg Duke Leopold III of Austria. The painting on the left-hand side of the building depicts Juan Santamaría, the hero of the Costa Rican resistance in 1856 against the effort of William Walker, an American adventurer, to conquer the other nations in Central America, including Costa Rica, in order to form a private slave-holding empire.