The Parque Zoológico La Aurora is a zoological park in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is one of the largest gardens within the city. The zoo has three different areas, where animals from Asia, America and Africa can be appreciated. The zoo was founded in 1924 in the southern part of the city, as part of a huge distraction area, then called Parque Reforma, featuring several museums, parks and a hippodrome. Later, with the conversion of a small airfield into La Aurora International Airport the park was intensely diminished. The remains of an ancient viaduct can be found in the park's vicinity. In 2007, the hippodrome was demolished due to a further expansion of the airport.
Famous quotes containing the words aurora and/or zoo:
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“...there was the annual Fourth of July picketing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. ...I thought it was ridiculous to have to go there in a skirt. But I did it anyway because it was something that might possibly have an effect. I remember walking around in my little white blouse and skirt and tourists standing there eating their ice cream cones and watching us like the zoo had opened.”
—Martha Shelley, U.S. author and social activist. As quoted in Making History, part 3, by Eric Marcus (1992)