Costa Rica is a free country since 1821 and is a small but very beautiful territory with lots of green places and great tourist destinations.  This place offers you mountains and volcanoes, rain and cloud forest, beaches, rivers and very nice people.

The country has seven provinces: Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limón, Puntarenas and the capital, San José.

The official currency is the colon. Around five hundred colones are equal to one dollar.

Costa Rica is located in Central America and limits with Panama at the Southeastern, with Nicaragua at North, with the Caribbean Sea to the east and to the south and west with the Pacific Ocean.  This country also has a very important island for the world for its biodiversity called “The Coco Island” which is located in the Pacific Ocean.

This piece of heaven has a lot of mountains and volcanoes. The taller peak is “Chirripo Grande” with 3.819 meters and the biggest Volcano is the Irazu with 3.432 m.

The world wide famous Tortuguero National Park is located in Costa Rica, which has a natural system of canals where you can see 5 different types of sea turtles.

Costa Rican people, great hosts.

The country has an estimated of 4.133.884 people, with a wonderful combination of races, especially people with Indian and European roots but also people with Africans, Caribbeans and Chinese ascendants..

The official language is the Spanish, but in the zone of Limon, people speak English and a few other dialects too. The main religion is Catholicism but there are also different kinds of cults that people practice without any problem.

Costa Rican people are well known for being great hosts, they are very nice and kind human beings that always are willing to help the tourist.  They also love to dance and to play soccer, which is the most popular sport in the whole country.  Plus, they also enjoy another game where people run away from bulls, and of course the carnivals organized locally in each province.

Costa Rica is one of the countries in Latin America with more alphabetization: 95% of their people can read and write.  Here, elementary school and high school are free and obligatory from the age of 7 years old to 18.

The country also has a big number of good Universities: Costa Rica’s University, The National University, and Costa Rica’s Tech University are top education centers in this country and they’re also public. There are also lots of private Universities that make “the tico” a very educated person.

It is important to highlight that the Costa Rican people love and enjoy peace and calm, which you can breathe and live in the country since 1948.

Transportation and Road development

Not so long time ago, the government reactivated the urban train as a service for the community and it has had a good acceptation by the population, especially because it's very cheap.

Costa Rica has two airports, the main important one is the Juan Santamaría located in Alajuela and the second one is the Daniel Oduber, located in Liberia, Guanacaste. This last one receives almost just “Charter” flights.

The country has a 20% of its roads paved.  The urban roads have suffered an important deterioration, mostly caused by the rain.  But the entrances to the tourist centers are mostly fine.

Security is responsibility of everybody

Costa Rica has no army since 1948, that’s the reason why the country declares neutral when international conflicts are being discussed.

The violence has increased in the last years, however the levels of violence are far from the ones in other countries in the continent.

The number of drugs that are being used on the streets and the domestic violence are the main issues that the government is worried about.

Costa Rica’s Cuisine

Costa Rica offers you from the simple’s meals to the fines meals from all over the world.  As a tropical country you can find all kinds of fruits and vegetables here with a high quality that will overwhelm the most demanding person.

The visitors can enjoy typical meals such as the “Gallo Pinto” that is a combination of rice and beans with essence of the Costa Rican kitchen, or the “Olla de Carne”, the “chorreadas” or the “picadillos”.

The coffee from Costa Rica is famous all over the world especially for the quality and it’s of course the drink that can’t ever miss on a Costa Rican home.

Have a sit and enjoy a great meal

The “Gallo Pinto” can be enjoy on breakfast however in many houses it’s also serve on lunch.

The “Olla de Carne” it’s kind of a soup with several vegetable such ad potato, yam, meat, which is one of the favorites meals of the “tico”.

On some places there are also several typical meals from the region; in Limon for example the people can enjoy “the Rice and Beans” which is made with coconut milk or a slice of “Pan Bon” or the “ron don” which it’s fish wit coconut milk and of course the “Patie”, famous all over the country.

The visitor will know without a doubt the “Arroz con pollo”, the “Casado” and the “Arroz con leche”.

For Christmas season the families here in Costa Rica prepare the “tamales” made with corn flour, rice, meat and spices.  The “tamal” is cover in plantain leaf and boiled on hat water.

Costa Rica also offers you and extensive variety of international meals.  Here the people can find restaurants with European, Americans, and Asians meals.

And other important option is the fast food company who is everywhere in the country.

Costa Rica offers travelers a wide selection of hotel options that include everything from all-inclusive beach resorts and international hotel chains to boutique hotels, mountain cabins and jungle lodges
The best places to buy fresh food are the Saturday morning street markets (ferias de agricultor).

Drinks

Because Costa Rica is a tropical country the people here can enjoy several kinds of fruits that also make part of great and unique cocktails.

The visitors can have from a delicious orange juice to sweat sugar cane juice or the traditional “chinchiví” that it’s always serve on the parties.

Also Costa Rica has beer, rum and the “guaro” this drink it’s made with sugar cane.  However the visitors will also enjoy a quantity of wines and liquors.

An ideal weather for visitors

Costa Rica has basically two stations, the summer or the dry one which goes from December to April; and the winter or the rainy one that begins on May and ends on November.

The average temperature on the central part of the country is among 15ºc and 25ºc.  This particular kind of weather makes 47% of the country is coverage with Forrest and green patches.  

Besides of tourism, agriculture is one of the most important bases of Costa Rica’s economy; also the fishing is very important.

A destiny for everyone

Because the location that Costa Rica has, the country has become a home for a big variety of species, some of them very exotic.

Some of the most important national parks are Cahuita, Corcovado, Santa Rosa, Chirripó, Braulio Carrillo, Arenal Volcano and Poás Volcano among others.

The country also has more than a thousand species of orchids and more than two hundred species of reptiles, mostly snakes.  This beautiful territory has lots of wild animals like pumas, jaguars, deers, monkeys, coyotes and armadillos, plus they have 725 different species of birds, which is actually one of the most attractive things that the tourist love.  Places like Monteverde in Puntarenas offer the visitor an unforgettable experience in this particular item.

With the goal to improve the economy without affecting the environment, Costa Rica designs the “Ecotourism”  which is  a tourism based on the observation and the appreciation of the nature.  It’s nice for the tourist to learn how to live in harmony respecting the environment.

The coast has a beautiful weather and a view so spectacular that is hard to find another place just like it.  Beaches like Manzanillo, Puerto Viejo, Cahuita y Playa Bonita in the Caribbean, and Playa Hermosa, El Coco, Manuel Antonio, Tamarindo y Conchal in the Pacific are an enjoyable piece of heaven.

The Caribbean also offers a very important variety of rivers, such as the Reventazon - Parismina and Pacuare, where year by year several kayak and rafting tournaments are celebrated.  Also, there are the Colorado and the Sarapiquí who belong to the rivers Tempisque, Corobicí and Tárcoles where you can find an observe lots of alligators, some of them of 5 meters long.