Introduction
From Wiki Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a Spanish-speaking country located in Central America. Its capital city is San José. Costa Rica means literally in Spanish "rich coast", name given by the Spaniards when discovered in 1502.
Costa Rica is known internationally because of its peaceful political, economical and social climate: it is one of the oldest democracies of Latin America, having abolished its army in 1949 and used its resources to promote health and education. This has produced a very peaceful, stable country, in sharp contrast to other Latin American neighbors.
In the 2006 Human Development Index Report by the United Nations, Costa Rica was ranked as "High Human Development" class: number 48th in the world, better than bigger and richer countries such as Mexico, and United Arab Emirates.
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Geography
Costa Rica is a country of 51.1 square kilometers (19,725 sq mi, about the size of the state of New Jersey) located more or less in the middle of the continent:
It borders Nicaragua on the north, Panama on the southeast, the Pacific ocean to the west and Atlantic ocean to the East. See Maps and GPS
Demographics
It has 4,075,261 inhabitants, most of them descendants of Spaniards and native Indians, and to a lesser extent, descendants of Africans and Chinese.
Economy
The currency is the colón, which trades around 515 for 1 US dollar and 700 for 1 Euro. Costa Rica was considered one of the "Banana Republics" in the last century, because of the extent of the banana plantations in coastal areas. Bananas and coffee were the main products of the country until the last decade, where electronics, tourism became the prime industry. Other areas shown to have grown are: software development, services outsourcing, and biomedical products.
Gross Domestic Product is $11,606.00 per capita.
Politics
Costa Rica has a long lasting democracy, over 100 years old. Although several decades ago it had a brief interruption in the democratic process, it has over 50 years of uninterrupted democracy, much longer than any other Latin American country. Every 4 years a president is elected by popular vote. The current president is Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Main attractions
See Tourism and Promotional videos of Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is known for its natural beauty: over 25% of its territory is protected by law into National Parks and Reserves. Volcanoes, hot springs, beautiful beaches, rain forests, and tropical rivers are some of the main destinations of American and European tourists. Many nature-lovers come to explore these destinations, as well as surfers, who love the great waves that many costarican beaches offer in both coastlines. Another famous product of Costa Rica is its exquisite coffee: served in large chains such as Starbucks.
Also see Costa Rica in the media.
How to get here
See Archive of Air ticket prices.
Although 237 cruise ships arrived to Costa Rica in 2006 (though the cruise port in Puntarenas in the Pacific, and Moin in the Atlantic), the most common way tourist come to Costa Rica is by air, either by flying into the Juan Santamaría Airport (SJO) in the central valley, or to the province of Guanacaste, the Daniel Oduber Airport (LIR) in Liberia.
Direct flights are available from the USA (Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, New York, Charlotte, Denver, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale) and from Europe (Madrid, Frankfurt). The prices vary a lot throughout the year.
