Costa Rica, nice & friendly
Travel to Costa Rica & you will love it
Safe and green travels, where nice people live!
The small country of Central America, called Costa Rica, has well-known for a long time as one of the greenest and safest countries in the world to travel to.
Costa Rica has a surface of almost 51,000 square kilometers, which is a bit more than the surface of the state of Niedersachsen(Germany). Costa Rica has many treasures, but not so many natural resources. It is a pure natural country and contains many natural wonders: active volcanoes with bubbling hot springs, tropical rain forests, elves forests, cloud forests, tropical rivers that invite you to rafting, wetlands, fantastic beaches off the Pacific and Atlantic Coast, an incredible variety of flora and fauna and so much more.
The extraordinary thing about Costa Rica is that everything is well protected, not only by law, but also by the very conscious general population.
A former president was awarded with the Nobel Prize of Peace, the entire country is peaceful, has no military army, and is a good example for democracy.
Facts of Costa Rica
- Area: 51,000 km2
- Population: 4,4 millions
- Language: official language is Spanish, but there are also Patois, and native languages
- Religion: 77% of the religion is catholic, and 14% protestants
- Goverment: Presidential Republic
The Tourism in CR
Tourism in Costa Rica is very ecological
Years ago, the government found out that there is a gap in the global market. If a country protects its enviroment, it could make a country very special. Therefore, the tourism is used as a tool to protect the nature. There are countless examples showing this in Costa Rica. One example are the Eco-hotels.
Adventure in the jungle
Canopy - The (most likely) Costa Rican invention is very popular among locals and visitors
In the rainforest most plants and animals are living far away from the ground. Life is not found on the forests floor, but the leafy world 20 or 30 meters above the ground, called the canopy. The canopy is made of the overlapping branches and leaves of big rainforest trees. Its name "Canopy" is also used for a very popular activity in Costa Rica.
Food & Drinks in Costa Rica
What is the typical food of Costa Rica?
Are there any particular specialties in Costa Rica?
The very, very typical dish is the "Casado". It consists of rice, black beans, fried plantains (platanos) and chicken, meat or fish. The "Casado" is eaten for lunch and dinner, you can get it quite cheap at the more basic restaurants here.
Huge Granite Spheres
Where do they come from?
In Costa Rica, especially in the southern regions, you can find some carefully worked huge granite spheres. Some are up to 2 meters big. Nobody knows what they mean, there are many speculations, even aliens play a role. For example, in Sierpe, where you get into the boat to Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park, you can find many of those balls.
Driving a car in Costa Rica
Driving a car in Costa Rica can be a little bit adventurous.
Get used to relax a little more
Imagine a European driving style: fast, opinionated, loyal and pedantic rules, combined with Latin American mentality: an inability to drive straight, and defect vehicles. That is what Costa Rican traffic is like. You must always drive carefully and never ignore the way, even though not everything is clearly visible and pedestrians can cross the street everywhere.
Nature in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a world leader in environmental matters
National parks, zona protectoras and more
Protected areas, such as national parks and bio reserves, make up more than a quarter of the countries area. It is the first tropical country that seeks to achieve the reversing of deforestation. Many reforestation projects - private initiatives with government support, are based in Costa Rica.
Trading in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is still strongly focused on agriculture
New sectors of the economy are dominant now
The most important sector is tourism. In 2008, with nearly 1.5 million foreign visitors, up to $ 1.8 billion were generated in sales, which goes quite directly to the public good.
The contribution of agriculture to gross domestic product in 2005 was only of 7.9%.
History of Costa Rica
The origin of all people on the American continent is Asia
Reports about the aborigines of Costa Rica had already started about 3000 years BC
In this time, men startet to cultivate land. But it was an extremely low population density. It has been estimated with the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th Century, at this time there were only 100,000 people living in the area of Costa Rica.
Sustainability in Costa Rica
Green Energy in Costa Rica
In 2021 Costa Rica will be the first country in the world to produce 100% of its energy with renewable resources!
In 2015 for two and a half months, Costa Rica did not burn one single barrel of oil to produce or import energy.
Politics of Costa Rica
Since 1821 Costa Rica is independent from Spain
Costa Rica has one of the most peaceful histories in Latin America
You can still feel the peaceful attitude of the country today. Since the 19th century there were just two short violent periods, that were both settled by the democratic government.
President José Figueres Ferrer disestablished the army by a constitutional amendment on 8 May 1949.
