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COSTA RICA HISTORY & INFORMATION

Costa Rica is a beautiful country to visit as well as to live in. From many points of view it is also a unique destination. Called by many "the Switzerland of the Americas" due to its neutral political status and its spectacular mountains which remind many of Switzerland. It is one of the oldest democracies in the Americas and abolished its army over 50 years ago, choosing to spend that money on education and health. Costa Ricans, or "Ticos", are known for their proverbial cordiality and friendly nature, and enjoy full political and social stability and are fiercely proud of the peace and prosperity that Costa Rica has achieved. It is a country that prides itself on having more teachers than policemen and where on Election Day, the polling stations are handled by schoolchildren in many places, instead of the armed soldiers one finds in other countries. Previously dependent on agriculture (Coffee, Bananas and Sugar were the main exports) for almost a century, Costa Rica has now made Tourism, the number one industry in the country and has set its eyes on becoming the technology capital of Latin America (Silicon Valley South). The current installation in Costa Rica of Intel's microchip production plants and agreements with Microsoft for software development and software implementation throughout the school system signal a new industry developing, which is ideal for the highly educated and technologically savvy students being produced by Costa Rica's universities and technical schools. In Costa Rica 94% of the population is literate; one of the highest literacy rates in the continent.

With a total surface of approximately 51,000 square kilometers, Costa Rica is the second smallest Central American nation after El Salvador. At its narrowest point, in the south, only 119 kilometers (about 1.6 kilometers equals 1 mine), about 74 miles, separate the Caribbean from the Pacific. Costa Rica can boast that over 25% of its territory is comprised of protected National Parks, Nature Shelters, Forest Reserves and Biological Reserves making Costa Rica the country with the greatest percentage of its national territory protected in the world. A world leader in environmental protection, Costa Rica promotes reforestation projects to protect the natural forests and to provide a habitat and protection for many of the world's endangered bird and animal species. The Melina project contributes to this national purpose by preserving its 20 Hectares of natural forest and farming the remaining 50 Hectares which, provide wood products of building materials and fine furniture produced from the Melina, Eucalyptus and Laurel trees harvested from the Melina Farm.

Costa Rica has a population of around 3.5 million. The official language is Spanish, but with a growing investor and immigrant population English, German, and Chinese languages along with French and Italian are frequently spoken (all "Ticos" study English in school and most Professionals and Tourism people are fluent in at least English). These residents and investors know what the rest of the world is only beginning to discover; that Costa Rica has been a secret mainly due to the upheavals its neighboring countries went through in the recent past years, while Costa Rica enjoyed its usual normalcy and peace. This has now changed, and Costa Rica was named last year as the Number 1 Eco-Tourism destination in the world! Major hotel chains have built and are building hotels and beach resorts here, including such luminaries as Hilton, Marriott, Holiday Inn and Raddisson, Barcelo, Melia, Intercontinental and Best Western. Major beach front and beach side developments, marinas and golf courses are under construction or finished in the Central Pacific and Northern Pacific coasts of Costa Rica. As they say, Costa Rica is hot and the boom is underway. The newly elected President Miguel Angel Rodriguez has promised to make tourism and foreign investments a priority of this government and concurrently has begun to improve the infrastructure of roads and ports including a new port designed specially for cruise ships in the Pacific port of Puntarenas.

Due to its convenient location, Costa Rica is readily accessed by land, sea and air. Visitors from Canada, United States, Mexico and the rest of the Latin American countries can travel all year round by land via the Inter-American Highway. There are also many airlines flying into Costa Rica, among which are: LACSA, COPA SAHSA, TACA, SAM, AMERICAN AIRLINES, CONTINENTAL, UNITED, CONDOR and LTU from Germany, CANADIAN NATIONAL AIR, LADECO, IBERIA, MEXICANA, KLM, AVIATECA, VARIG, SERVIVENSA. Located on the Central American Isthmus, Costa Rica has ready access to the farthest reaches of the world thanks to its ports on both oceans, which have high-tech infrastructure, accordingly to international requirements. Such is the case of Port Moín on the Caribbean and Port Caldera on the Pacific.

Costa Rica has satellite connections with all the Central American countries, the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, Asia and Africa. Apart from direct dialing, fax, telex, and Internet communications to most of the countries in the world, it has an efficient mailing system and offers several courier services.

The country takes advantage of an almost perfect tropical climate. Because of its mountains, there are, in fact, five different climatic zones. The Central Valley, because of its altitude, offers a perpetual spring, where the temperature is almost always between 22 and 34 degrees Celsius (70-94 Fahrenheit). The Melina Farm, located on the mountainside in the Matina-Limon Caribbean area is more humid, which accounts for the area's reputation as an outstanding agricultural location. The Dry Season or Summer goes from late November to early May and the Green (wet) Season goes from late May to early November and offers sunny mornings, rainy afternoons and cool nights. Costa Rica offers a real paradise for the nature lover, the fishing enthusiast and the water sports fanatic, or those who just desire to sit back and soak up all this ambiance! Its coast lines, rivers and lakes offer ideal conditions for sport fishing, rafting, diving and surfing. Its beaches of white or black sand, valleys and mountains, volcanoes and rivers, national parks and biological reserves, sunrises on the Caribbean and sunsets on the Pacific Coast as well as its more cosmopolitan attractions in the capital city of San Jose, which include theaters, opera, plays, concerts, movies and a varied and exciting nightlife guarantee that Costa Rica can truly offer something for everyone! As the Ticos say, "Pura Vida"!