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 For
years, Costa Rica was the well-kept secret of a few biologists,
backpackers, and beachcombers, but that's all changed.
Today, the country is a major international vacation destination.
Despite this newfound popularity, Costa Rica remains a
place rich in natural wonders and biodiversity but relatively
young in infrastructure and luxurious beach resorts and
hotels. Costa Rica is a great gateway to Central America
and a good choice, when the Caribbean and Mexico have
become old hat. Here, you can still find uncrowded and
unpoiled beaches that stretch on for miles, small lodgings
that haven't attracted hordes of tourists, jungle rivers
for rafting and kayaking, spectacular scuba diving , and
cloud and rain forests with ample opportunities for bird
watching and hiking.
Costa Rica extends majestically from the Pacific Ocean
to the Caribbean Sea, and its distance is barely 200 miles.
Its land portion ocuppies only 20 thousand square miles.
Costa Rica’s territorial division includes 7 provinces
which are: San José, Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia,
Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limón. Together they
offer an many exciting tourist destinations, with nearly
unlimited possibilities, including extense rainforests,
volcanoes, rivers travelling through the mountains, beaches
and natural resources safeguarded by an important organization
of national parks and forest reserves.
If you travel throughout these provinces of Costa Rica,
it’s easy to notice that in no other place will you find
fields with so many variations in their landscape and
climate as here.
The Caribbean Province is Limón. This a region
where you will find vast differences from the rest of
the country. Just 212 km long, its caribbean coastline
offers a wide variety of attractions, and consists of
two very different regions. The first stretches from north
of Moín to the mouth of the Río San Juan,
with a regular and open coastline, extensive beaches,
dark sand and strong surf. Extending southward from Moín
to the mouth of the Río Sixaola, the second region
has a much more irregular coastline characterized by inlets
and coral reefs in several areas. Along this stretch of
coast are the region’s most popular beaches.
This province’s geographic and climatic characteristics
provide extraordinary scenic and ecological wealth. In
addition to its coastal riches, the region offers alluvial
plains, marshlands, rivers, waterfalls, lagoons, canals,
lush, always green forests, hills, mountains, valleys
and more, all sheltering thousands of plants and animals
belonging to various life zones distinctive and unique
to the Caribbean.
Costa Rica´s year round climate is pleasant with
naturally occurring breezes cooling down most of the coastal
areas. Temperatures in the highlands and the mountains
are warm by day and brisk at night giving an "eternal
spring" feeling. The average annual temperatures
range from 31.7°C (89°F) on the coast to 16.7°C
(62°F) inland. The rainy, or green, season lasts from
May to December with noticeably drier days during the
rest of the year.
Background
Costa Rica is a Central American success story: since
the late 19th century, only two brief periods of violence
have marred its democratic development. Although still
a largely agricultural country, it has expanded its economy
to include strong technology and tourism sectors. The
standard of living is relatively high. Land ownership
is widespread.
The Ticos, as Costa Ricans are commonly known, are a mix
of races. Though most of the country’s 3.3 million inhabitants
descend from Spanish immigrants, many families originated
in other parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and, within Central
America.
You may be surprised by the number of fair-skinned people
you’ll see in the country, especially in the Central Valley.
In the lowlands, more people are mestizos -that is mixture
of European and Indigenous blood- whereas most along the
Caribbean coast belong to an African lineage, and much
of the Talamanca Mountain Range is inhabited by full-blooded
Indians of various tribes.
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