About Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a democratic republic in Central America bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east-southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

It has a population of approximately 4.3 million people (2.2 millions male, 2.1 female). It Is divided into seven Provinces: San José, Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Limon. Each of the provinces is in turn divided into Cantons (81) and each Canton is divided into Districts (470).

Costa Rica has one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Has had at least fifty-nine years of uninterrupted democracy making it one of the most stable countries in the region.

According to the CIA World Factbook (February 2007) the literacy rate in Costa Rica is of 96% one of the highest in Latin America. That`s because universal public education is guaranteed.

In the Constitution practically every community of the country has a school. Primary education is obligatory, and both preschool and high school are free. There are both state and private universities.

Costa Rica has also one of the longest life-expectancy rates on earth, (74,3 years for men and 79,74 for women). Medical attention in the country surpasses the health services available in many communities in the United States and is superior to most of Latin America.As in education, health services are declared Universal by the constitution, that means that everybody -in despite of their migratory status- has the right to access the health services given by the state. The budget that other countries in Central America spend in their armed forces, in the case of Costa Rica is spend in Social Security and education.

COSTA RICA GOVERNMENT

Costa Rica is governed by the "Constitución Politica de la República de Costa Rica". The constitution guarantees all citizens and foreigners equality before the law, the right to own property, the right of petition and assembly, freedom of speech, and the right to habeas corpus. The Constitution also establishes the separation of powers between the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches of government.

The Executive branch is made up of the President of the Republic two vice presidents, and a cabinet of 17 members called the Council of Government (Consejo de Gobierno).

Legislative branch is vested in the Legislative Assembly, an unicameral body composed of 57 members elected by proportional representation. Diputados are elected for a four-year term (as the president) and can be reelected only after four more.

The Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court, Appellate Courts and the Trial Courts, which are charged with the administration of justice. The administrative rules for the judicial branch are set forth in the Ley Organica del Poder Judicial.

The electoral process is supervised by an independent Supreme Electoral Tribunal--a commission of three principal magistrates and six alternates selected by the Supreme Court of Justice. A Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV), established in 1989, reviews the constitutionality of legislation and executive decrees and all habeas corpus warrants.

Costa Rican citizens enjoy universal suffrage--everyone, male and female, over 18 has the vote--and citizens are automatically registered to vote on their 18th birthday, when they are issued a voter identity card. National elections are held every four years, always on the first Sunday of February.

COSTA RICA ECONOMY

Compared with its Central American neighbors, Costa Rica has achieved a high standard of living, with a per capita income of about U.S. $5,100, and an unemployment rate of 4.6%. Costa Rica experimented a 7.9 % growth in 2006. For 2007, Costa Rican economy settled down to an estimated 6.5%. During 2007 the annual inflation rate rose to 11.5% as the Costa Rican Government sought to reduce its large fiscal deficit.

Costa Rica has one of Central America's better investment climates and treats foreign and domestic investors equally. There are no restrictions on land purchases. There are no controls on capital flows, but reporting requirements are mandatory for some transactions. There are no restrictions or controls on the holding of foreign exchange accounts, readily transferable and available at market clearing rates, by either residents or non-residents.

The unit of currency is the colón, which trades around 500 to the U.S. dolar; currently about 756 to the euro. On October 16, 2006 a new currency exchange system was introduced, allowing the value of the CRC colón to float between two bands as done previously by Chile. Since that time, the value of the colón against the dollar has stabilized.

Foreign Direct Investment

The central government offers tax exemptions for those who are willing to invest in the country. Several global high tech corporations have already started developing in the area exporting goods including chip manufacturer Intel, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and consumer products company Procer & Gamble. Trade with South East Asia has boomed during2002 and 2005. High levels of education among its residents make the country an attractive investing location.

COSTA RICA TOURISM

In 2007 The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (published by the Word Economic Forum) showed Costa Rica on top of the Latin America countries, 4 in all America and 41 world wide.Just considering the subindex measuring human, cultural, and natural resources, Costa Rica ranks in the 20th place at a worldwide level.

Ecotourism is extremely popular with the many tourists visiting the extensive national parks andprotected areas around the country. Costa Rica was a pioneer in this type of tourism and the country is recognized as one of the few with real ecotourism.

Costa Rica stands as the most visited nation in the Central American region, with 1.9 million foreign visitors in 2007, thus reaching a rate of foreign tourists per capita of 0,46, one of the highest in the Caribbean Basin. Most of the tourists come from the U.S. (54%) and the E.U. (14%), which translates into a relatively high expenditure per tourist of $1000 per trip. In 2005, tourism contributed with 8,1% of the country's GNP and represented 13,3% of direct and indirect employment. Tourism in Costa Rica generates $1.9-billion-a-year.

While the country has only about 0.1% of the world's landmass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity. Costa Rica protects 23% of its national territory within the Protected Areas System.

Culture

Costa Rica was the point where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures met. The northwest of the country, the Nicoya peninsula, was the southernmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors came in the sixteenth century. The center and southern portions of the country had Chibcha influences.

The Atlantic coast, meanwhile, was populated with African workers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Mostafro Costa Ricans, however, derive from nineteenth-century Jamaican workers, brought in to work on the construction of railroads between the urban populations of the Central Plateau and the port of Limon on the Caribbean coast. Italian and Chinese immigrants also arrived at this time to work on railroad construction.

Unlike many of their Central American neighbors, present-day Costa Ricans are largely of European rather than mestizo descent; Spain was the primary country of origin. However, an estimated 10% to 15% of the population is Nicaraguan, of fairly recent arrival and primarily of mestizo origin. Descendants of 19th-century Jamaican immigrants who were brought in during the nineteenth to work in the construction of railways workers constitute an English-speaking minority and--at 3% of the population--number about 119,000. Few of the native Indians survived European contact; the indigenous population today numbers about 29,000 or less than 1% of the population.

Roman Catholicism is the official state religion. Protestant denominations have been experiencing rapid growth. Due to the recent small but continuous immigration of communities from Asia, the Middle East and other places, other religions have grown, the most popular being Buddhism (because of an increasing Chinese community of 40,000), and smaller numbers ofJewish, Muslim and Hindu adherents.

CUISINE

Gallo pinto, is the national dish of rice and black beans, is particularly eaten as a breakfast staple. At lunch you can enjoy the casado (married). It again consists of rice and beans, though this time they are served side by side instead of mixed. There will generally be some type of meat ( fish, pork chop or chicken) and a salad to round out the dish. There may also be some extras like fried [plantain]s, a slice of white cheese, and/or corn tortillas in accompaniment. Fresh cilantro, thyme, oregano, onion, garlic, pimento, and tomato are fundamental ingredients in the preparation of meats, soups, and vegetable hashes.

The traditional breakfast drink, besides coffe, is called agua dulce ("sweet water") and is made from tapa de dulce. Sugar cane juice is boiled down in traditional trapiches and put to solidify in molds in the form of conical sections with the top cut off called tapas which can literally be translated into "lids". Then some of this tapa is scraped off and dissolved into boiling water or milk to make the sweet delicious agua dulce.

At the Caribbean the local cuisine reflects its Jamaican heritage with mouthwatering specialties such as ackee and codfish (ackee is a small, pink-skinned fruit tasting like scrambled eggs), johnnycakes, curried goat, curried shrimp, and pepperpot soup, with its subtle, lingering flame. The "rise and beans" (with cococout oil) is one of the famous dishes of the zone

Other Costa Rican food staples include corn tortillas, white cheese and picadillos. Tortillas are used to accompany most meals. Picadillos are meat and vegetable combinations where one or more vegetables are diced, mixed with beef and garnished with spices. Common vegetables used in picadillos are potatoes,green beans, squash, ayote, chayote and arracache

Weather

Each area of Costa Rica has it's own distinct variations on the weather, some scientists claim Costa Rica has over 1,000 micro-climates, however they all have the wet and dry seasons in common. Wet season goes from mid to late April until the end of november and the dry season goes from early december through mid to late april. Usually there is a "mini summer" in july (called "veranillo de San Juan).

The Central Valley is a high flat plain. It`s cooler and less humid than the lowlands. It`s very windy from December to February. The Northern Pacific Zone (Guanacaste) is dry and hot in the dry season and wet and hot in the rainy season. The Central and South Pacific (from southern of Nicoya Peninsula to Jaco, Quepos, Manuel Antonio, Dominical and Golfito have a higher rate of humidity. The Atlantic Coast is very humid.