April 18–24, 2007, Number 143
This is a picture of me standing next to a map of Costa Rica at the Cafe Britt coffee plantation that I visited a few months ago. The map shows the seven providences, as well as place where coffee is produced in Costa Rica.
A Closer Look at Costa Rica
When I first arrived in Costa Rica, I didn’t know much about the country. One of my goals in coming here was to learn more about the economy, geography, culture, and history of Costa Rica. I have learned a great deal of information about this wonderful country during the 3 months that I have been studying Spanish here. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some interesting aspects of Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, at 19,730 square miles, is the second smallest country in Central America. El Salvador is the smallest. The capital of Costa Rica is San Jose. Costa Rica is made up of seven providences including Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limon, Puntarenas, and San Jose. I live in the providence of Puntarenas and also in the city of Puntarenas. Costa Rica has coastline on both the Caribbean Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Nicaragua borders Costa Rica to the North and Panama borders to the South. There are approximately 4 million people currently living in Costa Rica.
More than 25 percent of Costa Rica's land is reserved in the form of National Parks. There is a wide range of different climates located in Costa Rica. There are cold volcanic tundra, cloud forests, thick jungle, dry and tropical forests, and, of course, beautiful beaches. With so many different ecosystems, there is an abundance of activities to do. Costa Rica offers surfing, snorkeling, diving, canopy tours, white-water rafting, sport fishing, climbing volcanos, and hiking through a variety of terrains to name a few.
The Costa Rican government is a Democratic Republic. There has not been a standing army here since 1948. The main religion in Costa Rica is Catholic and, as mentioned in my article titled Semana Santa, religious holidays are very important family celebrations. The economy here is basically stable and depends on tourism and agriculture. Costa Rica used to be well known as a producer of bananas and coffee. The coffee produced in Costa Rica is high quality and really expensive in the United States, but here in Costa Rica you are able to purchase coffee relatively cheap. Due to the recent tourism boom, tourism now brings in more revenue than coffee and bananas combined. Spanish is the language spoken here, but in areas with a lot of tourism, English is commonly spoken too.
This is a picture that I took while cheering on the Puntarenas soccer team during their match against the rival team Heredia. Puntarenas is wearing orange.
Products that are locally produced are cheap, while imported goods are expensive. It is fun to visit the local markets and shop for inexpensive, handcrafted goods. If you are planning a trip to Costa Rica bring sunscreen from the United States. If not, you can expect to pay about $9 for the cheapest, smallest bottle of sunscreen.
Futbol, also called soccer in the United States, is the most popular pastime here. I attended a soccer game about three weeks ago, here in Puntarenas, and it was a lot of fun. The fans really get into the game, which results in the entire stadium screaming and cheering for the entire contest. The athletes are extremely talented and they are really fun to watch. The streets and beaches in Puntarenas are usually filled with children playing highly competitive pick-up soccer games, often wearing the jersey of their favorite Puntarenas soccer player.
Costa Rica is a really interesting country. It is amazing how much land diversity is packed into such a small landmass. There are unlimited things to do here and I am very fortunate that I have gotten the opportunity to experience so many fun adventures here. I look forward to learning more about Costa Rica every day.- Adios!
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