Definitely, vacations Costa Rica is worth! With beautiful natural parks, volcanos, and wildlife Costa Rica has created a magical kingdom of wonderland. Many unique things in Costa Rica you can do.
Costa Rica is a country carved out of forest and volcanoes, in between the Pacific oceans and Atlantic Ocean, where the aquatic ecosystem is a jewel.
The surfers will also appreciate it. The tiny country is home to 6% of the world’s biodiversity.
Facts about Costa Rica
The facts paint a colorful picture of this Central American nation, where democracy has prevailed for more than 60 years, Catholicism is the state religion, the government is stable and the environment is very important.
Before you book your vacations Costa Rica, why not brush up on this handy list of facts?
Geography
- Costa Rica is about the same size as Lake Michigan and slightly smaller than West Virginia.
- Costa Rica is smaller than 181 times of the US.
- More than 800 miles of coastline.
- Costa Rica’s highest mountain, Cerro Chirripo, stands at 3,810 meters above sea level.
- Although not all are active, Costa Rica has around 200 volcanoes.
- Costa Rica is home to approximately 5 percent of the world’s biodiversity, but occupies only about 0.3 percent of the planet’s surface.
- Poas Volcano in central Costa Rica has the second largest volcanic crater in the world.
History
The famous traveler Christopher Columbus first visited the territory of today’s Costa Rica in 1502.
After a short civil war, the Costa Rican Constitution was approved in 1949.
Costa Rica has one of the oldest democracies in Latin America, which avoided many of the region’s political problems in the 1970s and 1980s.
People
Costa Rica has a population of just under 5 million – slightly more than half the population of New York.
Religion plays an important role in Costa Rican culture, with approximately 76 percent of Costa Ricans identifying as Catholic. In fact, Catholicism is the official religion and affects laws including bans on abortion and the death penalty, as well as requiring students to take religion classes.
Less than 1 percent of Costa Rica’s population is of indigenous descent, and about 94 percent of Costa Ricans have some predominantly European heritage.
Spanish is the official language of Costa Rica. However, immigration (both recent and early 20th century) has meant that English is spoken natively by many people on both coasts, especially on the Caribbean side.
Costa Rica has a literacy rate of 97.8 percent, one of the highest in the world.
Famous Costa Ricans include a Nobel Peace Prize winner (Oscar Arias), an astronaut (Franklin Chang) and one of the best goalkeepers in the world (Keylor Navas of Real Madrid).
Flora and fauna
There are more than 34,000 species of insects as well as more than 20,000 species of spiders in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is home to more than ten percent of all butterfly species in the world.
Costa Rica has about 615 species of animals per 10,000 square miles. By comparison, the US has 104.
Some species of crocodile, many of which can be found in the rivers of Costa Rica, can measure up to 16 feet in length, vacations Costa Rica would be amazing.
