Is a country located in Central America. Nicaragua lies to the north and Panama to the southeast. We are surrounded by water, the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west and southwest. Its capital, a political and economic center, is San Jose and the official language is Spanish.
Costa Rica is one of the most stable democracies in Latin America, because of all the years it has maintained good political stability. It won worldwide recognition for having been the first country to abolish the army on December 1st, 1948. Its index of human development is one of the best in Latin America and is ranked in 4th place behind Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Costa Rica was ranked 5th place worldwide, by the Environmental Performance index in 2008. Among Latin American countries, Costa Rica is ranked 1st in the index of Tourism Competitiveness and is ranked 42nd worldwide.
Weather
We are located to the west of the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, in Santa Ana, known as Valle del Sol, famous for its warm weather throughout the year. Parquet Valle del Sol has one of the best micro climates in the world, with an average temperature of 23.5 degree C. every month of the year and it is at approximately 900 meters of altitude
We have two main seasons, a dry season from November to April, and our rainy season which begins in May and ends in November, characterized by sunny dry mornings with downpours in the afternoons. During this season, the majority of the nights are clear.
The average annual rainfall in Parque Valle del Sol at Santa Ana during the dry season is 22.5 mm per month and 221mm per month during the rainy season.
Visit the Weather Channel for weather forecast for the central valley and for the rest of the week.
Economy
Costa Rica has experienced a rapid growth in its economy, changing from a primarily agricultural one to a service economy.
Taking advantage of its peaceful environment and high level of education of its inhabitants and appropriate policies to attract business, the country began a series of measures in the 90s in the production of materials and micro technology products. In n 1997 we heralded the arrival of the microprocessor producer Intel, and the country has benefited from this additional source of income. Costa Rica is the choice of many multinational companies who decided to establish their central services in the country, including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Intel, HP, Sykes and Dole. In 2006, the Intel microprocessor plant was responsible for 20% of the total exports and produced 4.9% of the PIB of the country.
At the same time, Costa Rican traditional agricultural exports continue to provide income like banana, coffee, sugar, cocoa and pineapple. Costa Rica´s high quality coffee is very well received in the American market. However, exports of the nontraditional products, like flowers and mini vegetables, have grown and the service sector has experienced rapid growth in the past years, generating many thousands of jobs.
Politics
Costa Rica has a system of democratic and republican government. The President and two Vice Presidents are elected by a national secret ballot for a period of four years. They can be reelected only one more time.
Legislative power is exercised by the congress (one chamber). This body is made up of 57 deputies who are elected by universal secret ballot by the system of electoral districts and national list. Legislators also serve for four years. Each province of the country constitutes an electoral district.
Education
General basic education is mandatory and free. The attendance of school is practically 100%, while High school is only 70%. The literacy rate in the country is 96%. It has four public universities which are: The University of Costa Rica, The National University, the UNED and the Technological Institute of Costa Rica.
On June 4, 2008 President Oscar Arias Sanchez signed The Organic Agriculture Law, creating the 5th public university with its campus in the city of Alajuela, named The National Technology University.
There also exists a National Training Institute responsible for the education of the working class and the disadvantaged, training them in technical areas in order to generate new businesses and the continuity of their studies at advanced levels. These schools are located in San José, Naranjo, San Carlos, Moin, Liberia, Perez Zeledon and Barranca.
Also, there are more than 50 universities that have excellent academic standards like Incae, the number one business school in Latin America.
Tourism
Tourism in Costa Rica is one of the main economic sectors with the fastest growth in the country and contributing positively to the country’s domestic product. In the Competitive Index of Travel and Tourism of 2009, Costa Rica was ranked 42th, the highest classification for the countries in Latin America.
A green vision
Ecotourism is extremely popular among foreign tourists, visiting the vast number of national parks and protected areas throughout the country. Costa Rica is a pioneer in ecotourism and is recognized as one of the few destinations with real ecotourism options.
Introduced in 1996 and inspired by a similar program developed in Europe in 1985, the Ecological Blue Flag Program is the largest environmental program in the country and was created with the objective of promoting tourism development, while at the same time, limiting the negative aspects of this activity, through community organization whose goal was to avoid contamination and to protect the health of its visitors. Beaches, communities, schools, protected areas, micro watersheds and companies that develop concrete actions to address climate change are the categories awarded. In 2009, the Ecological Blue Flag program was awarded to 38 communities Parque Valle del Sol was awarded with 2 stars that year
Golf
In recent years, Costa Rica has been discovered as a great destination for golf. In the central valley, near the capital, there are 2 eighteen hole courses and 3 nine hole courses. On the Pacific coast there are 5 professional 18 hole courses.
