Introduction

Overview of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is located in Central America (which consist of countries like: Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras and El Salvador. On its west and south is the Pacific Ocean and to its east is Caribbean Sea.

Map of Costa Rica

 Costa Rica has a rich array of culture, mainly influenced by the Native American, Spanish and also Africans. It is also one of the countries that supports the “Green movement”, from one of the countries with the highest deforestation rate to what it is now.

Here is a rough breakdown on Costa Rica:

Costa Rica's National Flag

Costa Rica
Capital	San Jose
Language	Spanish
Currency	Costa Rica Colon
Population	Roughly 4 million people

Costa Rica’s Culture, traditions and people overview

Costa Rica’s culture is much influenced by Spain due to the Spanish colonization of the American countries during the period of 1492 to 1898, a total of 406 years.  This is mainly the reason why an estimate of 90%, as taken from NationMaster.com, of the Ticos/Ticas (a term used to call Costa Rica’s native male/female) are Roman Catholics and the rest are of mixed religion. Though the Spanish influence is evident, there are also other influences that helped mould Costa Rica’s culture today. Examples like the strong indigenous cultures from North America, the Aztecs and South America’s Incas.

Costa Rica, as mentioned above, is considered one of the most hospitable and friendly countries in Latin America. This helped a lot in it being a multi-cultural society as many foreigners, now turned residents, are attracted to living in this country.

The traditions of Ticos are abundant and rather traditional as they are fairly family orientated people. Their traditions can be categorised in a few groups namely: Family, Work, Religion and Celebrations.

That is all for the introduction of Costa Rica.