Introduction
Forget the world.
Think only in what you have deep inside your skin, and
you will know how sweet and how tasty is, suddenly, to live.Costa Rican poet Jorge Debravo, 1938-1967, Bells
Latin Americans often come up near the very top of the world's happiest people, despite a material prosperity that is very pale compared to that we enjoy in the United States

Costa Rica was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502, when he landed near Puerto Limón on the Atlantic shore. Believing he had discovered a land of vast wealth, he named it “Costa Rica”, which means “Rich Coast.”
Unlike other parts of Central America, the colonization was relatively bloodless. The local inhabitants were mainly sedentary Indians farmers whose numbers were eventually depleted when introduced to European disease.
The first capital city was Cartago, founded in 1563. Eventually, the capital was moved west to San José in 1737. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821, beginning a period of civil war between the Liberal and Conservative factions
After independence, the government anxiously sought goods that could be exported and taxed for revenue. Coffee, which had been introduced from Cuba, was the answer. The government offered free land to coffee growers, thus building a peasant landowning class. The prosperity brought by coffee exportation since the 1850's resulted in higher birth rates and settlement expansion. Costa Rica's long tradition of democracy began in 1889 and has continued to the present day. The only lapse in this record was in 1948 when the constitution was abolished and a military dictatorship took over. One year later, a new constitution was adopted and the army was permanently abolished. In 1983, the country made an official proclamation of neutrality
Costa Rica today is a model of democracy and political stability. According to the UN Human Development Report, it boasts a fine health care system, telecommunications network and school systems with one of the highest literacy rates in the world — over 94.9% (More)
Photos
Photo.net
Costa Rica Photos.com
Arenal Volcano Photos
Dan's Photos - La Reserva Forest Foundation
Costa Rica - American StylePark of Spheres
Sky Craper City.com Forums
Fotos de Consuelo
Videos
destinosTV.com — Tours in Spanish
Costa Rica - The Happiest Place On Earth
News
Inside Costa Rica
Tico Times
Costa Rica Living eBoard
Volcano Discovery — Eruption Updates
The Beach Times
A. M. Costa Rica
There are about 60 volcanoes in Costa Rica, six of them are considered active. Some were discovered quite recently (2008). For example, a newspaper wrote in 2002:
Some 40 earthquakes rattled Costa Rica in 2001. These were tremors registered by the U.S. Earthquake Information Center. Most had a magnitude between 4.0 and 4.9… The earthquake data does not include quakes elsewhere but felt here. For example, another 6.2 quake took place offshore from southwest Costa Rica Aug. 25, some 50 miles (about 80 kms) from land along a fault line that parallels the coast
A Traveler's Guide
Outstanding Costa Ricans
It is important to have some solid knowledge of Costa Rican and Central American history if you are visiting this country, in order to avoid insulting Costa Ricans by not knowing about major figures in their history and recent Nobel Prize winners, for example (More)
- Dr. Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz, Former NASA Astronaut
He is the astronaut that has participated in the most space missions in the world — space-explorers.org
- Dr. Óscar Arias-Sánchez, Nobel Price winner
Former President of the Republic (1986-1990), and reelected for a second term in 2006. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to pacify the tumultuous Central America of the 80's and has been leading his country ever since — nobelprize.org
- Dr. Clodomiro (Clorito) Picado Twight, Scientist
Discovered penicillin years before the formal discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming1
- Claudia and Sylvia Poll-Ahrens, Olympic Gold Medalists
Well known sportswomen, these sisters earned three world records as well as several medals in the Olympics for swimming — Claudia's databaseolympics.com, Sylvia's databaseolympics.com
Interesting Links

- Association of Residents of Costa Rica
- Corporate Relocation Paradise
- High-Tech Multinational Projects
- Costa Rica Housing and Property Inspections
- Costa Rica - no artificial ingredients
- Description of Costa Rica's Diverse Regions
- Province of Puntarenas
- Monteverde Info — cloud forest and wildlife refuge
- Talk Rain Like a Costa Rican
- Costa Rica Moon Travel Handbook — by Christopher Baker
- Costa Rican Inn Keepers.com — B&Bs, Small Hotels, Lodges & Inns
- Blog: Costa Rica Travel Pages
- Blog: Costa Rica Relocation
- Costa Rica by GPS — site dedicated to the the lost wanderer
- Yahoo Group: CostaRicaLiving
- Book: The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica by Mavis Hiltunen Biesanz, Richard Biesanz and Karen Zubris Biesanz
- Book: Costa Rica: The Last Country The Gods Made by Adrian Colesberry, Brass McLean and Kimberly Parsons
- Book: Married to a Legend, "Don Pepe" by Henrietta Boggs (MacGuire)
- Food: Tamales
- Food: Delicious Heart Healthy Latino Recipes — free, bilingual e-book from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, USA
- Academic Research Resources
- Historia de Costa Rica — in Spanish
- Send SMS text messages to Costa Rican cellular phones for free — in Spanish