Let's Look at Costa Rica

• ·         Costa Rica is located in Central America.  Costa Rica is south of Nicaragua and north of Panama.  The Caribbean ocean borders the east side of the country and the North Pacific Ocean borders the west of the country.
  
• ·         Costa Rica is slightly smaller in size than the state of West Virginia with around 31,478 square miles
• ·         This means that the USA is almost 181 times bigger than Costa Rica!
• ·         Costa Rica is divided into seven provinces; San Jose, Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Limon.
• ·         It’s climate is tropical and subtropical with a  dry season from December to April and a rainy season from May to November
• ·         There are more than 121 volcanic formations in Costa Rica, and seven of them are active.  
  
• ·         The population of Costa Rica is approximately 4.13 million.
• ·         The currency in Costa Rican is called the colon.
• ·         The Capital of Costa Rica is San Jose. There are about 2.1 million people living in San Jose making it the largest city in the nation.
• ·          Costa Rica’s income is mostly from agriculture including coffee and bananas.  However the largest source of income is tourism.     
  
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• ·         The staples of the Costa Rican diet are rice and black beans, along with bread, chicken or meat, vegetables, salads, and fruits.  
• ·         The life expectancy in this country is almost 77 years, one of the highest in the world.
• ·         The Costa Rican government is democratic, with presidential elections every 4 years, and no standing army.
• ·          The Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla is the first woman president of Costa Rica.