96 Fun Facts About Costa Rica

What is the capital city of Costa Rica?

San José is the largest city in Costa Rica and serves as its political and economic center.

In what year did Costa Rica and its neighbours declare independence from Spain?

Costa Rica became independent in 1821: the Act of Independence of Central America was signed in Guatemala in September 1821, and word reached the province a month later without a shot being fired.

What greeting-and-farewell phrase embodies the relaxed, positive outlook of Costa Ricans?

'Pura Vida,' meaning 'pure life' or 'simple life,' is a common saying and philosophy in Costa Rica, reflecting a cheerful, optimistic, and laid-back approach to life.

Which conical Costa Rican stratovolcano was very active until 2010?

Arenal Volcano erupted without warning on 29 July 1968 after centuries of quiet, burying the village of Tabacón, and stayed in near-constant eruption until 2010, one of the longest eruptions recorded since 1750.

What bird, often found in gardens and forests, is considered the national bird of Costa Rica?

The Clay-colored Thrush, known locally as the yigüirro, was declared Costa Rica's national bird in 1977; its song at the start of the rainy season is said to 'call the rains'.

What is the official currency of Costa Rica?

The colón is Costa Rica's currency, issued by the Banco Central de Costa Rica and divided into 100 céntimos; the banknote series issued from 2010 carries native wildlife such as the sloth and the morpho butterfly.

Which two countries share a land border with Costa Rica?

Costa Rica borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the southeast; the 313-kilometre Nicaraguan frontier follows a river for much of its length, and navigation rights on it have long been disputed.

What is the official language of Costa Rica?

Spanish is the official language under Article 76 of the constitution, which also commits the state to preserving indigenous languages; an English-based creole, Mekatelyu, survives on the Caribbean coast.

How many provinces make up Costa Rica?

Below the provinces sit 84 cantons and 489 districts, the three-tier structure laid down in the constitution.

Which European explorer is credited with the first documented arrival in what is now Costa Rica in 1502?

Christopher Columbus reached the eastern coast on his final voyage in 1502 and reported natives wearing gold jewellery, one account of how la costa rica, the rich coast, got its name.

What is the highest point in Costa Rica?

Cerro Chirripó is the highest mountain in Costa Rica, with an elevation of 3,819 meters (12,530 feet).

In what year did Costa Rica abolish its army?

Costa Rica abolished its army on 1 December 1948 by decree of junta leader José Figueres Ferrer, and Article 12 of the 1949 constitution made the ban permanent; the military budget was redirected to education and health.

Which Costa Rican territory, 500 km out in the Pacific, gives it a maritime border with Ecuador?

Cocos Island lies some 500 km out in the Pacific; for administrative purposes it belongs to the province that covers most of the Pacific coast.

What traditional Costa Rican dish of rice and beans fried together is often served for breakfast?

Gallo Pinto literally means 'spotted rooster'; the rice and beans are stir-fried together, and it is the national dish of Costa Rica and a breakfast staple in Nicaragua too.

Which crop was Costa Rica's main export for most of the 19th century?

Coffee, planted in the Central Valley around 1800 and shipped directly to Britain from 1843, dominated Costa Rica's exports through the 19th century; bananas joined it from the 1880s and pineapples much later.

Which Costa Rican won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating Central American peace agreements in the 1980s?

Oscar Arias Sánchez, a former president of Costa Rica, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his work on the Esquipulas II Peace Accord, which aimed to end civil wars in Central America.

What is the average annual temperature in Costa Rica's coastal areas?

The coastal lowlands average about 27 °C (81 °F), the populated highlands about 20 °C (68 °F), and the highest summits stay below 10 °C (50 °F).

Which Costa Rican province covers most of the country's Pacific coastline?

Puntarenas, the largest province by area, stretches along most of Costa Rica's Pacific coast, from its namesake port city south to the frontier with Panama.

Which musical instrument is one of Costa Rica's official national symbols?

The marimba was declared Costa Rica's national instrument in 1996; its wooden keys, struck with mallets, blend African and Mesoamerican traditions, and it is most popular in the country's northwest.

Which of these pre-Columbian cultures in Costa Rica was known for its intricate stone spheres?

The Diquís culture, which flourished in southern Costa Rica, is renowned for the mysterious and perfectly spherical stone balls they created.

Costa Rica's dry season, which locals call verano, runs from December until which month?

The rainy 'invierno' from May to November lines up almost exactly with the Atlantic hurricane season; March and April are the hottest months of the year.

Which Costa Rican province was the country's capital until 1823, before it was moved to San José?

Cartago was the colonial capital from the 1560s until the Battle of Ochomogo in April 1823, after which the victorious republicans of San José moved the capital to their city.

Roughly what share of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources in 2023?

About 95% of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewables in 2023, mostly hydro topped up by geothermal, wind, solar and biomass; drought then forced rationing in May 2024.

Which Costa Rican goalkeeper, regarded among the world's best, has played for top European clubs?

Keylor Navas is a highly acclaimed Costa Rican professional footballer, famous for his role as a goalkeeper for prominent European clubs like Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

What is the largest river lying entirely within Costa Rica, draining about a tenth of the country?

The Térraba (Grande de Térraba) drains about 5,000 km², roughly a tenth of Costa Rica, and reaches the Pacific through a delta whose mangroves form the Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland, a Ramsar site.

What significant event is celebrated on September 15th in Costa Rica?

Independence Day marks 15 September 1821, when the Act of Independence of Central America was signed in Guatemala; Costa Rica celebrates with lantern parades on the evening of 14 September.

Which province is known for its Pacific coastline, including surfing destinations like Tamarindo?

It is the most sparsely populated province, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, and its dry sunny season falls in the northern-hemisphere winter, which drives its tourism.

What percentage of Costa Rica's land area is protected in national parks and reserves?

Costa Rica is highly committed to conservation, with over 25% of its land protected in national parks, wildlife refuges, and biological reserves.

Into which gulf does Guanacaste's Tempisque River empty?

The Tempisque flows south past Palo Verde National Park into the Gulf of Nicoya, the inlet that separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland and is crossed by ferries from Puntarenas.

Which indigenous people of southern Costa Rica stage the masked Juego de los Diablitos?

The Boruca stage the Juego de los Diablitos from 30 December to 2 January: villagers in carved balsa masks play 'little devils' who battle a bull representing the Spanish conquistadors.

Which Caribbean music style, played by Walter Ferguson, took root on Costa Rica's Atlantic coast?

Calypso came to Costa Rica's Caribbean coast with West Indian settlers in the early 20th century; Walter Ferguson of Cahuita, who died in 2023 aged 103, was its best-known composer.

What is the brightly painted traditional oxcart, a Costa Rican national symbol, called?

The 'carreta' is a traditional Costa Rican oxcart, intricately hand-painted with vibrant designs, and is recognized as a national symbol and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

What is the largest body of fresh water in Costa Rica, heavily used for hydroelectric generation?

Lake Arenal, about 85 km², was enlarged roughly threefold by a dam completed in 1979; its water drives the Arenal hydroelectric complex and its steady winds make it a windsurfing destination.

Costa Rica's 1823 civil war, settled at Ochomogo, was over joining which larger state?

Cartago and Heredia wanted to join Agustín de Iturbide's Mexican Empire; the republicans of San José and Alajuela, who wanted full independence, won at Ochomogo on 5 April 1823 and took the capital.

What do Costa Ricans colloquially call themselves?

Ticos comes from the diminutive '-tico' Costa Ricans favour, as in 'un momentico'; their neighbours have nicknames too: Guatemalans are Chapines, Hondurans Catrachos and Nicaraguans Pinoleros or Nicas.

What is the name of Costa Rica's national flower?

The guaria morada (Guarianthe skinneri), a purple orchid that blooms from January to April, was declared the national flower on 15 June 1939; sacuanjoche, monja blanca and flor de izote belong to Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Which Costa Rican province is known for its rich Afro-Caribbean culture and banana plantations?

Limón's Afro-Costa Rican community descends largely from West Indian workers brought in the 1870s to build the railway to Puerto Limón; Minor Keith planted the first bananas along the line to feed the crews.

How far back does the earliest evidence of human settlement in Costa Rica date?

Archaeological evidence suggests that the first humans arrived in Costa Rica between 7,000 and 10,000 BC, with sedentary farming communities existing by the second millennium BC.

Roughly what share of Costa Ricans live in the Central Valley plateau?

Almost three quarters of Costa Ricans live in the Central Valley, which is shared by San José, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia provinces and drained by the Tárcoles to the Pacific and the Reventazón to the Caribbean.

What is the approximate land area of Costa Rica in square kilometers?

Around 51,000 km² makes it slightly smaller than Bosnia and Herzegovina, with around five million people living in it.

What is Costa Rica's distinctive folk-music genre, best known in its northwestern variety, called?

Punto, best known as the punto guanacasteco of the northwest, is Costa Rica's national dance, a lively 6/8 couple dance punctuated by shouted rhyming 'bombas'; a sancarleño version comes from San Carlos in Alajuela.

Which Costa Rican coffee-growing region is known for producing high-quality arabica beans?

Tarrazú, in the mountains south of San José, grows strictly-hard-bean arabica above 1,200 metres; its beans are among Costa Rica's most prized exports and carry the Café de Tarrazú name abroad.

Which town at the foot of Arenal Volcano is the base for visiting it?

La Fortuna de San Carlos, in Alajuela province, sits at the eastern foot of Arenal Volcano; the town boomed after the 1968 eruption made the volcano a top attraction, with hot-spring resorts on its geothermally heated slopes.

Of which fruit is Costa Rica the world's largest exporter?

Pineapple: Costa Rica is the world's largest exporter of fresh pineapples, grown mainly in the northern lowlands around San Carlos and Sarapiquí, and it ranks behind Ecuador and others in bananas.

What is the literacy rate in Costa Rica, one of the highest in Latin America?

Costa Rica's adult literacy rate is about 97%, among the highest in Latin America; when the army was abolished in 1948 its budget was promised to 'an army of teachers', and basic public education is free and compulsory.

Which Costa Rican national holiday commemorates the Battle of Rivas against William Walker's forces?

Santamaría was a drummer who died on 11 April 1856 carrying the torch that set the filibusters' stronghold ablaze; he was only idolised as a national hero decades later.

In what are Costa Rican Christmas tamales traditionally wrapped?

Costa Rican tamales are wrapped in plantain leaves rather than corn husks, tied in pairs called piñas and boiled; making them with pork, rice and vegetables at Christmas is a family ritual.

Which major river defines much of Costa Rica's northern border?

The San Juan River runs from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean and forms much of the eastern half of the border; Nicaragua owns the river, and Costa Rica's navigation rights on it were confirmed by the ICJ in 2009.

Which religious group from Alabama founded the Monteverde settlement in 1951?

A group of Quakers from Fairhope, Alabama, several of them jailed for refusing the Korean War draft, founded Monteverde in 1951, choosing Costa Rica partly because it had abolished its army three years earlier.

Which Monteverde amphibian, last seen in 1989, is the poster child of amphibian decline?

The golden toad (Incilius periglenes) lived in about 4 km² of elfin cloud forest above Monteverde; a lone male seen on 15 May 1989 was the last, and the IUCN declared it extinct in 2004.

Who was the first woman elected President of Costa Rica, taking office in 2010?

Laura Chinchilla, who had been one of Óscar Arias's two vice-presidents, won the February 2010 election with about 47% of the vote and was sworn in on 8 May 2010.

Where did José Figueres Ferrer, who abolished the army in 1948, study engineering?

José Figueres Ferrer went to Boston in 1924 and sat in on engineering classes at MIT without formally enrolling; born to Catalan immigrants, he later named his farm La Lucha Sin Fin, The Endless Struggle.

The National Theatre in San José opened in 1897 with a performance of which work?

Construction was paid for with a tax on coffee exports, and the theatre took seven years to complete.

Tortuguero National Park, a sea-turtle nesting site, can be reached only by boat or what?

Tortuguero has no road access: visitors arrive by boat along the canals or by airplane to its airstrip; the park gets over 5,000 mm of rain a year and hosts nesting green turtles from July to October.

Corcovado National Park covers about a third of which Costa Rican peninsula?

Corcovado covers roughly a third of the Osa Peninsula in the southwest; it protects the largest stretch of primary lowland rainforest on Central America's Pacific coast and the country's biggest scarlet macaw population.

Which small national park beside Quepos pairs beaches with capuchin and squirrel monkeys?

Manuel Antonio, created in 1972 and one of the smallest national parks, pairs white-sand beaches with rainforest full of sloths, capuchins and Central American squirrel monkeys, and ranks among the country's most visited.

Poás Volcano's Laguna Caliente crater lake is notable for being one of the world's most what?

Laguna Caliente is one of the most acidic lakes on Earth, with a pH that sometimes approaches zero; a layer of molten sulfur lies on its bottom, and its phreatic eruptions closed the park in 2017.

Which volcano began a two-year eruption in March 1963, as John F. Kennedy visited Costa Rica?

Irazú, nicknamed El Coloso, erupted from March 1963 to 1965 and dropped ash on San José for two years; Kennedy's Central American summit in the capital opened on 18 March 1963.

How many Space Shuttle missions did Costa Rican-born astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz fly?

That tied the record for most spaceflights, set by Jerry Ross just two months earlier; he now runs a plasma-rocket company.

At which Olympics did swimmer Claudia Poll win Costa Rica's first gold medal?

Claudia Poll won the 200 m freestyle at Atlanta 1996, beating German favourite Franziska van Almsick, to become the first Central American Olympic champion; she added two bronzes at Sydney 2000.

Which colour do the San José football club Deportivo Saprissa play in?

Saprissa play in purple and are nicknamed El Monstruo Morado, the Purple Monster, a name coined by a sportswriter for the heaving crowds at their stadium in Tibás.

Guayabo National Monument, a city abandoned around 1400 CE, sits on which volcano's slope?

Guayabo lies on the southern slope of Turrialba Volcano in Cartago province; its builders left stone-paved causeways, aqueducts and mounds, and the city was abandoned around 1400 CE for reasons never established.

In 2020 Costa Rica became the first country in which region to legalize same-sex marriage?

Costa Rica became the first Central American country to allow same-sex marriage on 26 May 2020, when a 2018 Supreme Court ruling striking down the ban took effect after its 18-month deadline expired.

Which team eliminated Costa Rica on penalties in the 2014 World Cup quarter-final?

The Netherlands beat Costa Rica 4–3 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in Salvador; substitute goalkeeper Tim Krul, sent on in the 120th minute by Louis van Gaal, saved two kicks.

Costa Rica topped a 2014 World Cup group with Uruguay, Italy and which other former champion?

Costa Rica topped Group D with wins over Uruguay (3–1) and Italy (1–0) and a goalless draw with England, finishing above three former world champions; Italy and England went out.

Costa Rica's first World Cup win, at Italy 1990, came 1–0 against which team?

Juan Cayasso's goal beat Scotland 1–0 in Genoa on 11 June 1990, Costa Rica's first World Cup match; under Bora Milutinović the debutants also beat Sweden 2–1 to reach the round of 16.

Which country beat Costa Rica 7–0 at the 2022 World Cup?

Spain beat Costa Rica 7–0 in Doha on 23 November 2022, the team's heaviest World Cup defeat; four days later Keysher Fuller's goal beat Japan 1–0.

Which country paid for Costa Rica's National Stadium, opened in San José in 2011?

About 800 Chinese workers built it after Óscar Arias asked for it during a 2007 state visit; Coldplay launched a world tour there.

Costa Rica's flag is nearly identical, with the colours reversed, to which country's?

Thailand's flag has the same five stripes with a double-width centre, but red outside and blue in the middle; Costa Rica's red stripe was added in 1848 by first lady Pacífica Fernández, inspired by the French tricolour.

How many volcanoes appear on Costa Rica's coat of arms?

The 1998 revision added smoke to them; the seven stars above stand for the provinces.

In what year was the modern University of Costa Rica established?

The University of Costa Rica was founded on 26 August 1940, absorbing the professional schools left over from the Universidad de Santo Tomás, which an anti-clerical liberal government had closed in 1888.

Which Costa Rican river, famed for whitewater rafting, flows from Talamanca to the Caribbean?

The Pacuare rises in the Cordillera de Talamanca and runs about 100 km to the Caribbean near Siquirres; plans to dam it, first floated in the 1980s, were rejected in a 2005 Turrialba plebiscite and shelved.

Which ranchera legend, famed in Mexico, was actually born in Costa Rica in 1919?

Chavela Vargas was born in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia, on 17 April 1919 and left for Mexico as a teenager; known as 'the rough voice of tenderness', she received a Latin Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2007.

Which Glee actor was born in Costa Rica to Chinese immigrant parents?

Harry Shum Jr. was born in Puerto Limón in 1982 to parents from China and moved to San Francisco at six; Spanish was his first language, before Cantonese and English.

Carmen Lyra, Costa Rica's first prominent female writer, founded the country's first what?

Carmen Lyra (María Isabel Carvajal) founded the Escuela Maternal Montessoriana in San José in 1925, Costa Rica's first Montessori school; in 1919 she had led the teachers' march that ended with the burning of the government newspaper La Información.

In what year was the colón introduced, replacing the Costa Rican peso at par?

The colón replaced the Costa Rican peso at par in 1896, when President Rafael Yglesias put the country on the gold standard; its sign, ₡, is a C crossed by two strokes.

La Amistad International Park is jointly managed by Costa Rica and which neighbour?

UNESCO recommended the shared management after listing it in 1983; it is Central America's largest nature reserve.

Which 1940s president founded the CCSS social security system and the modern university?

Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia, president 1940–44 and a doctor trained in Belgium, founded the University of Costa Rica in 1940 and the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social in 1941, and passed the 1943 Labour Code.

Epsy Campbell Barr in 2018 became Latin America’s first Afro-descendant woman to hold what?

Epsy Campbell Barr became first vice-president under Carlos Alvarado in May 2018, the first Afro-descendant woman to hold a vice presidency in Latin America; she later chaired the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

Who served as Costa Rica's first Head of State from 1824 to 1833?

Juan Mora Fernández served as first Head of State from 1824 to 1833; he promoted coffee by granting land to anyone who planted it, and Costa Rica's first printing press arrived in 1830 during his tenure.

How did President Juan Rafael Mora Porras, victor over William Walker, die in 1860?

Mora Porras, overthrown in 1859, landed at Puntarenas in September 1860 to retake power, was defeated and executed by firing squad on 30 September 1860; the Legislative Assembly declared him a national hero in 2010.

Before becoming the National Museum in San José, what was the 1917 Bellavista building used as?

The Bellavista building, completed in 1917, served as the army's main barracks and was fought over in the 1948 civil war; after the army was abolished it was given to the National Museum, which moved in during 1950.

San Lucas Island in the Gulf of Nicoya served from 1873 to 1991 as what?

San Lucas Island was a penal colony from 1873 to 1991, founded under Tomás Guardia, who went on to abolish the death penalty in 1877; the island became a national park in 2020.

Which 1963 reserve on the Nicoya Peninsula was Costa Rica's first major conservation project?

Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve, created in 1963 at the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, grew from a campaign by Swedish settler Nils Olof Wessberg and his Danish wife Karen Mogensen; Wessberg was murdered on the Osa Peninsula in 1975.

Railroad builder Minor Keith’s Costa Rican banana business was absorbed in 1899 into which firm?

Minor Keith merged his banana interests with the Boston Fruit Company in 1899 to form the United Fruit Company; he had received some 800,000 acres of land for completing the railway to Limón.

What does the name of the volcano Rincón de la Vieja mean?

Rincón de la Vieja means 'the old woman's corner': legend says the chief's daughter Curubandá, whose lover was thrown into the crater, lived out her days on the slopes as a healer, the old woman of the volcano.

What does the name of the Costa Rican lunch plate casado literally mean?

One theory is that married men ate such plates at home; another is that the rice and beans are 'married' because they always come together.

Which creature appears on the label of Imperial, the Costa Rican lager brewed since 1924?

Imperial's label carries a black eagle, which is why Costa Ricans nickname the beer 'Águila'; the lager has been brewed since 1924 and is made by Florida Ice & Farm Company.

The turquoise colour of the Río Celeste comes from light scattering off which particles?

Aluminosilicate particles carried by the Río Buenavista clump to about 566 nm when the acidic Quebrada Agria joins it, the size that scatters blue light; neither stream is coloured on its own.

How many deputies sit in Costa Rica's unicameral Legislative Assembly?

The constitution fixes the Assembly at 57 deputies, and a 1949 amendment bars them from serving two successive terms.

Which Costa Rican body, often called the fourth branch of government, runs elections?

The Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones, created by the 1949 constitution, runs elections and the civil registry with the rank of an independent branch, which is why Costa Ricans call it the fourth power of the state.

Which Virgin, nicknamed La Negrita, is Costa Rica's patron saint, honoured in Cartago each 2 August?

The Virgen de los Ángeles, a small dark stone image found in Cartago in 1635 and nicknamed La Negrita, was declared patron of Costa Rica in 1824; hundreds of thousands walk to her basilica on 2 August.

Costa Rica topped which 'green' wellbeing ranking in both 2009 and 2012?

The Happy Planet Index, published by the New Economics Foundation, weighs life expectancy and reported wellbeing against ecological footprint; Costa Rica topped it in 2009, 2012 and again in 2016.

Most Afro-Costa Ricans descend from immigrants from which island who built the Caribbean railway?

Jamaican labourers, recruited from 1872 for Minor Keith's railway to Limón, founded most of Costa Rica's Afro-Caribbean community; US convicts, Italians and Chinese labourers also worked the line, which opened the Atlantic coast to bananas.

How many days did the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War last?

The civil war lasted 44 days, from 12 March to 24 April 1948, and killed around 2,000 people, the bloodiest episode in Costa Rica's 20th century; the victorious junta abolished the army that December.

Which general ruled Costa Rica as a military dictator from 1917 to 1919?

Federico Tinoco seized power in a January 1917 coup against Alfredo González Flores and resigned in August 1919 after protests and US non-recognition; his regime so discredited the military that it shrank for decades before abolition.