Official Name

Republic of Costa Rica

Area

51.100 Km²

Official Language

Spanish. A part of the population speaks English, especially in the Atlantic zone. In the elementary and middle education, they have a bilingual education as the private and public institutes; also in commercial or business meetings it is normally used English.

Geographic Position

Central America. Limita al Norte con Nicaragua y al Sur con Panamá. Posee costas en el Océano Pacífico y Atlántico.

Capital City

San José

Currency

Colón (¢)

Exchange Type

Sell: ¢544.60 per US$1
Buy: ¢554.34 per $US1
(March 4th, 2009).

Exchange System

Sistema de bandas cambiarias.

Territorial Organization

The territory is divided in seven provinces: San José, Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia, Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limón.

Weather

Due to the geographic characteristics of Costa Rica, the climatic conditions are very variable. In the Atlantic and the South Pacific, the weather is tropical, with no defined seasons, while the rest of the territory has a rainy season (from May to November) and dry climate ( from December to April), with 22 C º average of temperature.

The temperature in the coasts and beaches oscillates from 21 and 32 C º.