Costa Rica- 2 lots for sale
near Alejuela

COSTA RICA

some basic

facts

Population: as of 2009, 4,579,000.  

Major centre of population is San José.  

Costa Rica, as you can see from the attached map, has a backbone of mountains. It fronts the Pacific on the west and the Atlantic or Caribbean on the east.  Costa Rica is part of the Pacific "Rim of Fire" and has seven of the isthmus's 42 active volcanoes plus dozens of dormant or extinct cones. Earth tremors and small quakes shake the country from time to time.   there is a large population of retirees and expats in Costa Rica, manly from the US and Canada.   The last major quake hit on April 22, 1991. Centered on the Caribbean side southeast of San Jose, it measured 7.4 on the Richter scale. The country's highest point is Mt. Chirripo (3,797 meters). The capital, San Jose, and the neighboring major cities of Alajuela and Heredie lies in the middle of the Meseta Central (Central Valley). Almost two-thirds of the nation's population live in this small, fertile valley. The Pacific coastal plain is much narrower than its Caribbean counterpart. Both coasts are lined with white and black sand beaches.

The climate.

Costa Rica is a tropical country as you might expect is does not have a winter or summer. However,  there is a rainy season  from May to November and a dry season from December to April. Annual rainfall averages 100 inches nationwide with some mountainous regions getting as much as 25 feet on exposed eastern slopes. Temperature is more a matter of elevation than location with a mean of around 72 degrees in the Central Valley, 82 degrees on the Atlantic coast and 89 degrees on the Pacific coast.