CostaRicaMike



Costa Rica lies between Nicaragua and Panama. Costa Rica is located on the [|Central American] [|isthmus]. The highest point in the country is [|Cerro Chirripó]. Costa Rica is a democratic republic with a strong constitution. Costa Rica's absolute location is 100 north and 84° west.

__**National Anthem**__ __The Anthem is sung in Spanish only.__

Noble patria tu hermosa bandera //Noble homeland, your beautiful flag// Expresión de tu vida nos da: //Expression of your life it gives us:// Bajo el límpido azul de tu cielo //Under the limpid blue of your skies,// Blanca y pura descansa la paz. //Peace reigns, white and pure.// En la lucha tenaz de fecunda labor //In the tenacious battle of fruitful toil,// Que enrojece del hombre la faz, //That brings a glow to men's faces,// Conquistaron tus hijos, labriegos sencillos, //Your sons, simple farm hands,// Eterno prestigio, estima y honor, //Gained eternal renown, esteem and honour,// eterno prestigio, estima y honor. //Gained eternal renown, esteem and honour.// ¡Salve oh tierra gentil! //Hail, gentle country!// ¡Salve oh madre de amor! //Hail, loving mother!// Cuando alguno pretenda tu gloria manchar, //If anyone should attempt to besmirch your glory,// Verás a tu pueblo, valiente y viril //You will see your people, valiant and virile,// La tosca herramienta en arma trocar. //Exchange their rustic tools for weapons.// ¡Salve patria! tu pródigo suelo //Hail, O homeland! Your prodigal soil// Dulce abrigo y sustento nos da; //Gives us sweet sustenance and shelter.// Bajo el límpido azul de tu cielo //Under the limpid blue of your sky,// ¡Vivan siempre el trabajo y la paz! //May peaceful labour ever continue!//

This is a video of Costa Rica's Underwater Ocean.

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[|**Current government officials**] [|**Capital and largest city (2003 est.):**] San José, 1,527,300 (metro. area), 337,200 (city proper) [|**Languages:**] Spanish (official), English [|**Ethnicity/race:**] white (including mestizo) 94%, black 3%, Amerindian 1%, Chinese 1%, other 1% [|**Religion:**] Roman Catholic 76%, Evangelical 14%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1%, other Protestant 1%, other 5%, none 3%
 * National name:** República de Costa Rica
 * President:** Óscar Arias Sánchez (2006)
 * Land area:** 19,560 sq mi (50,660 sq km); **total area:** 19,730 sq mi (51,100 sq km)
 * [|Population] (2006 est.):** 4,075,261 (growth rate: 1.5%); birth rate: 18.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 9.7/1000; life expectancy: 77.0; density per sq mi: 208
 * [|Literacy rate]:** 96% (2003 est.)
 * Economic summary:** **GDP/PPP** (2005 est.): $40.44 billion; per capita $10,100. **Real growth rate:** 3.3%. **Inflation:** 13.8%. **Unemployment:** 6.6%. **Agriculture:** coffee, pineapples, bananas, sugar, corn, rice, beans, potatoes; beef; timber. **Labor force:** 1.82 million; agriculture 20%, industry 22%, services 58% (1999 est.). **Industries:** microprocessors, food processing, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products.

Costa Rica has a reputation as one of the most stable, prosperous, and least corrupt Latin American countries. But in fall 2004, three former Costa Rican presidents (José Maria Figueres Olsen, Miguel Angel Rodríguez, and Rafael Angel Calderon) were investigated on corruption charges. In 2006, [|Óscar Arias Sánchez] was elected president. Arias, who had served as president once before (1986–1990), won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for fostering peace talks that eventually ended the civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua.


 * __[|CLIMATE]__**

Costa Rica is a tropical country which contains several distinct climatic zones. There is no winter or summer as such and most regions have 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.

Costa Rica is in the northern hemisphere. The Northern Region of Costa Rica is highlighted by four magnificent attractions: the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Arenal Volcano, Lake Arenal and Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge.
 * __Region__**
 * __Northern Zone and Arenal__**

Located north of San José, between Guanacaste province on the west and the Caribbean coast on the east, the Northern Zone is home to the world's most abundant diversity of flora and fauna.

For a trip into the mountains, the Monteverde Preserve is one of the more successful biological sanctuaries in the world. Comprised of over 10,500 hectares of land, more than 90% virgin forest, the area has over 2,500 plant species, 100 species of mammals, 400 bird species, 120 reptilian and amphibian species, and 1000's of insects.

1821 Sep 15, A junta convened by the captain-general in Guatemala declared independence for its provinces Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua San Salvador and Chiappas.

1963 Mar 19, In Costa Rica, President John F. Kennedy and six Latin American presidents pledged to fight Communism.

1968 Jun 29, The Arenal volcano, dormant for 450 years, burst into life and killed 95 people. The village of Tabacon was wiped out.

1982 Cocos Island was made a national park. It is 9-sq. miles and located 300 miles off the Coast of Central America.

1984 Nov, The CIA told Congress in 1987 that it had concluded in Nov, 1984 that it could not resume aid to the Costa Rican-based Contras because “everybody around Pastora was involved in cocaine.”

1984 There was an assassination attempt on Eden Pastora Gomez, a Nicaraguan anticommunist revolutionary, by Sandinistas. The government of Luis Alberto Monge Alvarez failed to make a serious investigation.

1987 Oct 13, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of a Central American peace plan to end the war in Nicaragua.

1988 Bill Graham produced a worldwide tour on behalf of Amnesty Int’l. featuring Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Peter Gabriel. They toured Costa Rica, India and Zimbabwe.

1990-1994 Rafael angel Calderon served as president of Costa Rica.

1991 Apr 22, Sixty people were killed when a strong earthquake shook Costa Rica and neighboring Panama, causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage.

1993 Sep 9-1993 Sep 14, Hurricane Gert caused 76 deaths. It affected Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

1995 Fresh Del Monte launched its "Gold" pineapple, grown in the volcanic soils of Costa Rica, and secured a patent for it.

1996 Jul 7-1996 Jul 28, Hurricane Cesar caused 51 deaths in Caribbean and Central America. The storm hit Costa Rica, Curacao, Aruba, San Andres and Nicaragua.

1996 Aug, Maria Felix Bejarano escaped from the Buen Pastor prison. She gave the guards $4,700 for their kindness. This was the 7th escape of her career in which she applies for a job as a maid and then cleans out the houses in which she works.

1997 Nov 13, In Costa Rica Max Dalton (78), an American-born rancher, was killed in a confrontation with squatters on his 10-acre ranch in Golfito. Squatters in the region have “confiscated” the holdings of more than 2 dozen Americans in the region.

1998 Feb 1, In Costa Rica Miguel Angel Rodriguez of the Social Christian Unity Party won the presidential elections by a narrow margin over Jose Miguel Corrales of the National Liberation party. Also elected were 2 vice-presidents, 57 members of the Legislative Assembly and 571 mayors.

1998 May 8, In Costa Rica Miguel Angel Rodriguez of the Social Christian Unity Party began serving as president.

1998 Oct 22-1998 Nov 9, Hurricane Mitch was one of the Caribbean's deadliest storms ever causing at least at least 9,000 deaths in Central America. The storm hit Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Jamaica, and Costa Rica.

2000 Jan 15, In San Jose, Costa Rica, a Czech-built Let 410 Taxi Aereo Centroamericano flight crashed and 4 people were killed with 17 injured.

2000 Jul 19, In Tilaran, Costa Rica, a nursing-home fire killed 17 elderly people.

2000 Aug 1, Costa Rica planned to begin offering free e-mail access to all its citizens through the government owned commercial Internet monopoly, RACSA.

2000 Aug 27, Ten people were killed when a small plane crashed into a volcano in northern Costa Rica.

2001 Mar 13, In Costa Rica Shannon Martin (23), a student from Topeka, Kan., was stabbed to death, after she left a nightclub in Golfito, 100 miles south of San Jose. In 2003 Kattia Cruz, 28, and Luis Alberto Castro, 38, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the killing.

2001 The French firm Alcatel won a contract from Costa Rica telecoms and electricity firm ICE. In 2004 Pres. Rodriguez was charged with accepting a share of a $2.4 million payment made by Alcatel for the contract.

2002 Jan 6, It was reported that Costa Rica required medical professionals to serve a year treating disadvantaged communities. Mandatory community service programs were in place for high school students.

2002 Feb 3, In presidential elections Abel Pacheco, of the ruling Social Christian Unity Party, won 38.5% of the vote and Rolando Araya, national Liberation Party, won 30.9%. A runoff was scheduled for Apr 7.

2002 Mar 15, Pres. Rodriguez spoke at UC Berkeley on its Charter Day.

2002 Apr 7, Abel Pacheco (68), psychiatrist, poet and former TV commentator, was elected president in a runoff against Rolando Araya.

2002 Oct 14, A Costa Rica investment operation called The Brothers Fund (Ofinter Foreign Exchange SA) collapsed and siblings Luis Enrique and Osvaldo Villalobos were held responsible.

2003 May 1, The US Navy withdrew from Vieques Island.

2003 Sep 5, Costa Rica's Arenal Volcano spewed lava, rocks and ash in its strongest eruption in more than two years.

2003 Dec 25, A strong earthquake shook the border of Costa Rica and Panama, killing an infant and leaving dozens of others with mainly minor injuries.

2003 Costa Rica changed its constitution to allow former presidents to stand again.

2004 May 28, US officials and 5 Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) signed a free trade pact (CAFTA), to be later approved by Congress. The Dominican Republic would be included later.

2004 Apr, In Costa Rica some 80 families began staying at the Metropolitan Cathedral, when police removed them from the Bambuzal plantation, owned by Standard Fruit Co. in Rio Frio de Sarapiqui, about 30 miles north of the Costa Rican capital. The families say that the land should be divided among the landless under laws that require companies to work large tracts of land in order to keep it. Standard says it is working the land to produce bamboo.

2004 Jul 27, A Costa Rican policeman apparently distraught over an impending job transfer killed himself and three of the 10 hostages he had taken at the Chilean embassy.

2004 Oct 21, Former Costa Rica Pres. Rafael Angel Calderon was detained in connection with a corruption investigation. He was charged with distributing and taking a share of a commission of some $9 million connected to the supply of medical equipment. He was under investigation for allegedly receiving nearly $500,000 from a Finnish government loan to Costa Rica for the purchase of medicines.

2004 Nov 20, An early morning 6.2 earthquake jolted San Jose, Costa Rica, and killed 8 people. Leaders of 21 nations were gathered there for the Ibero-American Summit.

2005 Jan 11, Costa Rica Pres. Abel Pacheco signed a decree of national emergency after 3 days of heavy rains forced nearly 13,000 people from their homes and killed at least one person. Panama reported 2 dead.

2005 Mar 3, The seven Central American nations (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) agreed to create a rapid-response force to combat drug trafficking, terrorism and other regional threats.

2005 Mar 9, In Costa Rica police stormed a bank in a hail of gunfire following a thwarted robbery that turned into a 30-hour hostage standoff in the tourist town of Santa Elena de Monteverde. Officials said nine people were killed, including five bank customers.

2005 Jun 30, In Honduras Central American leaders agreed to create a regional special forces unit to fight drug trafficking, gang violence and terrorism within their borders. The 2-day regional meeting included the presidents of Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.

2005 Jul 12, In Costa Rica a fire at the Calderon Guardia Hospital killed 19 people. 2 more people died later from complications. The building lacked proper fire exits. On Oct 7 the country's top investigator said died the fire was set deliberately.

2005 Jul 16, A small plane from Costa Rica, piloted by the son of a former owner of the San Jose Sharks hockey team, crashed off the Pacific Coast, killing six people.

2005 Sep 6, Dominican Republic legislators overwhelmingly approved a free-trade agreement with the US and five Central American countries, rejecting arguments that the pact would devastate the domestic sugar industry. The other five countries are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Costa Rica and Nicaragua had not yet ratified the pact.

2005 Oct 12, In Costa Rica the InterAmerican Human Rights court, announced that it has ordered Colombia to pay damages in the 1997 massacre of dozens of Mapiripan villagers by right-wing paramilitary fighters.

2005 Nov 24, In Costa Rica thousands of supporters of a free trade pact for Central America marched through San Jose. The group of about 5,000 mainly workers and business owners urged Congress to approve the pact known as CAFTA.

2006 Feb 5, Costa Rica held elections and former pres. Oscar Arias was expected to win.

2006 Feb 6, In Costa Rica with 78% of the votes counted, former president Arias had 40.7% compared to 40 percent for opposition figure Otton Solis of the Citizens' Action Party.

2006 Feb 7, Costa Rican electoral officials began counting votes by hand in a laborious effort to determine the winner of one of the country's closest presidential races in history.

2006 Feb 22, In Costa Rica results from the Feb 5 elections indicated that Oscar Arias, a free trade proponent, had won Costa Rica's presidential election by 18,167 votes, one of the country's closest races ever.


 * __[|Maps of Costa Rica]__** (click for better view)

__**[|Active Weather Forecast]**__
 * **Conditions at** || 2007.02.07 2300 UTC ||
 * **Wind** || from the ESE (110 degrees) at 10 MPH (9 KT) ||
 * **Visibility** || greater than 7 mile(s) ||
 * **Sky conditions** || partly cloudy ||
 * **Temperature** || 75 F (24 C) ||
 * **Dew Point** || 55 F (13 C) ||
 * **Relative Humidity** || 50% ||
 * **Pressure (altimeter)** || 29.97 in. Hg (1014 hPa) ||
 * **ob** || MROC 072300Z 11009KT 9999 SCT030 24/13 A2997 ||
 * ===Summary of Febuary 07, 2007=== ||  ||
 * || **Time EST (UTC)** || **Temperature F (C)** || **Dew Point F (C)** || **Pressure Inches (hPa)** || **Wind MPH** || **Weather** ||
 * **Latest** || 6 PM (23) Feb 07 || 75 (24) || 55 (13) || 29.97 (1014) || ESE 10 ||  ||
 * || 5 PM (22) Feb 07 || 77 (25) || 57 (14) || 29.95 (1014) || E 10 ||  ||
 * || 4 PM (21) Feb 07 || 80 (27) || 55 (13) || 29.95 (1014) || E 15 ||  ||
 * || 3 PM (20) Feb 07 || 82 (28) || 55 (13) || 29.97 (1014) || ESE 18 ||  ||
 * || 2 PM (19) Feb 07 || 80 (27) || 53 (12) || 30 (1015) || E 15 ||  ||
 * || 1 PM (18) Feb 07 || 82 (28) || 51 (11) || 30.03 (1016) || ENE 16 ||  ||
 * || Noon (17) Feb 07 || 80 (27) || 53 (12) || 30.05 (1017) || E 16 ||  ||
 * || 11 AM (16) Feb 07 || 78 (26) || 51 (11) || 30.07 (1018) || E 20 ||  ||
 * || 10 AM (15) Feb 07 || 75 (24) || 53 (12) || 30.07 (1018) || E 21 ||  ||
 * || 9 AM (14) Feb 07 || 71 (22) || 57 (14) || 30.06 (1017) || E 22 ||  ||
 * || 8 AM (13) Feb 07 || 68 (20) || 55 (13) || 30.04 (1017) || E 21 ||  ||
 * || 7 AM (12) Feb 07 || 64 (18) || 55 (13) || 30.03 (1016) || E 15 ||  ||
 * || 6 AM (11) Feb 07 || 66 (19) || 55 (13) || 30.02 (1016) || E 18 ||  ||
 * || 5 AM (10) Feb 07 || 64 (18) || 55 (13) || 30 (1015) || E 16 ||  ||
 * || 4 AM (9) Feb 07 || 66 (19) || 57 (14) || 30.02 (1016) || E 14 ||  ||
 * || 3 AM (8) Feb 07 || 66 (19) || 55 (13) || 30.03 (1016) || E 13 ||  ||
 * || 2 AM (7) Feb 07 || 66 (19) || 57 (14) || 30.06 (1017) || E 13 ||  ||
 * || 1 AM (6) Feb 07 || 68 (20) || 57 (14) || 30.07 (1018) || E 16 ||  ||
 * || Midnight (5) Feb 07 || 68 (20) || 57 (14) || 30.08 (1018) || E 14 ||  ||
 * || 11 PM (4) Feb 06 || 68 (20) || 57 (14) || 30.09 (1018) || E 10 ||  ||
 * || 10 PM (3) Feb 06 || 68 (20) || 57 (14) || 30.06 (1017) || ESE 14 ||  ||
 * || 9 PM (2) Feb 06 || 68 (20) || 57 (14) ||  || ESE 13 ||   ||
 * || 8 PM (1) Feb 06 || 69 (21) || 55 (13) ||  || E 13 ||   ||
 * **Oldest** || 7 PM (0) Feb 06 || 71 (22) || 59 (15) || 29.99 (1015) || ENE 14 ||  ||
 * || **Time EST (UTC)** || **Temperature F(C)** || **Dew Point F(C)** || **Pressure Inches(hPa)** || **Wind (MPH)** || **Weather** ||



Costa Rica seems to have it all - one of the best ecosystems on the planet, animal life, and the nicest people you will ever encounter. Centered between Nicaragua and Panama, and the Caribbean and the Pacific Oceans, Costa Rica is only 200 miles long. A series of volcanic mountain chains runs from Nicaragua's border in the northwest to Panama's border in the southeast, splitting the country in two. In the center of these ranges is a high-altitude plain, with coastal lowlands on either side. Over half the population lives on this plain, which has fertile volcanic soils. The [|Arenal Volcano] is the only volcano in Costa Rica constantly active since it woke up after 400 years with the big 1968 eruption producing huge ash columns, explosions & glowing red lava almost every day. It is considered one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world. This country is about beaches, rainforest and the spectacular Arenal.



[|www.google.com] [|www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica**__ [|**http://timelines.ws/countries/COSTARICA.HTML**] [|www.weather.com] [|www.noaa.gov] [|www.google.com/images] http://www.arenal.net/
 * __Works Cited__**