Check us out on FacebookWe love our country, it's culture and natural beauty. As locals we will provide you with the opportunity to immerse yourself in our Pura Vida Lifestyle and Culture, allowing for a Complete Costa Rica Experience through our local knowledge, stories and facts.
It is our mission to provide you with all of the ingredients for an unforgettable SUP vacation.
It is your vacation, and we are dedicated to helping you have a Complete Cultural Experience. Our local guides will provide you with the inside cultural information so you can really get to know Costa Rica and its best asset, the Costa Rican people and their culture.
Costa Rica is a small, beautiful country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.
The Nicoya Peninsula (where Tamarindo is located) is considered one of the Blue Zones in the world, where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years.
This is a link to The New York Times article "The Happiest People", Jan 6, 2010.
Below are highlights about Costa Rica (main source: Wikipedia). Please read on, you'll be glad you did!:
- "Pura Vida" is the most recognizable phrase attached to Costa Ricans, and it reflects the Costa Rican way of life. Often, people walking down the streets, or buying food at shops say hello by saying "Pura Vida", which means pure life, or good life. It can be phrased as a question or as an acknowledgement of one's presence. A recommended response to "How are you?" would be "Pura Vida".
- The literacy rate in Costa Rica is 94.9%, one of the highest in the world. When the army was abolished in 1949, it was said that "the army would be replaced with an army of teachers."
- Costa Rica, means "The Rich Coast", due to its lush tropical vegetation. Over 25% of Costa Rica's national territory is protected by SINAC (the National System of Conservation Areas), which oversees all of the country's protected areas. Costa Rica also possesses the greatest density of species in the world.
- Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.25% of the world's landmass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity. Around 25% of the country's land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentage of protected areas in the world (developing world average 13%, developed world average 8%).
- Costa Rica has successfully managed to diminish deforestation from some of the worst rates in the world from 1973 to 1989, to almost zero by 2005.
- Ecotourism draws many tourists to visit the extensive national parks and protected areas around the country. Costa Rica was a pioneer in this type of tourism, and the country is recognized as one of the few with true ecotourism.
- The country is ranked third in the world, and first among the Americas, in terms of the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.
- In 2007, the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon-neutral country by 2021. As of 2010, Costa Rica is well on its way towards accomplishing this goal, currently producing 90 percent of its electricity through renewable sources.
- According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the "greenest" country in the world.
- Because Costa Rica is located between eight and 12 degrees north of the Equator, the climate is tropical year round. However, the country has many microclimates and microecosystems depending on elevation, rainfall, topography, and by the geography of each particular region.
- Costa Rica's seasons are defined by how much rain falls during a particular period and not by the four seasons of the Northern Hemisphere. The year can be split into two periods, the dry season known to the residents as summer, and the rainy season, known locally as winter. The "summer" or dry season goes from December to April, and "winter" or rainy season goes from May to November.
- The mean annual temperature on the coastal lowlands is around 27 °C (81 °F). Around 20 °C (68 °F) in the main populated areas of the Central Valley, and below 10 °C (50 °F) on the summits of the highest mountains.
- It constitutionally abolished its army permanently in 1949. Historically, Costa Rica has generally enjoyed greater peace and more consistent political stability compared with many of its fellow Latin American nations.
- It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world's 22 older democracies.
- Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index, ranked 62nd in the world in 2010, and is cited by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) as one of the countries that have attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income levels.
