About the area:
Within Costa Rica’s 51,200 square kilometers there is a wider variety of species of birds than in all of Europe or North America. With a relatively small population of roughly three and a half million inhabitants, Costa Rica also boasts of one of the oldest and more consolidated democracies in Latin America. In 1869, primary education for both sexes was declared obligatory and free of cost, defrayed by the State. In 1882 the death sentence was abolished. In the 1949 the armed forces were abolished and in 1983 Perpetual Neutrality was proclaimed.
Prestigious international human rights organizations have their headquarters in Costa Rica. Because of this, and of its lush 1500 kilometers of tropical sun-bathed beaches and the wild diversity of flora and fauna to be found in its wide array of microclimates (most present in one or more of its National Parks), Costa Rica has justifiably earned its reputation of paradise regained.