Cities Costa Rica
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Country information |
country code: CR
continent: North America
capital: San Jose
languages: Spanish
EU membership: no
NATO membership: no
GSM: 1800
GPS: 10 00 N, 84 00 W
electricity: 120V/60Hz
currency:
Costa Rican Colon: CRC
1CRC = 0.002 USD
1CRC = 0.002 EUR
phone code:
+506
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Travel advices and warnings Costa Rica
Tourism |
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Language |
Republic of Costa Rica, República de Costa Rica. 4, 327, 000. National or official language: Spanish. Literacy rate: 93% (WA 1999). Immigrant languages: Basque, Eastern Yiddish, Yue Chinese (4, 500). Information mainly from SIL 1967–2002. Blind population: 2, 500. Deaf population: 202, 625. Deaf institutions: 9. The number of individual languages listed for Costa Rica is 10. Of those, all are living languages. |
Climate |
The climate of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is unequivocally a tropical country, situated between 8° and 11° North latitude, fairly close to the equator. Although in the mountains above 2000 meters you get much cooler temperatures, the average annual temperature for most of the country lies between 21. 7°C (71°F) and 27°C (81°F). The coolest months are from November through January, and the warmest from March through May. San José, the capital, where over a third of the population lives, stands at approximately 1170 meters altitude and has a mean annual temperature of 20. 6°C (69°F). |
Cuisine |
Costa Rican cuisine is known for being flavorful, yet fairly mild, with high reliance on fresh fruit and vegetables. The main staple, known as gallo pinto, consists of rice and black beans. [citation needed]
For lunch, the traditional national dish is called a casado. It again consists of rice and beans served side by side instead of mixed. There will usually be some type of meat (carne asada, fish, pork chop or chicken) and a salad to round out the dish. There may also be some extras like fried plantain (patacones or maduro), a slice of white cheese, and/or corn tortillas in accompaniment. Salsa Lizano is ubiquitous as a condiment and as an ingredient in cooking various dishes, including gallo pinto. In many family gatherings or for special occasions is very common to prepare Arroz con Pollo (rice with chicken) accompanied with a Russian Salad, a salad made with beets, potatoes, hard boiled eggs and mayo. These two dishes are very popular in Costa Rican cuisine.
In taverns, various small dishes (boquitas) are served which include patacones with black bean dip, chimichurri (tomatoes and onions pickled in lime juice) accompanied with tortilla chips, chifrijo (rice and beans with chicharrones, which are fried pork skins, and chimichurri), ceviche (fish and/or shrimp with onions and pickled in lime juice) and vigorón (cabbage, chimichurri, yucca, served with a slice of lime). |
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