How well do you know Costa Rica?

Everyone at Fieldbase has been hard at work again today after enjoying yesterday's well-earned day off. The rest of our project managers will be flying in to San Jose tomorrow afternoon and as we await their arrival I think it's time we all got to know Costa Rica a little better with the first of a series of posts on our beautiful host country.

First some fun facts (with some help from Wikipedia):

• Costa Rica means "Rich Coast".
• The capital is San Jose.
• Costa Rica is composed of seven provinces: Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limón, Puntarenas and San José. Fieldbase is located near Turrialba in Cartago.

• Costa Rica is located between nine to ten degrees north of the Equator so its climate is tropical all year round. The year can be split into two periods, the dry season known to the residents as summer, which runs from December to April. The rainy season, which goes from May to November, is currently in full swing.
• Its army was constitutionally abolished in 1949
• The country's three main cash crops are bananas, pineapples and coffee but for the last decade its $2.2 billion per year tourism industry has generated more foreign exchange than all three combined. Two million foreigners visited Costa Rica in 2008 making it the most visited nation in the Central American region.
• They drive on the right-hand side of the road which takes some getting used to.

And a few key stats:

• Total area: 51,100 sq km, which ranks 129th in the world. (Compared with the UK: 243,610 sq km)
• Population: 4,516,220, of which 63% live in urban areas. Population density is 85/sq km. (UK: 62,041,708 and 254.7/sq km) 
• Estimated nominal GDP for 2009: Total - $29.318 billion; Per capita - $6,345. (UK: $2.183 trillion and $35,334)
• Currency: Costa Rican colón which is currently trading at 788 colones to the British pound.
• Time zone: 6 hours behind GMT (7 hours behind British summer time)

Check back tomorrow to find out why Costa Rica is the greenest country in the world.