The Republic of Costa Rica (pronounced coast-a, not cost-a, as I have been doing my whole life) is in Central America, bounded on the north by Nicaragua, on the south by Panama, on the east by the Caribbean Sea and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
The ISO 3166-1 designations for Costa Rica are CR, CRI, 188 (for Canada they are CA, CAN, 124.)
The capital is San José. The currency is the colón; its symbol is a c with two slashes, but I have seen it used with the two slashes only once. Everyone seems to use the symbol for cent. Today $1CDN = 521CRC. The flag of Coast Rica was designed by a woman, the First Lady, Paci’fica Ferna’ndez Oreamuno, in 1848. Its colours follow those of the French flag. It is illegal for private citizens to use the flag except on national holidays, so one does not see the flag on ill-fitting shorts, in house windows or on coffee mugs. One does see it on over-priced cheaply made beach towels for sale at tourist shops.The nickname for Costa Ricans is tico/tica (male/female)—a term used happily and with pride by Ticos themselves.
I am staying in Alajuela, a city just outside San José, and very close to the main airport, designation SJO. The weather forecast for today is high of 27C, low of 17C, sunny with a few clouds.
This article appears in Mar 4-10, 2010.