Why visit Costa Rica – Teaching Abroad- American Teacher Overseas

Written before the move…

Within a few days, I will be off to my new adventure. This summer was super short. I literally had 3 weeks off. I spent most of this time preparing for the move. In between, I did get in a 5 day trip to Panama (more on that coming up in a future post), some quality time with family and a little down time to do some research. So, here are 10 facts about my soon to be new host country.

A lot of people think Costa Rica is an island but actually it is not. It is a part of Central America and borders Nicaragua on the north and Panama on the south. However, it does have several uninhabited islands. Can’t wait to explore them. (costarica.org)

Costa Rica does not have a military. The Military was abolished in 1948, and money was reinvested in education, social security and health care. The standard of living has been steadily on the rise since then, the country’s literacy rate is 98%, and the infant mortality rate is the second lowest in the region. (ticotravel.com)

It is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, with 5% of the world’s biodiversity and 500,000 species of wildlife. (trafalgar.com)

Costa Rica has a high life expectancy and is home to one of the 5 blue zones in the world, Nicoya. (asuaire.com)

You can see the sunrise on the Caribbean side and sunset on the Pacific side in the same day (visitcostarica.com). It is possible to drive across the entire country and catch them both.

There are about 750,000 species of insects that live here, including 20,000 different spiders, and 10% of the worlds butterflies. (bahiaaventuras.com) I almost declined the offer to move here because of this fact .

There are more than 121 volcanic formations and seven active volcanoes. Most of the volcanoes are in the northern part of the country. (bahiaaventuras.com) Costa Rica’s soil is rich in minerals due to many eruptions over the past millennia.