Sunday, March 1, 2009

Do you know the way to San Jose?

Yes,  I found the way to San Jose -- but the one in Costa Rica, not Silicon Valley!  And what a beautiful small country Costa Rica is -- blessed with gorgeous beaches, beautiful high mountains with lots of volcanos, extensive rain forest, exotic animals and birds and a very pleasant climate.  No wonder so many Gringos have retired here! Colombus was the first European to visit the country which he did in 1502.  He also named it Costa Rica.

Did you know that Costa Rica is:
-- the world's first country to abolish its army,
--no. 4 in Latin America on on the Human Development Index,
--5th in the world and 1st in the Americas on the Environmental Performance Index,
--striving to be the first country to be carbon neutral,
--one of the few countres that didn't import forced labor which therefore required settlers to develop the county pretty much by themselves. 

Quite Impressive!

Here's a summary of what Costa Rica offers the tourist:

http://microsites.visitcostarica.com/ict/microsites/

I spent Satuday touring a few national parks and visiting the Pacific coast.  I  definitely plan to come back with Gertrud.