Costa Rica has become a new 'Hot Spot' for business and leisure travel in the last couple of years. Whether in search of the perfect luxury vacation, a business trip or simply an inexpensive and enjoyable place to retire, more and more people have found Costa Rica to be their ideal place. Its strategic location, closeness to the USA and other major hubs such as Panama, its friendly people and warm climate continue to draw people from all over the world.

Costa Rica is a tropical country with several distinct climatic zones. There is no winter or summer, but a rainy season from May to November and a dry season from December to April. Temperature is more a matter of elevation than location. It is around 72 degrees in the San Jose Central Valley, 82 degrees on the Atlantic coast and 89 degrees on the Pacific coast.

Costa Rica has four distinct mountain ranges -- Guanacaste and Tilaran in the north of the country, Central and Talamanca in the south. Costa Rica is also part of the Pacific "Rim of Fire" and has seven of the isthmus's 42 active volcanoes plus dozens of dormant or extinct ones. The country's highest point is Mt. Chirripo (3,797 meters). The capital, San Jose, and the neighboring major cities of Alajuela and Heredia, lie in the middle of the Central Valley. Almost two-thirds of the nation's population live in this central valley.

Costa Rica is a democratic republic, where under its 1949 constitution; all citizens are equal before the law, have the right to own property, the right of petition, assembly and freedom of speech. The constitution also divides the government into independent executive, legislative and judicial branches. Under the constitution a president may serve only one four-year term during his lifetime. The largest political party is the National Liberation Party (PLN). Its main rival is the more conservative Social Christian Unity Party.