Costa Rica, Guanacaste

Costa Rica is one of the fastest growing vacation destinations in the world, with a 40% increase in tourism from 2002 to 2003.
This is because nowhere else in the world will you find so much in such a small place.

Our retreats are situated in Guanacaste, Playa Potrero or Playa Flamingo, depends on the accomodation.

Guanacaste is one of the 7 Provinces of Costa Rica, located in the extreme west of the country, comprising most of the territory which was annexed on July 25, 1824 (see Annexation of Nicoya). For its size is the second largest province in the country, but also the least populated. It limits the north with the Republic of Nicaragua, on the east Alajuela, Puntarenas to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. Its capital is Liberia, located 281 kilometers from San Jose.
Guanacaste has an area of ​​10,140 square kilometers, which is home to approximately 270 000 people. Its landscape combines the volcanic peaks of the Cordillera de Guanacaste with wide open plains to the Pacific.

Guanacaste is the name of the country's national tree (Enterolobium cyclocarpum). Its terrain is flat, broken by the Cordillera de Guanacaste to the border with Alajuela, with some higher areas in the Peninsula of Nicoya. In its political division are 11 cantons. The economic potential of Guanacaste lies in the livestock, and its beaches are of great scenic attraction, and its warm climate is ideal. In Liberia is the second international airport in Costa Rica, called Daniel Oduber International Airport.
The annual average temperature ranges between 26 Guanacaste and 33 ° C at the bottom, and between 9 and 11 ° C at the top, being the Arenal area of ​​the cooler and wet.
The annual rainfall in Guanacaste is between 1,500 and 2,000 mm. It is a province rich in biodiversity due to these climatic conditions, being landscapes and plains, forests, mountains, volcanoes and beaches.
Of the Cordilleras de Guanacaste and Tilarán, flow several rivers that form an alluvial plain drained by the Tempisque River, which runs and feeds much of the province before emptying into the Gulf of Nicoya.

Costa Rica is one of the fastest growing vacation destinations in the world, with a 40% increase in tourism from 2002 to 2003.
This is because there is no other place in the world where you will find all the adventure, fun, and nature in one place.

Costa Rica is divided by a backbone of volcanoes and mountains. It is an extension of the Andes-Sierra Madre chain which runs along the western side of the Americas. Costa Rica has four distinct cordilleras or mountain ranges -- Guanacaste and Tilaran in the north, Central and Talamanca in the south. Costa Rica is part of the Pacific "Rim of Fire" and has 7 of the isthmus's 42 active volcanoes plus dozens of dormant or extinct cones. Earth tremors and small quakes shake the country from time to time.

Costa Rica is a tropical country which contains several distinct climatic zones. There is no winter or summer as such and most regions have a rainy season from May to November and a dry season from December to April. Annual rainfall averages 100 inches nationwide with some mountainous regions getting as much as 25 feet on exposed eastern slopes. Temperature is more a matter of elevation than location with a mean of around 72 degrees in the Central Valley, 82 degrees on the Atlantic coast and 89 degrees on the Pacific coast.

Citizens of the U.S., Canada and Panama may enter Costa Rica with a tourist card and one other piece of identification e.g. passport, driver's license or birth certificate. Tourist cards can be obtained in advance from any Costa Rican embassy or consulate and are valid for 30 days. No passport or visa is needed. If you want to stay longer, a valid passport allows Canadians and Americans to stay for up to 90 days. Citizens of all other countries require a valid passport to enter Costa Rica. You are required to carry your passport or tourist card with you at all times. If you are stopped by officials, a photocopy with your photo, passport number and entry stamp will usually suffice.

Travelers arriving in Costa Rica can bring in 500 cigarettes or 500 grams of tobacco and three liters of wine or spirits.

You are unlikely to encounter any serious diseases in Costa Rica. Sanitary standards are high and the health system is excellent. During the past two wet seasons there have been several outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease dengue but so far there have been no reported cases of the more serious hemorrhaging dengue. No vaccinations are required to enter Costa Rica as epidemic diseases have been all but eradicated throughout the country. Infectious hepatitis, a serious problem throughout Central America, is reported only rarely in Costa Rica.