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Puntarenas, Costa Rica - Background
Costa Rica is a desirable model for its sister Central American nations. The tiny nations offers public education through high school, and generous government-assisted loans are available to students wishing to attend college. Costa Rica has very low infant morality rate (average in cities is 8 per 1000) thanks to socialized medical services, an inconsequential suicide rate, average life span of 75 years, and a 93% literacy rate.
There is no army or military force of any kind, and universal health care has been in place for five decades. With a total area of just under 20,000 square miles, it is the second smallest country in Central America after El Salvador. At the coasts, temperatures usually reach into the high 80’s and 90’s during the season between December and March. Afternoon squalls are common and can cool the otherwise steamy air. Most ticos live on high central Valley of the Saints, so named because, like the capital, almost every city in the valley is named for a saint.
Before the Spaniards arrived, Costa Rica was home to many different independent tribes. The people were not necessarily Maya, Aztec, or Inca, but many had come from these great kingdoms. Perhaps it was the place fleeing refugees met and settled. Almost off of the people lived in agrarian communities, and established permanent settlements that are still being studied. There were local warriors and some of the same sacrificial rituals that were practiced further north were also observed in Costa Rica, but whether by design or accident, southern Central America was a buffer zone between the northern and southern empires. The region was never penetrated. Sculpture and ceramic figures in the National Museum proves there were talented artists and advanced cultures.
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