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The 7 Provinces of Costa Rica:
San José
Heredia
Cartago
Alajuela
Puntarenas
Guanacaste
Límon
In the northeast are the flat, Atlantic lowlands of the Limón Province
where dense jungles and wetlands house some of Costa Rica’s most
intense and abundant ecosystems. In the south, the Province takes on a
different feel with white and black sand beaches, evergreen jungles and
more mountainous terrain inland rising up to Costa Rica’s highest
point, Mount Chirripó, which straddles the Limón and Cartago Provinces.
Cartago and Puntarenas Provinces,
too, are located in the tropical zones of Costa Rica, but here rainfall
and elevation combine to temper the climate, to create vistas of
rolling hills, softened by blankets of wild grass, and a wealth of
fruit and palm forest plantations.
Continuing northward to Cartago and San Jose Provinces,
you will follow the mountain valleys inland from the Pacific where you
discover hundreds of square miles of National Forests and Wildlife
Refuges, where primeval jungle is as green and pure as the day God made
it.
San Jose, Alajuela, Heredia
- these are the Central Provinces. The Central Valley, the area
radiating out from the capital city of San José, is small - only 80
square miles - but it's here you'll find half the country's population,
drawn to the area by the excitement of the big cities, San Jose
Alajuela and Cartago, the fertile lands and cooler temperatures of
upland plateaus, three to six thousand feet (one to two thousand
meters) above sea level.
It is high up on these
plateaus and mountainsides that you'll find the famous "cloud forests"
of Costa Rica. Well-known areas like Monteverde and Arenal are home
to these rich cloud forest ecosystems.
Further along the spine of
the central plateau, are chains of spectacular volcanoes, some of the
most active on earth, their peaks rising 12,000 feet (3,800 meters)
above sea level, painting the horizon with permanent towers of smoke
and fiery ash. Many of these fiery giants straddle the Guanacaste and Alajuela Province borders.
Land around the volcanoes is rich with the minerals from millions of
years of eruptions. Some of the darkest, nutrient rich soils are found
here. Coffee plantations, banana forests and farms thrive and prosper
here.
The Northwestern part of Costa Rica is known for its golden beaches and
tropical dry forests where the Guanacaste tree thrives, the national
tree of Costa Rica and source of the Provincial name.
See Also:
Tourism Regions
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