Costa Rica

"Ticos" are what Costa Ricans call themselves, and what fellow Latin Americans call them. This affectionate nickname is rooted in the Ticos' tendency to add the diminutive "tico" to most words, as they often refer to people and things in terms of their smallness. As an example, "chiquito" which means small, becomes "chiquitico", or very small.

A high percentage of Costa Ricans are of European and mestizo decent. Most of the indigenous people of the area succumbed to diseases such as measles and the common cold carried into the country by the early Spanish settlers.

You will sense a great deal of pride in the people of Costa Rica, for they have formed a nation unique, not only to Central America, but to all the world. They have built a history of tolerance and prosperity by taking to heart positive lessons carried with them from the old world to the new.

For many of the years following WW II, Costa Rica stood almost as an island of tranquillity in a sea of civil warfare raging around them. In 1948, Costa Ricans proved their confidence in the stability of their nation by abolishing their army. Instead of recruiting regiments of infantry, they recruited platoons of forest rangers. Democracy is treasured by the people, as is the ideal of personal liberty, and violence of any kind is extremely rare.

All Costa Ricans were honored when, in 1987, President Arias Sanchez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for the high standard of ethics and understanding he symbolized as a representative of the people of this nation.

Nowhere will you find people more deeply committed to the preservation of its natural wonders. Theirs is a small country, yet they have within their borders no less one twentieth of the world's total biodiversity. To protect these treasures, they have set aside more than one fourth of their total land area as national trust, dedicating one acre in four to parklands and wildlife refuges.