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2. Costa Ricans

3. Costa Ricans
Costa Ricans prefer to be known as Ticos. Ticos are
very family oriented and Sundays are devoted to
spending time with the family. One could say that
Costa Rica is a matriarchal society as Mother’s Day is
a national, paid holiday and falls on the same day of
the year. While Costa Rica does celebrate Father’s
Day, it is not a paid holiday! The elderly are also held
in high esteem and are treated better in Costa Rica
than in many other countries.

4. Costa Rica

5. Inhabitants of Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, most of the people in
the country live in urban areas. Before
the Spanish came to Costa Rica, the
American Indians were the original
inhabitants of Costa Rica. The
spanish colonists came to Costa Rica
and married the Indians,which made
the Spanish also inhabitants of Costa
Rica.

6. The largest city population is San
Carlos with an estimation of 964,000

7. Dance Forms in Costa Rica
•Merengue
•Salsa
•Cumbia
•Folkloric Dancing

8. Merengue dance in Costa Rica

9. Folkloric dance – Costa Rica

11. Family life in Costa Rica
In family life, children will live at home with their
parents until they are married. Sometimes children
live at home until they are in the 20’s or 30’s, and
then once they have married they move in with
their spouse. It is also quite normal in Costa Rica
for extended family members to live together.
Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins may
share one house, or live in very close proximity to
each other so as to see each other frequently.
Family is very important to Costa Ricans and
usually a Costa Rican’s social life is closely
intertwined with his or her family life.

13. Religions in Costa Rica
The State religion of Costa Rica is Roman Catholicism,
and Christian values are present in many aspects of daily
life. Town names often begin with San or Santa; familiar
expressions include "If God wishes it" and "God bless,"
and every city has a Catholic church.
Although the Costa Rican Constitution establishes
Catholicism as the state religion, it also assures religious
freedom for all. According to recent data, 76.3% of Costa
Ricans identify as Catholic. An additional 13.7% are
Evangelical Christians, 1.3% are Jehovah's Witness, and
0.7% are Protestant Christian. The remaining 8% either
have no religion (3.2%) or are of other faiths (4.8%),
including Mormonism, Judaism and Islam.

14. Churches in Costa Rica

16. Education System in Costa Rica
In 1869, Costa Rica made education both free and mandatory for
all its citizens. Since that time, the country's education system
has grown to include more than four thousand schools. Over the
last three decades the country has invested nearly 30% of its
national budget in primary and secondary education. The literacy
rate is 95%. There are public elementary and high schools in
every community. Public elementary schools consist of six years
of education followed by five to six years of high school. The first
three years of high school are dedicated to general education
while the remaining two or three provide students with specialized
training. Upon graduation, students receive a title in arts or
sciences and a Costa Rican Bachillerato Diploma, which is
accredited by the Costa Rican Ministry of Education.

17. University in Costa Rica

18. Dress
Costa Ricans take pride in their appearance and
dress well. In business situations, both men and
women dress formally but not as conservatively
as in North America. Outside the office, men
and women dress informally, although casual
dress in Costa Rica is fancier than you might
expect. For example, men rarely wear shorts
except at the beach, and women's jeans are
often accompanied by stiletto heels and heavy
makeup

19. Dress Costa Ricans

20. Costa Rica’s traditional dishes consist of rice
and beans with other ingredients like
chicken or fish and different sorts of
vegetables, The most common dish for
breakfast is Gallo Pinto which consists of rice
mixed with black beans, served with natilla
(sour cream), eggs (scrambled) and fried
plantain. Costa Ricans usually drink a cup of
coffee or fresh fruit juice with it. For lunch,
Casados (beans, rice) are served with some
sort of meat or fish and a salad, fried
plantains, white cheese and corn tortilla. The
difference between Gallo Pinto and Casado is
that in Casados, rice and the bean are
served side by side and not mixed.

21. Traditional Food of Costa Rica

22. Carnival in Costa Rica
In mid-October the Costa Rican population celebrates
the arrival of Christopher Columbus, who arrived in
1502 to Uvita, an island about 1 km from the port of
Limon. For nearly a week the city of Limon fills with
people, color and music. In the streets you can find
concerts, beauty contests, parades and huge pots of
hot “Rondon” (fishstew/fishmulligan). This
celebration’s highlight is the “Gran Desfile” where
different colorfully costumed dancing groups along
with acrobats are featured in the streets, and are
evaluated by a jury. There are many drinks and
dances; the whole city moves to reggae, roots,
calypso, salsa and socca rhythms.

23. Gran Desfile

24. Pura vida
Pura vida, a characteristic Costa Rican
phrase, literally means pure life,
with connotations that suggest
translations such as "full of life", "this is
living!", "going great", or "real living. The
phrase can be used both as a greeting or
a farewell, as an answer expressing that
things are going well, as a way of giving
thanks, or showing appreciation

25. Fishing in Costa Rica is a very fun
and profitable hobby

26. Language – Costa Rica
The official language of Costa Rica
is Spanish. However, there are also
many local indigenous languages,
such as Bribri. English is the first
foreign language and the second
most taught language in Costa Rica,
followed by French, German, Italian
and Chinese

28. National Game of Costa Rica
The national game of Costa Rica is
soccer. Sports in Costa Rica form an
integral part of the Costa Rican
social life. Some of the sports that
can be practiced are tennis, running,
sport fishing, trekking, boxing,
motocross, swimming, baseball,
basketball, diving, snorkeling, and of
course surfing.