Costa Rica Culture & Language

The abolition of the military in 1948 is the central fact of Costa Rican identity, and the country has been politically stable and comparatively prosperous in a region where that was rare.

Pura vida — pure life — works as greeting, farewell, thanks and general affirmation, and the attitude it describes is genuinely claimed rather than invented for visitors.

Conservation is national policy and national business. Around a quarter of the territory is protected, forest cover has recovered from roughly a fifth of the country to over half since the 1980s, and ecotourism funds much of it.

The Caribbean coast around Limón is culturally distinct — Afro-Caribbean, historically English-speaking and Protestant, with its own food and music — and Indigenous peoples including the Bribri and Cabécar maintain territories in the south.

Spanish is the official language, and Costa Rican Spanish is clearly spoken and relatively easy to follow. Costa Ricans call themselves ticos, from a habitual diminutive ending.

English is widely spoken in tourism and by many in the Central Valley; on the Caribbean coast, an English-based creole is spoken alongside Spanish.

Pura vida genuinely works in most social situations, and using it is received well rather than as a cliché. Con mucho gusto is the standard reply to thanks, in place of de nada.