Archive for the ‘North Pacific Costa Rica’ Category

Liberia City in Costa Rica

Posted on Dec 19, 2008

Liberia is the head of the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It emerged in the second half of the eighteenth century under the name of Pueblo de Guanacaste, as a result of the establishment of a parish in aid of its location, albeit without legal foundation.  Liberia is approximately 4 hours from the capital of Costa Rica and the access is very easy by car. He was often called “The White City” because in the past, its streets were made of “gravel”, a dusty material of white color. Its climate is hot and dry from November to May and wet from late May to early November, with heavy rains in September and October. It has an average annual temperature of 27 degrees C and extremes are of historical 12.8 º C and 40.1 º C.

The town of Guanacaste, Liberia City in Costa Rica, arose from 1769 around a hermitage, but without formal legal act of foundation. In 1787, it became part of the municipality of Leon in Nicaragua. In July 1824 their neighbors declined the invitation of the government of Costa Rica to join that country, but became part of it in 1826, due to an Act of Congress of Central America, which added to Costa Rica throughout the territory of the former Party of Nicoya. Gradually shifted to Nicoya as the main population of the territory and was erected in the header of the Department of Guanacaste.  In 1836 received the title of town and in 1854 changed its name to Liberia. In 1856, the city was renamed “Moracia,” in honor of Juan Rafael Mora Porras, president of the republic at that time. After the coup that gave the latter, the city finally came to be known as “Liberia”.

Actualy, tourism is given a lot to this zone, which has an airport that receives daily international flights: Daniel Oduber Airport, so it is common to see foreigners walking along the outskirts of the city. It is a city known for some by their folklore and customs. The climate is typical summer weather. One of the main attractions of this area of in Costa Rica are the proximity of the beaches and the many hotels that are on them. Places like the Gulf of Papagayo have been greatly developed in recent years and the growth continues. With the arrival of more international flights to the area tourism has emerged as the largest partner for the development of the city of Liberia. It is currently installed in the area several high technology companies. The first is Ad Astra Rocket Company and is located on the campus of the University EARTH (La Flor). Undoubtedly, the zoo Africa Mia became one of the top attractions in Liberia, Costa Rica. Giraffes, wild boar, ostrich, oryx, zebras and bongos try to captivate the national and foreign tourists.

Parts of the developments are the offspring that took some of the exotic animals as “Tico”, the dromedary of six months. Hippos and rhinos could complete the exotic menu of interesting animals of this place. Some of the airlines that fly daily to Liberia are: American Airlines, Continental, Delta. The group Taca has already had permits from the respective ICT so it will soon be added to this list. There are also charter flights from Canada to companies Sunwing and Sky Service. Daniel Oduber Airport in Costa Rica receives an average of 38 weekly flights, with an average of 1,118 passengers per day. Only in January 2005 over 32 thousand tourists entered the city of Liberia for this airport. In 2005 the number of passengers from this airport in Costa Rica was almost 400,000 passengers. Only during the 2007 season (December-April) is expecting more than 200,000 passengers. The British airline First Choice Airlines is flying from London, England, at the airport in Liberia since May 2007.

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Santa Rosa National Park in Costa Rica

Posted on Dec 12, 2008

The Santa Rosa National Park is located in the province of Guanacaste, in the North Pacific of Costa Rica, just 36 Km north of the city of Liberia. It was created by Executive Order on March 20, 1972. It has an area of 37,117 hectares of ground and has 78,000 hectares in the sea. It is one of the most important historic areas of the country, the mansion of stone and pens were the scene of the largest national heroic epic: The Battle of Santa Rosa, on March 20, 1856.

The park is important for the protection and restoration of habitats of the climatic region known as the Pacific Dry. The beaches of Nancite and Naranjo are of great scenic beauty and important areas for spawning of sea turtles as Lora and the leatherback. There are about ten habitats in Santa Rosa of Costa Rica, including deciduous forests, forests of oak, evergreen forests, mangrove swamps, coastal forests, forests of little trees, beach vegetation and grassland or savannah.

Savannas in Costa Rica consist mainly of the Jaragua grass and scattered trees such as the oak, the nance, the chumico or raspaguacal, the cornizuelo and jicara. Deciduous forests contain some 240 species of trees and shrubs: the Guanacaste that is the national tree, the Indian naked, oak savanna, the chaperno, El Jobo, the pochote, the madroño and Guácimo.

In the evergreen forest of this part of Costa Rica the dominant species with the nispero, the oak, and the Tempisque and the Aceituno. Wildlife is abundant and diverse. It has been observed 155 species of mammals; over half are bats, 253 birds, 100 amphibians and reptiles, and more than 10,000 insects, including some 3140 species of butterflies by day and night.  Among the mammals is easy to find the congo monkey, the white face monkey, the armadillo, the cheap, the tapir, the pizote, the zain, the puma, the jaguar and raccoons. The semi thorny mouse is the most abundant mammal of all. Some of the most outstanding birds are the magpie, the parakeet orange front, the red widow, the soterrey matraquero, the cargahuesos, the Pavón, the crab hawk and Jumping tailed.

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Grande Beach in Costa Rica, Guanacaste - North Pacific Coast

Posted on Nov 25, 2008

Playa Grande is located in the northern region of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica on the province of Guanacaste; more specifically is among the National Park Las Baulas and the city of Tamarindo, with its white sand beach and blue water. Playa Grande is known for a very special visitor, the leatherback turtle, which reaches to spawn by hundreds each year between the months of October and January. Playa Grande is one of the most important places for the spawning of this specie of turtle. The leatherback turtle is one of the largest turtles and make one of largest trips at sea, spawning from the beaches of Suriname to Malaysia, including some individuals that have been reported along the coast of Scandinavia. The Leatherback arrives at the beginning of October and the season runs through March, with activity in a top during November and December.
The warm blue water and golden sand from the coast of Playa Grande offer more open space and more privacy than any other beach in the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

Playa Grande beach in Costa Rica has been awarded by the coveted Blue Flag Green (Blue Flag) annually since its creation. The Blue Flag is an environmental award, given for the quality of the water and for the maintenance of coastal areas, in a few words is a price just for the beaches that are friendly with the environment.

Another popular reason to visit Playa Grande in Costa Rica is its excellent conditions for surfing, which are on the main beach. Playa Grande is much calmer than for example Playa Tamarindo, but surfing is just as good. In fact, according to many experimented surfers normally the surf breaks are sufficiently robust to qualify among the best points of surfing in the country. More to the north of the beach is great for swimming if you are not a fan of surfing. There are others activities that you can enjoy at Playa Grande, for example it is also possible to enjoy the wonderful beauty of nature, also is possible to rent equipment for kayaking, snorkeling and horseback riding making it an interesting place to spend your vacation.

Possibly the only inconvenient of Playa Grande of Costa Rica is that it do not have an easy access to the place. Tamarindo is the nearest beach and it is located just a couple of miles from Playa Grande. Because there is no direct way to get to Playa Grande you need to cross the estuary between the beach and Playa Tamarindo. The shortest way to get there is by flying to Liberia International Airport and from there to the beach. Because this beach has a protective fence, no hotel has rooms overlooking the place; however, near Playa Grande there are a number of hotels that are quite economic.

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