Costa Rica is a small, diverse "garden" on the isthmus joining the Americas. In an area about the size of West Virginia, 3.5 million Ticos enjoy twelve microclimates; a great variety of tropical vegetation, over 800 species of birds, sea turtles, tree frogs, monkeys, sloths and more.... Here are national parks, volcanoes, rivers and beaches beckoning to be explored. You can venture out of Santa Ana and the Central Valley, where the average temperature is 22C/72F, to visit the cooler rainforest, the warmer and more humid jungles or the semi-dry tropical forest zones.

Although CPH does not offer a formal travel or tour service, the staff will help point you in the direction of your choice, talk with you about how to minimize personal safety risks and give you hints for getting the greatest enjoyment from the country and people. Weekend excursions may take you on a jungle tour, a bird-watching outing, a scuba diving trip, a white water rafting adventure or just a walk on the beach or on a nature trail. Or, on a clear day you might climb a mountain where you can look to one side and see the Pacific, look to the other and see the Caribbean's blue water. Wherever you go, you will soon see why Ticos are proud to call their country "the garden of the Americas."