Author name: Glenn Tellier

Costa Rica is the only country in the Americas with an official state religion. Here is what Article 75 actually says, how the country is really divided, and how to find an English-language congregation.

The North American town pool barely exists here. What Costa Rica has instead is the balneario — spring-fed complexes where the water runs straight through rather than being recirculated.

Costa Rica’s art scene is almost entirely state-run, and its three great museums share a peculiarity — the buildings were all something else first.

Costa Rica has sixty public libraries plus the National Library, run centrally by the Ministry of Culture rather than by town councils — and they are spread far more unevenly than you would guess.

Salsa is Cuban and bachata is Dominican. The dance that is actually Costa Rican is swing criollo — born in the banana zone, shunned for decades, and national heritage since 2012.

Rainbow eucalyptus grows very well in Costa Rica, but every one was planted. Here is how it arrived, why the bark is coloured, and the argument about whether it should be here at all.

Costa Rica has 1,684 orchid species, a dry-forest tree whose whole population flowers nine days after a cold snap, and a white flower that Costa Ricans scramble with egg at Easter. Here is the real list.

Nobody actually knows how many Americans and Canadians live in Costa Rica — the official figures differ by a factor of six and the 2022 census reached only 60.7% of homes. But how Costa Ricans feel about them has been measured.