Mountains and valleys

Much of Costa Rica is mountainous. A spine of mountains runs the length of this narrow country, dividing the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the country. This is a photo that shows typical terrain of the mountains and valleys that form the central part of Costa Rica.

Although in Costa Rica you are never far from the ocean -- in fact, never far from two oceans -- elevations reach as high as 3,820 meters (12,532 ft.). The mountains that run the length of the country make road construction difficult. For those of us on the Pacific Coast, such as Tamarindo, we are grateful for the mountains because they keep any hurricanes over on the Caribbean side, as the hurricanes cannot cross the high mountains.

The higher elevations of the central highlands makes for pleasant temperatures all year around. As you can see from the green mountains and valleys, this area gets abundant rainfall. The combination of mountains, valleys and adequate rainfall also combines to provide terrain suitable for dams and hydroelectric power. Costa Rica gets almost all of its electricity from dams. This helps make possible Costa Rica's goal of being the world's first carbon neutral nation by 2021.

We are showing photos of Ek Balam, a unique but lesser-known Mayan site in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, on our Viva la Voyage site.