Interesting+Information+about+Costa+Rica

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Costa Rica, I have been doing some research on its history. I discovered that Costa Rica is the first country in the world to abolish their military which they did in December 1,1948. This is a main reason why when the rest of Latin America was erupting in violent civil wars Costa Rica reamined out of the fray. It has been referred to as the "Switzerland of Central America". Costa Rica's history of environmental activism includes a law passed in 1955 which declared areas within a radius of 2km of volcanic craters to be national parks. I will get to see first hand how this has benefited the Costa Rican landscape when I visit Arenal.