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10

Costa Rica

south, only 74 miles (119 kilometers) separate the Caribbean from the Pacific—just a five-hour drive. At its broadest point, Costa Rica is only 175 miles (280 kilometers) wide. On the eastern seaboard, barely 100 miles (160 kilometers) separate the Nicaraguan and Panamanian borders. The Pacific coast is longer, but it is still only 300 miles (480 kilometers) from the north- ernmost tip to the Panamanian border in the south. Lying between 8° and 11° north of the equator, Costa Rica is located entirely within the tropics. But vast differences in elevation create more than a dozen distinct climatic zones. Even ice and snow aren’t unknown in cooler months atop the highest mountains. In fact, Costa Rica is one of the few places in the world where the forces of nature are constantly overlapping and even clashing. A dozen different climatic patterns exist side-by-side. Far beneath the ground, gigantic tectonic plates—the Cocos and Caribbean plates—barge into one

Words to Understand in this Chapter

archipelago— a group of many islands. fauna— animals in a certain area. flora— plants in a certain area.

microclimate— the climate of a small area, such as a forest or valley. Richter scale— a scale used for measuring the strength of earthquakes. seismologist— an expert in the study of earthquakes and shifts in the earth’s crust. tectonic— having to do with the structure of the earth’s crust. tremor— a shaking or trembling.