Where but Costa Rica offers the serenity of a peaceful, stable country devoted to environmental preservation, where ¡pura vida! ("pure life") can be a national motto? Thousands of North Americans and Europeans have chosen Costa Rica for second homes or for a year-around ex-pat life in a tropical paradise. Join us!

Costaricans, Ticos as they like to be called, have built a peaceful, peace-loving and neutral country with a century of democratic traditions. The army was abolished in 1948 and President Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his contribution to the Central American Peace Plan.

Costa Rica's social programs (health and education) are among the best in the world and they are available free to all its citizens. Foreign residents can, for a yearly fee, have access to the equivalent of the Canadian Medicare system.

Foreign investors are welcome in Costa Rica and are given equal constitutional rights. Costa Rica is one of the very few country in the world where foreigners can buy large tracts of land and obtain recognized, registered and full titles, with private title insurance available from North American title insurers. Capital can move freely while income and property tax rates are fairly low by North American standards.

Last but not least, Costa Rica's most valuable natural resource is its people. They shape and protect the natural paradise they inherited and it is their genuine friendliness that makes Costa Rica such an attractive destination.

For all of these reasons, Costa Rica is often mentioned as one of the most stable countries in the world, offering one of the best investment environments (Forbes, 1994), and described as a paradise for retirees (International Living, 1992 ). Thousands of Canadians, Americans, Europeans and Latino-Americans have chosen Costa Rica as a tourism destination and a favorite place for pensioners.