Costa Rica
The country is dominated by four major mountain ranges, and which together
form a continental divide that runs down its middle.
The Talamanca Range is the country's oldest and highest, rising to a height
of 12,220 feet at Chirripo peak, and stretching southeast down into Panama.
The Central Range, which stands to the north of San Jose, is made up of
several large volcanoes. The Tilaran and Guanacaste Ranges stretch northwest
toward Nicaragua. The Central Valley is a large area set between the Talamanca
and Central Mountain Ranges at an altitude of almost 4,000 feet above sea
level. The Valley is where about half the country's population lives, and
it contains the capital of San Jose as well as the nearby cities of Cartago,
Alajuela and Heredia and countless other smaller towns.
Though mountains dominate Costa Rica's geography, it does have its lowlands,
most of which are in the northern part of the country.
The Atlantic Lowlands stretch north and east from the Central, Tilaran and
Guanacaste Mountain Ranges to the Caribbean coast and San Juan River, which
defines the border with Nicaragua.
The Pacific Lowlands stretch westward, covering much of the Tempisque River
watershed and the better part of the Nicoya Peninsula, which has only small
mountains. The southwest has two smaller lowland areas: the valley of the
General River and the Osa Peninsula.
This topography is drained by a multitude of rivers, which are fed by regular
rains. Because the tradewinds continuously blow Caribbean storms over the
country, it rains almost twice as much on the Atlantic side of these mountains
as on the Pacific side, which means the forests are more lush year round
on the Caribbean slope.