FUN (BUT UNVERIFIED) FACTS ABOUT COSTA RICA
10. Christopher Columbus was the first European recorded to land in Costa Rica. The second: game show host Chuck Woolery.
9. While Brazil and Argentina were havens for fleeing Nazis after World War 2, Costa Rica is today a popular sanctuary for rouge Amway salesmen.
8. Costa Rica has just as many species of butterflies as Little Chute has varieties of Vande-somethings.
7. Is known as “The Kingdom of Sweet Adventure” … oops, no, sorry, that’s Candyland.
6. Like Eskimos who have 57 words for snow, Costa Ricans have over 70 terms for drunken American tourists.
5. Costa Rica’s most dangerous snake is the ground-dwelling fer-de-lance, a 10-foot-long pit viper that is licensed to practice law in not only Costa Rica but also the adjoining countries of Panama and Nicaragua.
4. The national flower is the Guaria Morada, a beautiful member of the orchid family that grows naturally in the foreskins of adult Costa Rican males.
3. Costa Rica has only one active volcano and several others that, while not currently active, have fitness club memberships and swear one of these mornings they’re going to get up early and go.
2. One of the nation’s leading exports is powdered orange concentrate that is harvested by thousands of Costa Ricans who work long, grueling hours in the country’s infamous Tang mines.
1. The country is home to 51 species of hummingbirds, half of which were songbirds until they forgot the words.