Central America
Video Chat with People from Costa Rica
Costa Rica squeezes rainforest, cloud forest, volcanoes and two coastlines into one small country. Most people live in the Central Valley around San José, Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago, but you might also meet someone from the Pacific beaches of Guanacaste, the laid-back Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo, or misty Monteverde. Spanish is the main language, spoken with a soft accent and plenty of local expressions, and English is common in tourism and along the Caribbean coast, where Limonese Creole is spoken too.
Costa Rica keeps one clock all year, six hours behind GMT, which matches Mexico City and puts its evenings an hour or two behind the US East Coast. Ask about pura vida, the phrase Costa Ricans (Ticos) use for hello, goodbye, thanks and everything in between, as well as gallo pinto, the casado lunch plate, coffee farms, surf breaks, sloths and toucans, Arenal Volcano and the national football team. Add a few lines from our Spanish page and a "pura vida" of your own, and you're set.
Costa Rica at a glance
| Flag | 🇨🇷 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Republic of Costa Rica |
| Capital | San José |
| Region | Americas · Central America |
| Official language | Spanish |
| Currency | Costa Rican colón (₡, CRC) |
| Calling code | +506 |
| Time zone | Central Standard Time (America/Costa_Rica) |
How to say hello
A few words of Spanish make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish (Costa Rica) | ¡Pura vida! | POO-rah VEE-dah | Hi! / All good! / Thanks! |
| Spanish | ¿Cómo le va? | KOH-moh leh VAH | How's it going? (polite) |
| Spanish (Costa Rica) | ¿Qué hay, mae? | keh EYE, MAH-eh | What's up, buddy? |
Tips for chatting with people from Costa Rica
- Many Costa Ricans use usted even with friends and family, so it's a safe default with anyone you meet.
- "Mae" is the all-purpose word for dude or buddy, and you'll hear it in nearly every casual sentence.
- Ask which region they're from. The Central Valley, Guanacaste and the Caribbean coast have different food, accents and music.
- Nature talk is a winner: ask about the last wildlife they spotted or their favorite national park.
Only meet people from Costa Rica
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Costa Rica, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Costa Rica and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Costa Rica, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Costa Rica are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Costa Rica borders 2 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: