The old bromide that “family is very important” to Latin Americans is true here, though maybe not as true as in Mexico or other places in Latin America. This means that families live close together, children live with parents until they’re married (often into their 20s or 30s), and family businesses are held closely. Costa Rica being such a small country, it sometimes seems as if everyone is related. Cousins are littered everywhere, and you’ll see the same surnames popping up constantly.

As for women’s rights, in some ways Costa Rica is ahead of certain developed countries. In others, it’s behind. The Costa Rican government actually has a National Women’s Institute and women’s participation in government is protected by the constitution. Likewise, it’s common to see female cops on patrol with male counterparts, and women can also be found in leadership at nearly all levels of business and politics, with the exception of the very highest posts. (That might change in politics – Laura Chinchilla, the most recent former vice president, is a favorite to carry the banner for the National Liberation Party in the next presidential election.)

Culturally, however, old-school machismo still dominates relationships between the sexes, something that especially holds true in rural areas. Man-on-woman domestic violence is still very high, despite recent legislative efforts to reduce it. Also, it’s not at all unusual to run across working-class Costa Rican men who still brag about the number of children they’ve fathered from multiple single women, though they’ve cooled it a bit lately after new alimony laws went into effect that garnished up to half the wages of deadbeat dads. Gringo men should be aware that many of the local women have a thing for foreigners from up North. It’s not always clear whether the come-ons are true love or just gold digging (or, who knows, some sort of combination), but be aware. And be careful.