Costa Rica is a Spanish-speaking country in Central America. Every Latin-American country has a unique accent and regional sayings, and Costa Rica is no exception. English is also very widely spoken here, as a lot of tourists from the United States and Europe come to visit, or even live here. Costa Rica also has communities of expats, people living outside of their native countries, who speak French, German, Chinese, and many more languages.
One unit of money is called a colón, and multiple are colones. Many countries in Central America have named their money colones after Christopher Columbus, or "Cristobal Colón" as they say in Spanish.
A bottle of water usually costs about 800 colones, or $1.40. This is fairly inexpensive, but other items from the United States cost a lot of money. For example, a small jar of peanut butter can cost $10, and a package of U.S. chocolate candy can cost $3.00. The exchange rate from dollars to colones is usually about 570 colones per dollar. Today the exchange rate is 578.43 colones per dollar.
