The Colon. The Costa Rica currency, the Colon, was named after Christopher Columbus, or Cristobal Colon. New colorful waterproof bank notes were released between 2012 and 2014. The bills come in denominations of ¢1,000, ¢2,000, ¢5,000, ¢10,000, and ¢20,000, ¢50,000 with coins of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 Colones.