Costa Rica - Pura Vida!


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Published: November 3rd 2011
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Pura vida is a very common saying in Costa Rica. Gabi had told us this before arriving in Costa Rica and we saw and heard the phrase everywhere.

Here is what Wiki (my old faithful friend) has to say about it:

"Pura vida literally means Pura = pure and vida = life, but "Pure life" in Spanish would be "Vida pura" instead, so the real meaning is closer to "plenty of life", "full of life", "this is living!", "going great", "real living","Awesome!" or "cool!" It can be used both as a greeting and a farewell, to express satisfaction, to politely express indifference when describing something or even to say "thank you" or "you're welcome". The phrase has become universally known in Costa Rica and it has been used by many Costa Ricans (and expatriates) since 1956."

We arrived in Costa Rica via the most challenging border crossing. Challenging as the rules for processing groups constantly change, and challenging as it was quite far to walk from the Nicaraguan side. About 10 minutes after we arrived it started pouring with rain (as if the weather knew where the border was!) until later that evening.

We stopped for lunch en route to the hotel and I was very excited to see a huge supermarket with lots of things in it! Sounds funny, but in the other countries we were in we didn't come across large supermarkets. Fresh fruit was difficult to find, as was a selection of beauty products, etc. I went a little bit nuts and stocked up and then got a shock at the checkout. I've also heard Costa Rica called 'Costa Lotta' and it is indeed more expensive than other countries we had been in previously (although on par with Belize). This is because it is wealthier, and there is also a lot more American influence here. Tourism- wise it has long been a destination for Americans and I can understand why - so many different geographies, so much to do, and of course close to the States also.

We arrived in Monteverde in the afternoon. It is up in the mountains, in 2 cloud forests was a lot cooler than recent places we had visited and so the jeans and hiking boots came out. It was a welcome relief for a little while. We checked into our hotel, which I think was my favourite of the trip. It felt like a mountain lodge, with interior wood panelling and had really soft blankets on the beds. We headed out for dinner and drinks at a local bar and tried the new local drinks - Imperial Beer and Guaro, which is the Costa Rican drink made from sugar cane. It's 30% alcohol and is kinda like vodka although doesn't taste as strong. Sorry Costa Rica, but I like Nicaragua's Tona Beer and Flor di Cana rum better!

The next morning we played with some capuchin monkeys at the hotel after breakfast. They were super cute, until one of the girls Lisa gave a baby one some mango and then the fangs on the daddy monkey came out! Time to go! We headed up to Monteverde Extremo for ziplining (me) and other crazy antics like bungy jumping (most of the rest of the group). With my fear of heights I was nervous to begin with, and when I started reading all of the safety and disclaimer information which warned you not to partake in the activities if you have vertigo I freaked out and said I didn't want to do it. All of the people there were really nice and said I could try the first line if I wanted to free of charge, and then if I wanted to back out I could at that point. I got kitted up, still very nervous - mainly about having to operate unfamiliar equipment and being petrified whilst doing it!

I tried the first zipline of 11 which was not high up and very short. Everything felt ok and so I said I woiuld proceed. Of course the next line was higher and longer and we had to operate the 'brakes' (adding pressure from one of our gloved hands to the line to slow down) towards the end. I braked too hard too early, and was left stationary on the line about 10 metres from the end. This was my worst fear! I had to stay there and be rescued by one of the guys. After this I freaked out and was very worried I would do the same thing on one of the longer lines. They reassured me that we could do tandem on the longer lines and I could do the shorter ones on my own.

This made a huge difference! As you are 'sitting up' in the harness and not looking down (unless you choose to) it's really fun zipping along the lines - with someone else doing all the work! The guys who worked there were great - making sure I felt comfortable at all times which really helped. In fact, I felt so comfortable by the time I got to the huge rappell that I did it first and it was quite fun! The scariest thing for me on the whole circuit was probably walking up big ladders (some of them shaky) and being able to see through them. The ziplining itself was lots of fun.

After the 'tarzan swing' (which I declined to do!) the last line was the 'superman' - a length of 1km and 180m up from the valley. You could pay extra and have your feet strapped to the line, so that you face down the entire way. I declined and did my last one tandem with one of the guys. What fun!! A major achievement for me nad I'm really proud I did it. Some of the group stayed around to do a giant swing and also a bungy jump - the highest in Central America - crazy!

Meanwhile, Harveen, Lisa, Birgit and I headed off to El Trapiche which is a tour run by a family who primarily grow coffee and sugar cane, but also grow bananas, plantains, macadamias and pineapples for their very large family to consume. We spent a very eventful afternoon learning about how all of these plants are harvested and grown, and the coffee process was really interesting as I hadn't learnt much about this previously.

Highlights were making our own candy from cane sugar with coconut and chocolate (yum!) and animal spotting. I spotted 2 sloths sitting up in their trees, and Diego (our tour guide) spotted a TOUCAN. This was top of my list of animals to see while on tour and while he was quite high up in the tree we could hear him clearly, and luckily had some binoculars to see him with as well. The colours were incredibly striking - so yellow on his chest and what a beautiful animal. All in all a really great day!!

We finished off by going out for a relaxing dinner - I had seabass with Asian sauce and greens and rice, and we were in a treehouse restaurant. An early night for all!

The next day we travelled to Arenal, La Fortuna. Again, it was pouring, which made for an interesting trip to the boat crossing in the mud and then crossing the river. We had a chilled out afternoon and then I opted to go with most of the group to a local hotel which had thermal baths which flow from the local earthquake (of course).

It turned out to be a resort with multiple pools, a big slide into the main pool and a swim up bar - score! Another thing to check of my 'to do' list. We passed a glorious few hours rolling around in the warm water, drinking pina coladas from pineapples at the swim up bar and racing down the slide. Pure fun for adults! We had a gorgeous 3 course meal included in the entry fee and I had ceviche (yummo) steak and a coconut flan. Needless to say I felt like a whale when I got back into the pools after dinner (but a post dinner shot of Guaro helped with that!). It started raining by the time we left and it was glorious lying in the warm water and being rained on at the same time.

The next day we went whitewater rafting. Admittedly this hadn't been on my to do list but offered the chance I couldn't say no! It had everything - water, adventure, a chance to see more gorgeous fauna and flora, and as it had been raining a lot recently - ther chance to ride some very big rapids. The rapids we rode are usually class III (out of 5) but due to the heavy recent rain they were up to class IV ie bigger! We formed groups and I was lucky enough to be part of an all girls group with Gabi our guide (who had done this multiple times before) and frieds Harveen & Lisa. We were paired up with the 'Rasta man' guide too who was really good.

After a briefing of commands, how to paddle, steer etc we were off! It was so much fun - I felt totally secure in the boat (even when practically underwater!) and it was a bit more relaxing than I had anticipated as we weren't paddling all the time. Rasta man steered the boat while we gave it momentum, and for 1.5 hours we laughed, paddled, got down (when we were about to hit rocks!) and just genuinely enjoyed being in the water, the adventure, and the surrouding flora and fauna. What fun and I can't wait to do it again!

After rafting we were treated to a big lunch made by a local family - a huge paddle covered with banana leaf and with chicken, rice, plantains, beans, salads etc - yummo! We were given shots of their version of guaro, then rice pudding for desert, and excellent coffee accompanied by their version of Baileys also! We also got to hear some Costa Rican music sung by some of the family. A great day!

That evening a bunch of us headed to a mini golf course we had spotted close to the hotel. It was 18 holes and each hole was themed with a country (except for Africa - ie not a countri) including Australia which had Waltzing Mathilda playing and a boxing kangaroo. Kitsch but cool!

Afterwards we headed to the Lava Lounge for dinner and drinks and got to hear a local song 'I don't know where I'm gonna go when the volcano blows' - tongue in cheek!

The next morning we were treated to a sleep in and a late departure of 11am. We arrived in San Jose in the afternoon and headed out for a late lunch. A bunch of us found a sushi restaurant and I got very excited and ordered sushi and ramen and gyoza. It had been a while since I saw all of these favourite things on a menu! Some of the kids headed out to buy costumes as it also happened to be Halloween. My tummy had gotten the better of me and by the time we had finished eating all I could find in the stores was Christmas decorations!

Dinner was at a really nice restaurant that Gabi had booked - a little more upmarket than our regular haunts. I guess it was our final night dinner after all! We had yummy food, accompanied by cocktails and shots of Guaro. At a decent time we headed out to a local club which for a Monday night was rammed, and everyone seemed to be in fancy dress costume! The rest of the night was spent drinking, dancing and having fun with my tourmates who I had to say goodbye to. I hope we'll keep in touch as some of them are Australian/ travelling or going to live in Australia/ and sure to visit Australia at some point.

I don't quite remember getting home, but I have made it to Quito in Ecuador ok, so will write more soon!



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