Day 1: Toronto to San Jose – the Pura Vida Experience Begins!

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Pura Vida is Spanish for “Pure Life.” The phrase runs deep in Costa Rican culture. Costa Ricans use the term for multiple purposes: to say hello, goodbye, I’m great and everything’s good. Pura Vida is a relaxed, simple way of looking at life; no stress, no worries, being thankful and not dwelling on the negatives. People say you don’t quite understand what Pura Vida means until you come to Costa Rica. So, here we are, two sisters, on our epic journey to live the “Pura Vida Experience, Costa Rican style. Our first stop Costa Rica’s capital city, San Jose.

We arrived at Juan Santamaria International Airport at around 1:00pm. Getting through customs took a gruelling two hours and with traffic we finally arrived in San Jose around 4:00pm. However, we were not discouraged. It is all part of the experience. Pura Vida!

As a first impression, I found San Jose to be a noisy, crowded and busy metropolis. It took a while to get used to. However, San Jose’s central location makes it easier to get around to other areas of Costa Rica. Tomorrow, we leave San Jose for the quieter Tortuguero, the land of the turtles.

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