When I was in Costa Rica recently with Overseas Adventure Travel, I was introduced to the concept of Pura Vida, which in Costa Rican Spanish translates literally to ” simple life” or ” pure life.” However, in Costa Rica it’s more than that. It’s quite literally a relaxed way of life and an expression that can be said along with hello and goodbye to wish someone a good day, a satisfactory life, a joyful way of being. It was the Wi-Fi password at one hotel, the welcoming greeting at the door as we entered others, and a parting wish from the school children after we visited them in a local school. We saw signs of Pura Vida and experienced it on so many parts of the trip and grew to embrace it.
This expression isn’t new. It’s been around for at least 50 years when it was popularized in a Mexican movie titled ” Pura Vida.” In the movie, the main character experienced multiple situations that could be negative. But instead, he always said,” Pura Vida,” shrugged, and went on to encounter the next of life’s lessons. But the expression and all that it represented caught on. Today, even more than when I first visited Costa Rica 18 years ago, I learned about Pura Vida on the OAT trip Costa Rica: Natural Parks and Tropical Forests which has since been renamed Costa Rica: Wildlife and Tropical Landscapes. However, they have another trip called Costa Rica: Pura Vida and Rainforest Discoveries. Overseas Adventure Travel has embraced Pura Vida too.
The easy-going, slow-moving lifestyle that is also the beauty, wildlife and rainforest wonder that lovingly dominates Costa Rica and the spirit of Pura Vida, might very well be encapsulated in the indigenous animals as well. Certainly, no creature there is more representative of the easy-going slow life than the sloth.
Our first encounter with the Pura Vida nature of the sloth was at the first rainforest lodge where we stayed. There was at least one sloth who had become apparently domesticated and decided to join us for dinner one night He slowly and deliberately took his time climbing around our dinner table while people took pictures. On another occasion, our tour bus had to come to a complete stop for an extended period because a sloth was out among the general population and decided to cross the road. We all laughed because we knew this gentle creature would take his time before getting to his destination. We waited patiently joking about who had the right of way in Costa Rica before we were able to continue. Pura Vida indeed!
There are several sloth sanctuaries in Costa Rica, where orphaned sloths or where those in need of rehabilitation are nurtured. We drove past one such sanctuary in and around La Fortuna, a city where some in our group had eaten dinner the night before. The other OAT tour stays in La Fortuna, which is filled with shops, restaurants, and even thermal waters and hot springs which originate from the nearby Arenal Volcano. But our brief time there the day we stopped for the sloth was on the way to Arenal Volcano Park. Our trip leader had excellent spotting capabilities, and spotted the slow moving creature sluggishly wending through the trees. The next time he saw one for us was in Manual Antonio Park. They are an interesting addition to nature’s bounty because they spend most of their lives hanging upside down in the rainforest, are closely related to anteaters, and one species has three toes on each foot, while another species has only two. They primarily eat leaves which support slow their metabolic rates and thus slow movements, so they are undetected by predatory hawks and cats at night.
Of course, the sloth isn’t the only part of Costa Rica that provides a traveler with a sense of Pura Vida. Costa Rica is truly the complete package for a nature lover, with beautiful vistas in the rainforest, cloud forest, and coastal beaches that span form the Caribbean to the Pacific. Its coffee heritage (originally from Ethiopia), as well as its history with pineapple production (originally from Brazil) and bananas (brought over from the United Fruit Company via Cuba), add delight to any traditional Costa Rican meal.
As an experienced world traveler, it’s refreshing to know there is a place on earth not that far from home where we can converge with nature in all its forms and be culturally richer for it. Even the dramatic Costa Rican sunsets can quell a disquieted soul or add further joy and enrichment to those simply looking to explore and enjoy the rainforest animals and the rest of nature. Mankind and nature can truly become one in such a sublime setting. Pura Vida!
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