The moment I stepped off of the six-hour flight from rainy Denver, Colorado to Liberia, Costa Rica, I was instantly greeted with a merry, “Pura vida!” and a dazzling smile by the nearest airport employee. Almost immediately, the humid air weighed down my dry skin with an overwhelming amount of sweat and I could feel my hair starting to morph into a scraggly tumbleweed. “Pure life?” I wondered as we boarded the bus to our resort, frowning. Apparently my AP Spanish class had not come in so handy after all. I could only think back to the countless flashcards I had never gotten around to studying before the trip with the bitter aftertaste of disappointment on my all-too English tongue.
From then on, I soaked up the unbelievable heat on the beach, breathing in the exotic smells of the sea and nearby mango trees. I had never been to a place with such a laid-back, friendly atmosphere and I found myself more relaxed than I had believed to be possible. I tried unimaginably delicious new foods and blissfully splashed through the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean without the high degrees of stress and anxiety that had seemed to constantly plague me at home. Costa Rica was a place filled with friendly, caring people, absolutely beautiful scenery, and a distinctive culture that set it apart from any other place I had been before. I will never forget the afternoon spent on a catamaran cruise, or the mesmerizing boat ride through the Costa Rican jungle, all perforated with quiet exclamations of “pura vida!” But still, the short phrase continued to puzzle me. It seemed to be an acceptable response to “thank you,” “goodbye,” “hello” and any other polite utterance I could think of. It littered T-shirts, key chains, candy, menus, and even dial tones. Pura vida was everywhere.
I remained inwardly perplexed until finally, towards the end of our trip, a tour guide relinquished my torment. As we drove past rural fields filled with smiling farm-workers tossing cantaloupes into rickety trucks, he explained that pura vida is an expression of happiness, wellbeing, and the peaceful life that Costa Ricans, or Ticos value so very much. It is a phrase that reminds people of their homes and the pride they have for their country. It is, simply, the heartbeat of Costa Rica. As a result, I couldn’t help but smile every time I heard it for the rest of the trip.
Upon my return from the transcendental beauty of the country I had come to love, I realized that I too carried the heartbeat of Costa Rica within me. When faced with countless tests, projects, essays, and AP Exams the following month, I found that I was much less worried than I would have been before the vacation. I became even more grateful for what I had and cherished the time I got to spend with my friends and family. I discovered an innate appreciation for the simple life that I had stumbled across on a bumpy bus ride to a muggy rainforest and held it close. The simple phrase became a faint promise that everything would turn out splendidly in the end, that uncertainty about the future doesn’t signify the end of the world. In short, I finally came to understand what I had been missing in my own lifestyle. Pura vida.
