pura vida, my first love

Pura Vida. Pure life. It's a beautiful saying that the Ticos say but not only does it mean pure life, it is the way of life. A phrase that encapsulates the culture of Costa Rica.

Two words. Costa Rica.

Translation, it mean rich coast. A small country with 2 coasts that touches the Pacific on the west and the Caribbean on the East. It's one fifth the size of Colorado and it even has microclimates.

Why do you have to travel there?

Because it was named one of the happiest countries in the world. And as small as it is, it has one of the largest biodiversities in the world. Even though in Central America, with countries of conflict up North, they don't even have their own army! They're thriving and running on clean renewable energy. They strive to protect their rainforests by reforesting. They're doing very well with ecotourism. Costa Rica is also one of the few countries with a blue zone in Nicoya, where Ticos have lived to over 100 years.

I remember back in the day, flipping through travel magazines, with pictures of all these beautiful exotic places. I had a list of the places that I wanted to go to. And honestly, Costa Rica wasn't one of them. I flipped through the pages and ended up on the page of that country, there was a colorfully woven hammock with a lush background. I thought to myself, maybe, I'll go there someday. And I did.

At that point in my life, I was out my old relationship and taking it slow in a new one. My mom's friend was having a destination wedding and she invited me to go. She wasn't so fond of my new guy until he said he also wanted to go and she was open to the idea. Because he had interest in traveling. He also came out of a long term relationship he felt trapped in so this was our very first trip outside of the country, together.

We applied for our passports, nervous about sending in our birth certificates but we received them back with our new passports, within 3 weeks, a month before our trip. At that time we paid $560 for roundtrip tickets for the week of Thanksgiving and we landed in Liberia, Guanacaste.

Our first destination was to Conchal Hotel & Papaya Restaurant. And to this day as I'm writing this, I laughed to myself because they still don't have addresses. 😊 I looked it up on Google maps and it says, "200 meters south of the bridge," Provincia de Guanacaste, Brasilito, 50308, Costa Rica. No wonder we got lost lol.

We had a late flight, exchanged our USD to Costa Rica Colón and rented a manual RAV4 because in that country you need a for wheel drive. Knowing we wouldn't arrive until 1-2 in the morning, we picked an affordable place to sleep for the night and I was very satisfied with what we chose.

The restaurant had delicious food. I ordered the national dish of Costa Rica, Casado. A meat entry served with a side of black beans, fried plantains, rice, salad and salsa. I also asked for a papaya smoothie and it was literally a whole papaya blended, no ice lol. But everything was so good. So rich and flavorful. Nothing like the United States where it's all processed or imported from a far distance that loses flavor and nutrient content. It was so muy delicioso. The food and the flavors of Costa Rica is something I'll never forget.