¡Pura Vida!

This is probably the most common expression in Costa Rica. It will be on your souvenir t-shirt, sarong, beach towel, candle, coffe mug, and so on. It can be a statement, a question, or an exclamation. Like this:
How was your bus ride? Pura vida.
¿Pura vida? Pura vida.
What do you think of Costa Rica? ¡Pura Vida!
It translates literally to “pure life.” It is used for everything positive. And in Costa Rica most things are positive most of the time. Life here is relaxed. The people are welcoming and helpful. I keep telling our friends here that they make this an easy place to be.

Unfortunately, it is a place I get to be for only a short while. Tomorrow Marie and I head home to Minnesota. I hope you have enjoyed my blog. I have thought of it like writing postcards—without the space limit : ) Writing it has been interesting, though different than I expected. I had hoped to have Marie write more, but it quickly became clear that her contact would be through Facebook. (If you haven’t already, you could find her there and see her pictures and comments.)

I also imagined a bit more for comments from my readers, but the hiccup at the beginning when I had to re-create the blog kind of got in the way of that. If you haven't yet, please email any comments to me at pederchild@gmail.com. I would be interested to hear what you thought of this travel-blog or what your favorite part was or whether you have questions or anything else you want to share.

Please stop by soon—I would love to see you, to swap stories, and to treat you to a cup of Costa Rican coffee. ¡Pura Vida!