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Costa Rica Pura Vida
Rather like “hakuna matata” in certain African countries, “pura vida” can be heard, and seen, everywhere in Costa Rica, and really does have as many uses as the picture above suggests. It’s the motto of the national brewing company Imperial, it even appears on the national football team’s shirts. Above all, it conveys the contentment and happiness of the Costa Rican people. Costa Rica is a rather enlightened nation, one which receives envious glances from larger nations and greater powers across the globe, in terms of its environmentally friendly policies and its relationship with the natural world. It isn’t hidden and is most certainly not a role played by posturing…
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Cartago: In The Shadow Of Irazu
Our arrangements for the journey from Tortuguero to our next base are a bit on the sketchy side. The instructions are to be down at the riverside at 8.30am and ask for Kendall, who will take us in his boat to the nearest point where the road meets the river, at La Pavona one hour’s ride away, where we are to ask for a man named Robert, who will drive us to San Jose. After that we have to find the bus to Cartago. At precisely 8.30 a man in a blue polo shirt approaches us saying “La Pavona?”. He isn’t Kendall but he knows which is our boat. Later,…
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Into Costa Rica: San Jose
With COVID protocols and admin overcome, we have made it, and on Tuesday December 14th we finally arrived in the Costa Rican capital ready for what is planned to be a 7-week tour followed by a detour to California before we head home. If the traffic on the way into the city is anything to go by, then San Jose is one heavily congested capital. It takes over an hour to inch our way through heaving, chugging giant trucks, buses belching fumes and huge numbers of less than pristine cars, from the airport to downtown San Jose. Darkness falls during that hour, and brings with it just a hint of…
