TRAVEL: A personal lovenote to Costa Rica

Head over heels, it’s just the best way to describe it… It’s the country that ignited my wanderlust, the place I tell everyone about and the only destination I visited multiple times, I just can’t stay away. I’m in love with Costa Rica, and let me tell you why.

Out of high school, me and my best friend decided we wanted to learn Spanish in a foreign country. The brochure of the organization that offered these featured many destinations, and for a long time we were set on Valencia, Spain. And then just one day, looking at the brochure again we thought; why not make it even more of an adventure and fly half way cross the world to Costa Rica, a country we both had no experience with, but somehow seemed perfect to us. And so we did. From our cozy apartment in Jaco beach we learned Spanish, attended tours to see the rest of the country, surfed, and just really enjoyed our time off school and work.

I fell so in love with Costa Rica that I was determined to come back there again, and when my boyfriend and I were looking to plan a long trip, Costa Rica directly came to mind. And this time we saw even so much more of Costa Rica’s beauty. Through one big road trip in our rented Suzuki Jimny we visited small villages, volcanos, mountains, lakes, cloud forest, rain forest, and even crossed over to Panama for a few days. Yet again admiring everything this beautiful country has to offer.

Maybe you’ve heard of “Pura Vida”. It’s an expression that is been used by the ‘Ticos’ (popular term for the natives in Costa Rica) to describe their way of life. A simple English translation would be “Pure Life, but that’s just not doing it justice. For anyone who lives in Costa Rica, or has spent much time there, Pura Vida is a way of life, a way of thinking and it’s the eternal positivism that the natives seem to possess. It is no coincidence that Costa Rica is high up on any “happiness” list or index, the Ticos truly appreciate life, beauty, love, nature, wildlife and above all, take the time to reflect and to enjoy those things. A striking example: they think we’re crazy for always wanting to be on time, planning everything and stressing out about lots of stuff. And hey, when you look at it this way, maybe we are a little bit…

Life is short, and places like Costa Rica will simply force you to slow down. To enjoy, to admire, to live. Just go. I promise you, it will be amazing!

My favourite places in Costa Rica: Cahuita, Monteverde & Samara

Lots of love,
Raisa