Pura Vida

Two words are synonymous with Costa Rica: Pura Vida. Literally meaning, “Pure Life,” this phrase abounds there: emblazoned on tshirts, bumper stickers, and on the lips of the inhabitants.

But it is so much more than a simple phrase lifted from a once-popular Mexican television program. Pure Life is a way of life there. Sure, in the cities there is a hustle and bustle that can be in any city of the world. Outside of it, away from it, there is both a new and an ancient way of being.

Before man traded his time for money, he lived. Once his needs for food, water, and shelter were met, he could live. Sure, if he wanted a family, those basic needs would need to be increased, but not by much.

There is a reason why I chose this beach town as my final stop on my year-long, worldwide adventure. And no, it was not that this is where the best prostitutes of Costa Rica were. I knew I needed to slow down, gather my thoughts and my feelings, and truly appreciate what I had done. Once my needs of food, water, and shelter were met, I could return back to this pure life. 

Modernity is synonymous with obligation; a fact that I understand all too well. Rents, mortgages, car payments, tuition, loans, debt etc. It is under this weight that people potentially lose themselves; trembling like Atlas holding up the world. At times like these people just think if they work harder then their lives will improve without understanding the underlying cause of their misery i.e. larger rents, more expensive mortgages, bigger car payments, higher tuition, grander loans, and increasing debts.

There is an old joke about an investment banker that goes to some paradise for a much-needed vacation. While he is walking on the beach, he encounters a fisherman and strikes up a conversation with him. The banker asks about his typical day. The fisherman replies that he gets up early, takes his boat out on the water, fishes until about 11AM, takes his catch to the market, then spends the rest of his day playing with his kids. The investment banker says he could be doing so much more. With the fish prices and the International market especially in Asia, he should get a group of investors together to invest in a fleet. Eventually, the fisherman would be able to have several crews working under him, then he could really set the market. He could then horizontally integrate by buying a canning factory so he could can his catch and might be able to diversify by buying a shipping fleet to get his catch to bigger markets. After 15-20 years, he would never worry about money again. Then he could stop his work days at 11 AM and play with his kids.

As I stood at El Mira, looking out over Jacó, I began thinking. Too many people take their lives for granted. One day they will have the perfect career, the perfect relationship, and the perfect life. The problem is that on no calendar does it say anywhere One Day.

I knew I needed a place to relax and ponder everything I had experienced; the good, the bad, and the ugly. I knew that soon, I would be back in the grind. I would be worrying about all the things I worried about before I left. But I had perspective now. I knew that things could be more simple. 

And it was here in Costa Rica that I re-learned about what life can be, in its purest form.