Pura Vida

Pura Vida is like the motto of Costa Rica which directly translated means pure life. When you ask the question, Como esta, you often get the response, pura vida. I'm not sure that it totally makes sense but I go with it. My Mama Tica or host mom told me that a was una chica pura vida because I was willing to try anything and eat anything and be open to new experiences. I think that was the best compliment I could have received from her, I like the idea of living pura vida.

In my Spanish class there were two guys from California, myself, and the instructor. The classes were really informal which was great because we just had conversations in Spanish and the instructor would correct us when necessary and use teachable moments to help us learn proper grammar, different verb tenses and new vocabulary. We had some great conversations about our personal lives, our views on politics, religion, education, and controversial issues, and stories of our adventures here in Costa Rica. After conversing in Spanish for 4 hours a day we found it hard to think in English afterwards which told us that we were in fact starting to think in Spanish, which is a pretty cool place to be when learning a new language.

So my mornings in Costa Rica consisted of 4 hour Spanish classes followed by an afternoon hike from my house to the hostel were my friend was staying, and I mean hike because Monteverde is a city built in the mountains so if you walk anywhere you are either going uphill or downhill, never straight and it is quite a workout. But the view is so incredible I can't even begin to describe it. Some afternoons were full of adventures like the Canopy Tour Zipline through the Cloud Forest or driving ATVs through mountain trails  or hiking in the backwoods by our Spanish Instructor's house to find this incredible tree with roots and branches that formed a story high bridge over the river or climbing up a Fikus tree that's hollow on the inside with enough twisted branches for one to find foot holes all the way to the top. And some afternoons were spent with my host family, teaching my 15 year old hermana Tica how to play Pink and Adele songs on the piano or playing futbol with my 8 year old hermano Tico in the kitchen with a ball made of yarn so that it did not destroy anything. One night I even went to Zumba with my Mama Tica and hermano Tico. On the way home I told them that Zumba was on Monday nights in my city too. My hermano Tico says, maybe the whole world has Zumba on Monday nights, and I think, maybe it does, because for all the differences that there are around the world, there are lot of things that are the same no matter where you go.

Sunshine, new friends, mountain views, adventures, and Spanish conversations, all in all, a great week in Costa Rica, pura vida.