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 politicians failing to deliver, or indeed a misguided pretence of individuals with skewed priorities, both of which are all too prevalent back home.

What we would term “green policies” are simply a way of life, despite it being a popular tourist destination. As the likes of Biden, Johnson and Bezos have all recently stated, there are examples of conduct which the rest of the world would do well to follow. To us, after spending seven weeks there, it seems to be borne out of the naturally content persona which typifies the Costa Rican character, maybe a peaceful disposition lends itself to such policies. If so, then little wonder that this country is considered to be one of the happiest places on Earth to live.

Nature is so much bigger than people here… “A Love Of All Living Things Is The Greatest Attribute” is a maxim we’ve seen more than once. We wonder how many people know that Costa Rica’s reaction to WW2 was to disband its Army in a gesture of peace, and that there has been no military force of any kind in the country since then.

The fact that no military force has existed for quite so long is clearly a source of pride to Ticos, although we were given a different spin by one local. When the subject cropped up, he chuckled, saying:

“It wasn’t a gesture of peace, it was because the one great threat to the new President was a military coup. He disbanded the Army to get rid of the opposition, not to be a man of peace”.

Nevertheless, Costa Rica is a tangibly happy place to live. It’s actually very easy to start to wonder what the World would be like if every nation followed Costa Rica’s lead. It would be a better place, in all likelihood.

Scratch the surface though and of course you reveal the imperfections. If you compliment the Costa Rican Government on its enlightened policies – or indeed simply mention the Government – the response from anyone and everyone will include the words “corruption” and “dishonesty”. The “haves” can get what they want if they line the right pockets.

In addition, there are considerable divides in the distribution of wealth (most of the wealth held by the few and not much middle ground) and there are laws which we in the UK would consider invasive: for instance, without paying a monthly ID card fee to the nationalised Bank you can’t drive a car, travel on public transport or pretty much do anything else. Any outstanding fines or taxes are added to this monthly fee.

Overall, Costa Rica is not a poor nation, especially when compared to neighbouring Central American countries, and tourism makes significant contributions to an economy otherwise dominated by fruit exports. As the nation has become wealthier, so the population has deserted manual work in favour of jobs in tourism and admin, paving the way for migrant workers from Nicaragua to fill the fruit and coffee farm vacancies.

Whatever the make-up of society, there is a predominant contentment in Costa Rica which is evident everywhere, and at all times. Its people are sociable and helpful and carry a ready smile: there seems to be a genuine desire to enjoy life.

No wonder the phrase that is most commonly heard is….pura vida!!