Pura Vida: Day One

Pura Vida (POO-rah VEE-dah), used by Costa Ricans since 1956, literally translated means "Pure Life." Contextually, it means "Full of Life" "Purified life", "This is living!"or "Going great!" It is used as a greeting, a farewell, and to express satisfaction. Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, good spirits, enjoying life slowly, celebrating good fortune, whether small or large.

It is an acknowledgment of the Costa Rican attitude towards life. (Wikipedia)

There couldn’t be a more perfect phrase to capture the absolute beauty and magnificence of this country! We have been back for one week now and I’m waiting for that little ache in my heart to go away. I want to go back. I want to speak Spanish and live near the beach and eat pico galla every morning for breakfast. I want to play on the beach, watch the pelicans dive for fish, enjoy the hermit crabs scurrying along the sand, and listen to the howler monkeys call to each other as they eat their breakfast. I want to hike through the rain forest to a magnificent waterfall and sit on a rock and enjoy the mist on my face. I want fruity drinks and smoothies served at my whim and homemade tostado chips and guacamole available at any hour of the day or night. I want to read 3 books in 7 days and have my husband all to myself. I want Costa Rica back.

This picture was inspired by Emily's trip to Costa Rica. I thought it was the perfect image to summarize it all!

My toes in the Pacific Ocean.

We left at 12:50 a.m. Sunday morning (February 8th) from Salt Lake City and flew into Atlanta where we had a 4-hour layover. We spread ourselves out as best we could on the metal waiting chairs and tried to nap but they had the TV’s turned on with the volume cranked loud enough to leave your ears ringing. I ended up eating lots of yummy Target trail mix and reading a trashy celebrity magazine. We finally boarded our flight for Costa Rica and tried to catch a little more sleep!

Trying to catch a little sleep in Atlanta!

We arrived in Liberia, Costa Rica around 1:00 p.m.where we were greeted by wind, humidity, and blessed warm sunshine. My skin is so dry in Utah during the winter. As we left SLC, the knuckles on my left hand actually starting bleeding because they were so dry. Within 2 days of being in paradise, my skin was smooth, silky and shiny! Love, love, love.

The airport was fabulous. Just a big open building with the biggest ceiling fans in the world gently moving the air around. The roof was some type of tin, the floor concrete and very few walls. It was all open and welcoming and very "tropical". I loved it!

The open air airport in Liberia, Costa Rica.

The largest ceiling fans in the world.

We caught a shuttle to the car rental place and got our first glimpse of Costa Rica. Liberia is on the west coast which is in the middle of their "dry" season. Even though it is 80-90 degrees, it is very brown looking. It looks like winter there…except no freezing temperatures! We rented our car, received all the scary instructions about how to not be ripped off, mugged, or have our car stolen, and then set off for our first adventure. We drove roughly 3 hours inland to the Arenal Volcano and tiny city of La Fortuna. It was interesting watching the landscape change from dry plains to lush, green rain forest. The drive was amazing! We passed through several small towns and really got to see the homes, stores, fantastic views, numerous skinny cows, horses, dogs, beautiful people, and landscape. We were really blessed…the main road from Liberia to La Fortuna is paved and in pretty good shape…a novelty for this country. While the road was just 2 lanes and we had the occasional mud slide, broken bridge and questionable drops off the side into the lake, it was fairly smooth driving. It started raining as we neared the Arenal area which made everything more beautiful and misty looking. Lake Arenal is the largest lake in Costa Rica and is breathtaking. It is surrounded by rolling hills that are part pasture land and part forest. It was a beautiful backdrop to the volcano and rainforest.

Our spunky little ride.

We arrived at Erupciones Inn and were amazed at our luck! This little "bed and breakfast" type place is run by a Costa Rican family on a real working farm. The husband showed us to our beautiful cabin, left us the keys, a few simple directions and we stood looking at each other in disbelief. To get to the front door of our "room", we walked up a little path past banana trees, bird of paradise flowers and other tropical plants. We had a little front porch with a table and chairs to facilitate book devouring and watching the amazing live volcano right in front of us! Our room was simple and classic and perfect. In the mornings, you would walk up to the main house where they had little tables and chairs on the patio and they would serve you a plate of fresh scrambled eggs (from the chickens on the farm), hot chocolate with freshly squeezed cow milk, and toast with jam. Jorge and Jesse were the owners and while Jorge was busy working on the farm, Jesse was serving breakfast out of her kitchen with her gorgeous 4-year old daughter playing around her feet and her 13-day old son sleeping in the next room. Jesse speaks at least 4 languages fluently (German, English, French and Spanish) and is one of the most gracious people I’ve met.

The pathway to our little "love nest". We had a banana tree and our own tropical plants.

The front porch of our love nest...perfect for reading and volcano watching.

The love nests at Erupciones Inn. Can you believe this place?

Breakfast visitor

I was charmed by every aspect of our room...from the door handle to the rustic orange and blue color scheme to the spanish tile in the bathroom to the wooden beams on the ceiling. It was beautiful.

The volcano from our front porch.

My idea of vacation...a great book, fabulous front porch, and volcano view.

Arenal Volcano


Chris desperately waiting for the clouds to part and the volcano "cone" to show itself.

That first day we marveled at our beautiful surroundings and then crashed for a little nap while the storm raged on outside. Do you remember napping without children? You truly fall into a deep sleep with no part of you listening or worrying about anything going on around you. There is no tension, no yelling at someone to get out of the cupboard, no mysterious crashing noises…just pure, blissful sleep. We awoke (when WE felt like it) and decided to go get some dinner. Our fabulous Frommer’s tour book recommended a little place right near our bed and breakfast and since it had the word "steak" in it, we decided to try it out. It was called "El Novillo del Arenal" and while it was truly nothing fancy, just some tables and chairs set on a concrete slab underneath a high, open zinc roof, it had fabulous food. We ordered steak and chicken and some "fried yuca"…it was truly divine…every last morsel!

Divine steak house.

Me standing next to a big plastic cow rubbing my belly full of beef and yuca!

We headed back to our little cabana for more rest and relaxation! And thus ended Day One…Chris just came down and asked if I was writing a novel. I’m not known for my brevity and since this is the only semblance of a journal in my life, you get all the details. Feel free to skim.