Pura Vida

This phrase which is said by nearly every native Costa Rican and can be said in virtually every situation (greetings, salutations, a thank you, your welcome, life is great, the sky is blue), you name the situation, Costa Ricans can find a way to say this phrase.  Full of LIFE….

San Jose was a good time with good food and interesting cultural experiences too.  We got to eat at the central market a few times, had an amazing ceviche.

San Jose's Ceviche

Costa Rica was celebrating their independence on Sept 15,  190 years from Spain.  We were treated to an unexpected cultural dance at the one of the town’s central squares.  It was fun as it involved members of the audience chiming in with their own “limericks”.  Imagine watching this old traditional dance being done by grandmothers/grandfathers for 30 second intervals and at the end of the 30 seconds the MC of the dance comes over to someone and says “BOMBA” or bomb over a microphone. Then the audience member says over the mic something akin to “there once was a girl from nantucket”.  It was really funny…

Limerick Time

Traditional Dance "BOMBA"

The other cultural experience, also unexpected, was the parade celebrating independence.

Independence Day Parade

Next, we decided to head to Manuel Antonio beach which is close to another small beach town Quepos.  The one lane road from Q to MA runs up & down a montain which is also a rain forest.  It’s absolutely gorgeous here and quite unique. Not many beaches are situated in a rain forest.  Some experiences were interesting:

We were walking down the beach the other day came across some monkeys.

Monkey Mom & Baby

Road on an all terrain vehicle and hiked through the rain forest

Rain forest hike

ATV

Laid out and swam at various beaches

Beach @ Manuel Antonio

Hiked through theManuel Antonio National Park & saw some local critters.

Manuel Antonio Sloth

Manuel Anotonio even had some gay nightlife, small but nonetheless a good time.

If you care to see some more pics from San Jose & Manuel Antonio, click on the link here and here.

Until Next Time, PURA VIDA