Doin' Costa Rica: Pura Vida is BULLSH*T

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Pura Vida is BULLSH*T

Trust me, Pura Vida is EVERYWHERE in Costa Rica.
'Pura Vida' is as much Costa Rica as Costa Rica is 'Pura Vida'. You can't really mention one without mentioning the other. Try to talk about 'love' without mentioning 'heart', it's kinda like that.

Costa Ricans are proud of their 'Pura Vida' heritage, as well they should be, after all, 'Pura Vida' literally means 'Pure Life', so it doesn't get any more apple pie than that. And they pride themselves on living as such- pure, simple, happy, calm, peaceful, etc. I'm sure you get the picture.

Live here in Costa Rica and you'll hear 'Pura Vida' uttered about a thousand times a day, everyday. 'Pura Vida' this and 'Pura Vida' that. 'Pura Vida' is mostly used for greeting/departing others and statements of 'understanding'. For example:

"Damn, did you hear about that dog getting run over,,,it was so sad?"

"Pura Vida."

Unfortunately, 'Pura Vida' has other connotations as well, not so 'positive and pleasant' connotations at that, at least in my mind. I'll let my video explain it-

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easycr 24p · 723 weeks ago

Michael: I think you are going through what many of us immigrants to CR have gone through / will go through -what I call the "three phases of the phrase "Pura Vida." Phase one is getting caught up in the original wonderful concept - wow, what a great country.
Phase two is becoming cynical about it (as it appears you are now), telling other immigrants how overused and such a cliche it is, etc.
Phase three is just accepting the use of the phrase as another facet of life here in Costa Rica - much like immigrants to the US eventually understand that the phrase "Have a nice day" - is often just a way to say good bye and leave me alone.
I have lived, worked and travelled in many different countries around the world and I have found similar linguistic concepts in other countries. In Russia I remember the phrase "no ladna" (phonetic pronunciation of the cyrillic) used as a catch all "relax - what can you do?" phrase to the point it lost it's true meaning.
Kinda like "chill"!

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NoCalRefugee 17p · 723 weeks ago

It's not just you, Michael Allen. The culture here is MUCH too tolerant of incompetence and laziness.

1 reply · active 720 weeks ago

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CY BOLINGER · 720 weeks ago

MUY CORRECTO!

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michael alan · 722 weeks ago

Hey easy,,,you're definitely right...but I've been in phase 3 for a long time now. I'm just trying to throw a little commentary and perspective into this Pura Vida thing. Yes, you're also right about other countries.....just like, "No worries" in Australia or "no problem man" in Jamaica....... And YES, NoCal,,,,I think they've become quite complacent about 'Pura Vida'....

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Tobias · 722 weeks ago

Michael, THX for the video. I liked it and know what you talk about. I know it from my own experience.. Sometimes these kind of situation can also drive me nuts. But these are some sort of temporally limited attacks which come once in a while. Two tips: always have Plan B, C and D and don't wait longer than 15 minutes. So you can go on with Plan B ;-)