Pura Vida (POO-rah VEE-dah), used by Costa Ricans since 1956 [1], literally translated means "Pure Life." Contextually, it means "Full of Life" "Purified life", "This is living!", "Going great!" It is used as a greeting, a farewell, and to express satisfaction.
The phrase has become widely known in the USA and Europe. Some foreigners view the phrase as an expression of a leisurely lifestyle, of disregard for time and wanton friendliness. However, 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.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
pics from day 16, Sunday May 25, 2008
Day 16, Sunday May 25, 2008
yeah... we're still here. what the fuck.
but we didn't fuck it up this time. we got to the airport five hours early, just to make sure there were no problems. security took about a total of three minutes, and our luggage check in took about five minutes, so we had a lot of waiting around time. we spent it getting food and i shopped for last minute presents that i never got a chance to pick up.
we talked about what would happen when Danielle and Erin came into the terminal and saw us sitting there. whether they'd laugh at us, what we'd do if they did, or whether they'd sympathize. we actually hoped that they wouldn't show up, that they'd miss the flight. we knew it was extremely selfish, but we just couldn't stand feeling like idiots anymore. we didn't want to be the only ones that had problems, the only ones to fuck up. we wanted to be able to lay all the blame on Buddy and not take any of it ourselves, though i still lay most of it on him.
the girls came and were completely shocked. they totally sympathized and didn't really make fun of us at all. we sat and talked and checked out each others pictures until we got on the plane.
the people at the front desk had noticed that Alysha and I were flying together and hooked us up to sit next to each other on the flight into Houston, and right by each other for the flight into Austin, so that worked out great for us there.
when we got off the plane in Austin, my family and Danielle's boyfriend were the first we saw. we all introduced and all that jazz, and my mom went on to tell me later that she couldn't believe that Alysha's parents had let her stay in the same bed as a guy they'd never met before. my dad yelled at my mom for saying such stupid shit. we didn't have a choice, i don't know why she couldn't figure that out.
anyway, so we all said goodbye, and they told me that they'd see me when i got back from Minnesota in August or September, and we left.
i got home and didn't even bother unpacking, though i pushed my Minnesota trip back a day so that i could have a day to relax and get done with all the shit i needed to get done with.
i started putting up the pictures almost immediately as they watched their damn The Office show.
less than three days later, i headed off to Minnesota. and that ends my Costa Rica adventures.
Fine`
but we didn't fuck it up this time. we got to the airport five hours early, just to make sure there were no problems. security took about a total of three minutes, and our luggage check in took about five minutes, so we had a lot of waiting around time. we spent it getting food and i shopped for last minute presents that i never got a chance to pick up.
we talked about what would happen when Danielle and Erin came into the terminal and saw us sitting there. whether they'd laugh at us, what we'd do if they did, or whether they'd sympathize. we actually hoped that they wouldn't show up, that they'd miss the flight. we knew it was extremely selfish, but we just couldn't stand feeling like idiots anymore. we didn't want to be the only ones that had problems, the only ones to fuck up. we wanted to be able to lay all the blame on Buddy and not take any of it ourselves, though i still lay most of it on him.
the girls came and were completely shocked. they totally sympathized and didn't really make fun of us at all. we sat and talked and checked out each others pictures until we got on the plane.
the people at the front desk had noticed that Alysha and I were flying together and hooked us up to sit next to each other on the flight into Houston, and right by each other for the flight into Austin, so that worked out great for us there.
when we got off the plane in Austin, my family and Danielle's boyfriend were the first we saw. we all introduced and all that jazz, and my mom went on to tell me later that she couldn't believe that Alysha's parents had let her stay in the same bed as a guy they'd never met before. my dad yelled at my mom for saying such stupid shit. we didn't have a choice, i don't know why she couldn't figure that out.
anyway, so we all said goodbye, and they told me that they'd see me when i got back from Minnesota in August or September, and we left.
i got home and didn't even bother unpacking, though i pushed my Minnesota trip back a day so that i could have a day to relax and get done with all the shit i needed to get done with.
i started putting up the pictures almost immediately as they watched their damn The Office show.
less than three days later, i headed off to Minnesota. and that ends my Costa Rica adventures.
Fine`
pics from Saturday May 24, 2008
the hotel #1

the hotel #2

the street view from the hotel... see those barbed wires on the top of the fences? that's why San Jose is scary. the most dangerous place you can be in Costa Rica, and we were left in the very middle of it with our luggage trailing behind us, while we hardly spoke any spanish.

the mountains behind the ghetto freaky gates

the tiny bed

Alysha in the giant bathroom

the hotel #2

the street view from the hotel... see those barbed wires on the top of the fences? that's why San Jose is scary. the most dangerous place you can be in Costa Rica, and we were left in the very middle of it with our luggage trailing behind us, while we hardly spoke any spanish.

the mountains behind the ghetto freaky gates

the tiny bed

Alysha in the giant bathroom
Day 15, Saturday May 24, 2008
I start walking to the bus station, with all my luggage bouncing pathetically all over the road behind me, that was incredibly difficult by the way, a half hour before my bus was supposed to leave. But a van taxi drove by and the guy felt really bad for me so he gave me a ride to the bus station, free of charge. Really nice guy. I wish I had had some money to give him, but I was still fucking broke.
Anyway so I get to the bus stop and wait a few minutes for Alysha, she finally shows up in a taxi, and we try to figure out what bus we’re on. I point to an orange one that drives up, but we don’t think that’s the right one, but the time is almost there for the bus to leave so I run over to check that bus, and it starts driving away. So I start running down the street after it before someone stops me and tells me that it will be back after it gets back from Manuel Antonio in about 20 minutes. So I go back and tell Alysha and we start to panic a little, but go stand with the people that told me that, since they are going on that bus too with their entire luggage. Probably going to the airport like we are.
So we finally get on the bus and get settled, we’re the last ones on and we tell him we’re going to the airport. It looks like everyone is. So we bust out our ipods on the bus since it is a three hour drive. We make one stop to pee at this really ghetto place that we had been warned about (this was our ONLY warning about the entire bus ride btw, Buddy didn’t help us one bit about anything, we were a lot nicer to those coming after us). Anyway, so the place is really grungy and apparently people really like to steal there, so we take all our shit with us just to pee, and then we get back on the bus and get on the way to San Jose. The view is great again, but we’re tired and anxious to get on the plane, since we’re worried about getting on in time and all.
We start to get to San Jose and get to an airport, but it says “Domestic terminal” above the stop, so we assume, since nobody else is getting off either (nobody) and the bus driver doesn’t say anything to us, that there must be an international terminal. We sit there and the bus drives away from the airport. Like 10 minutes later, after I’d seen a US Airways plane on a runway, I start to think we’re heading in the right direction, and the girls behind us are talking about it too, so we’re sure we’re going in the right direction, though I’m starting to get really tense. We get to downtown San Jose. Things get chaotic. Everyone is kicked off of the bus, and the Wisconsin girls that had been “helping us” start freaking out a bit too as we’re kicked off and the bus parks.
We walk at least ten blocks through downtown San Jose (which is kind of like a really grungy poor New York City I think, since it is just crowded to the max and very busy) while we’re lugging our luggage behind us. I start regretting getting that second piece of luggage pretty quick as I am having a really hard time and those girls aren’t waiting for us. Thankfully they spoke pretty good Spanish so they were able to talk to people and find out how to get to the new bus station. We finally got on a bus after a lot of confusion of whether it actually went to the airport and whether it had enough room for us. They let us cut a few people in line so that we could get on.
The bus started and a guy next to Alysha told her that the bus would make it to the airport in half an hour at best…. We had 50 minutes before the plane took off, and we still had to go through security and all that shit. We started to panic. And it just got worse and worse as the bus made its stops whenever someone pulled the string.
We were almost crying by the time we got to the airport, which was the one we stopped at before… people practically pushed us off this time.
We ran up to the airport and some guy took all of our stuff and put it on a luggage carrier and lead us to the Continental gate. Except that nobody was there. The gate was closed. We started to panic again and he lead us to the Continental office, where they told us that we had to be there an hour before for check in and that we missed it by half an hour. They could not let us get on the plane. Alysha was crying and I was leaving really angry voicemails with my parents since they weren’t answering their fucking phones. Continental’s people, seeing how upset we were, let us have tickets for the next day’s flight at the exact same time for no charge. So we got in a taxi and went to the hotel the Continental people recommended. $160/night. Fuck that. The taxi driver helped us a lot and brought us to a few other hotels until he was sure that we were satisfied. He only asked for $20 too, which was a lot better than the prices in Quepos and Manuel Antonio. He was a great guy, pretty funny too.
Anyway, so we get our hotel and check it out thinking it would be bigger than it was, though we got the smallest room available. It was very very small. One pretty small bed that we had to share, and a small room, with a giant bathroom and shower. Odd. We didn’t mind. We hit the restaurant and started drinking. We needed a drink. And then we bitched about Buddy and the trip and decided how to let the others know so that they wouldn’t have the same problems we did.
She fells asleep that night on my shoulder as I watched the Celtics-Pistons game. She snored, though not loudly, it was actually cute, and woke up and was horrified that she snored until I convinced her that it was really just cute rather than annoying or whatever. Then she finally went to sleep again after the movie she suggested to watch ended.
Anyway so I get to the bus stop and wait a few minutes for Alysha, she finally shows up in a taxi, and we try to figure out what bus we’re on. I point to an orange one that drives up, but we don’t think that’s the right one, but the time is almost there for the bus to leave so I run over to check that bus, and it starts driving away. So I start running down the street after it before someone stops me and tells me that it will be back after it gets back from Manuel Antonio in about 20 minutes. So I go back and tell Alysha and we start to panic a little, but go stand with the people that told me that, since they are going on that bus too with their entire luggage. Probably going to the airport like we are.
So we finally get on the bus and get settled, we’re the last ones on and we tell him we’re going to the airport. It looks like everyone is. So we bust out our ipods on the bus since it is a three hour drive. We make one stop to pee at this really ghetto place that we had been warned about (this was our ONLY warning about the entire bus ride btw, Buddy didn’t help us one bit about anything, we were a lot nicer to those coming after us). Anyway, so the place is really grungy and apparently people really like to steal there, so we take all our shit with us just to pee, and then we get back on the bus and get on the way to San Jose. The view is great again, but we’re tired and anxious to get on the plane, since we’re worried about getting on in time and all.
We start to get to San Jose and get to an airport, but it says “Domestic terminal” above the stop, so we assume, since nobody else is getting off either (nobody) and the bus driver doesn’t say anything to us, that there must be an international terminal. We sit there and the bus drives away from the airport. Like 10 minutes later, after I’d seen a US Airways plane on a runway, I start to think we’re heading in the right direction, and the girls behind us are talking about it too, so we’re sure we’re going in the right direction, though I’m starting to get really tense. We get to downtown San Jose. Things get chaotic. Everyone is kicked off of the bus, and the Wisconsin girls that had been “helping us” start freaking out a bit too as we’re kicked off and the bus parks.
We walk at least ten blocks through downtown San Jose (which is kind of like a really grungy poor New York City I think, since it is just crowded to the max and very busy) while we’re lugging our luggage behind us. I start regretting getting that second piece of luggage pretty quick as I am having a really hard time and those girls aren’t waiting for us. Thankfully they spoke pretty good Spanish so they were able to talk to people and find out how to get to the new bus station. We finally got on a bus after a lot of confusion of whether it actually went to the airport and whether it had enough room for us. They let us cut a few people in line so that we could get on.
The bus started and a guy next to Alysha told her that the bus would make it to the airport in half an hour at best…. We had 50 minutes before the plane took off, and we still had to go through security and all that shit. We started to panic. And it just got worse and worse as the bus made its stops whenever someone pulled the string.
We were almost crying by the time we got to the airport, which was the one we stopped at before… people practically pushed us off this time.
We ran up to the airport and some guy took all of our stuff and put it on a luggage carrier and lead us to the Continental gate. Except that nobody was there. The gate was closed. We started to panic again and he lead us to the Continental office, where they told us that we had to be there an hour before for check in and that we missed it by half an hour. They could not let us get on the plane. Alysha was crying and I was leaving really angry voicemails with my parents since they weren’t answering their fucking phones. Continental’s people, seeing how upset we were, let us have tickets for the next day’s flight at the exact same time for no charge. So we got in a taxi and went to the hotel the Continental people recommended. $160/night. Fuck that. The taxi driver helped us a lot and brought us to a few other hotels until he was sure that we were satisfied. He only asked for $20 too, which was a lot better than the prices in Quepos and Manuel Antonio. He was a great guy, pretty funny too.
Anyway, so we get our hotel and check it out thinking it would be bigger than it was, though we got the smallest room available. It was very very small. One pretty small bed that we had to share, and a small room, with a giant bathroom and shower. Odd. We didn’t mind. We hit the restaurant and started drinking. We needed a drink. And then we bitched about Buddy and the trip and decided how to let the others know so that they wouldn’t have the same problems we did.
She fells asleep that night on my shoulder as I watched the Celtics-Pistons game. She snored, though not loudly, it was actually cute, and woke up and was horrified that she snored until I convinced her that it was really just cute rather than annoying or whatever. Then she finally went to sleep again after the movie she suggested to watch ended.
pics from day 14, friday may 23, 2008
Day 14, Friday May 23, 2008
Friday May 23, 2008
For my “last” whole day in Costa Rica, my class was supposed to meet at the beach in Manuel Antonio and just chill at the beach all day, so I went down there at like 11 a.m., after trying to meet with Buddy to give him my papers we were supposed to write (two 3-page papers all in Spanish) and I tried to get my transcript. He looked like he was about to go get it for me, and he left really quickly without really saying anything. Half an hour later he still wasn’t there, mother fucker, and I looked around and didn’t see him and went outside and got on the computer. When I finally saw him again, he was in a meeting with some guy that had just shown up and he blew me off and didn’t tell me how to get my transcript, where to turn in my papers, or how to get my passport back. So I was pretty pissed off, but I wasn’t going to wait forever, since it looked like they did have pretty “urgent” business. Whatever. So I took off to the beach and met a few people down there and surfed the waves for awhile until I decided to eat before class started. Turns out class was supposed to be Jose showing us Costa Rican cuisine, woops. But whatever, it was fine I was still hungry. Allison and Kelly laughed at me for eating though when we were supposed to be eating for free when Jose showed up.
As people showed up, we decided to walk down the beach and check out the local scene that we had never taken the time to look at before, since we were either too busy partying or too busy swimming. There were a ton of shops all along the beach, a lot more than we realized, and at the end we found Grant and Seth eating barbeque, which looked fantastic and made me sad that I had already eaten. Kelly and Allison gave Seth shit for that too.
We headed back to the beach to look for Jose, since he was supposed to be arriving soon, but he wasn’t on the bus that came, so we decided to go into a restaurant and just eat without him and have a few drinks. I finally got a Mai Tai and one more Monkey Killer before leaving Costa.
Jose finally arrived and we ate some more and then our class and Alysha’s class headed out to the beach in search of the perfect spot that 20 people could chill for Alysha, Danielle, Erin, and my last day of class, though apparently Jose wasn’t aware that it was my last day. He was like “what the fuck do you mean ‘bye?’” Poor kid, he must be miserable teaching a class without awesome old me laughing at him about his Spurs.
The waves were gi-normous that night and Seth and Grant took the opportunity to get surf boards and join all the pros out in the ocean. I took the opportunity to get out there too, but without a board or anything. So did Andy.
After half an hour in the water I turned around and saw Andy start going under, or I think it was Andy. One of those bigger guys. Anyway, so one of the awesome surfer dudes (this guy surfed on one of those foam boogie board things and put everyone else to shame, he was definitely the best, I was more than impressed) swam out really quick and helped my fellow American back to shore. This is when I realized that rip-tide was a real deal, and I swam as hard as I could to get back to shore, I didn’t need help, I just had to sink for a few seconds every once in awhile to gain back some strength. It probably looked like I was drowning when I was doing that, but I was just resting. Finally we got back onto shore, I was exhausted from using every swimming technique I learned in my six years of swimming lessons, and plopped onto my towel next to the girls, just utterly exhausted.
But it was one hell of an adrenaline rush, so… being the idiot I am… as soon as I recovered from the strain of surviving, I shot right back out there, testing to see if I could be sucked back into the rip-tide. This time people from Texas State noticed how far deep I was, actually farther this time, woops, and it sounded like they were freaking out a bit when they saw me struggling to get back in and sinking to relax, and all that jazz, but I’m not really sure if they were talking about me, or their own business. Anyway, they definitely noticed I was out there and weren’t happy with me about it when I came in. But I made it easier, and then someone taught me how to get out of the rip tide, which I still don’t really understand, maybe because I lost interest when they tried explaining how. Seemed confusing.
Anyway, so then I was done with the swimming, and there was a drunk guy harassing everyone, so we were all pretty much done for the day in the water. We took a few pics, and then we called it a day. Alysha, Danielle, Erin and I all got off at the school to try to find out how to get all of our shit.
After we got our transcripts and that jazz, we all headed out in the pouring rain. All of us were soaked on our way back to our host families, I did the best I could to protect my backpack, but everything was still wet.
The rest of the day I spent packing stuff until the host mom told me that someone called and said something about my passport, but I couldn’t figure out anything more she was saying to me. The other guys couldn’t either. Though Ian did get translate that a girl named Michelle, who we thought was the girl we met the night before at the Discoteca, had my passport somehow. So I set off to find her.
I took off to school, which took a bit, and by the time I got there the school was already closed and the people living there were leaving. The Barbies and their idiot friend, I don’t care to remember his name. I’m still pissed. “Well, we have this taxi… we’ll be back later so you should come then.” “When is later?” “We don’t know, just try again later. Sorry we have to go.” And the fuckers took off without me. Amber, Laurie, Emily, and that guy. Fuck all of them. I still love how they just didn’t give a fuck. I’m not the only one who never really liked them, but that made me kind of hate them. Selfish bitches.
So I’m pissed off and walk back to the house through the pouring rain. O yeah, those bitches left me in the rain too. Fuck them. I won’t be happy to see them at the parties when I get back to San Marcos.
Alberto got home a few minutes after I did, and I was going to ask Ian to try and translate what the host mom was saying again, but then I saw Alberto and ran over and had him help. This all doesn’t sound like a long deal, but this all took place over an hour and a half of my panicking until I was able to have Alberto talk to her and translate that Michelle was actually one of the managers of the school, not the girl from the night before, and Alberto said he’d drive me over to her house a few hours later.
Turns out that Michelle is Allison and Kelly’s host mom. So us three talked while Alberto and Michelle talked. The girls didn’t realize that Alberto spoke English, so they were talking about how hot they thought he was and dirtier things that came to their mind. I won’t go into that either, but it was fucking hilarious when they found out he did speak English.
Anyway, so he dropped me off at the pizza place I like and I went and had a pizza for my last night and a beer. It was good still. Then I went back to the house and we watched movies the rest of the night until we went to sleep.
For my “last” whole day in Costa Rica, my class was supposed to meet at the beach in Manuel Antonio and just chill at the beach all day, so I went down there at like 11 a.m., after trying to meet with Buddy to give him my papers we were supposed to write (two 3-page papers all in Spanish) and I tried to get my transcript. He looked like he was about to go get it for me, and he left really quickly without really saying anything. Half an hour later he still wasn’t there, mother fucker, and I looked around and didn’t see him and went outside and got on the computer. When I finally saw him again, he was in a meeting with some guy that had just shown up and he blew me off and didn’t tell me how to get my transcript, where to turn in my papers, or how to get my passport back. So I was pretty pissed off, but I wasn’t going to wait forever, since it looked like they did have pretty “urgent” business. Whatever. So I took off to the beach and met a few people down there and surfed the waves for awhile until I decided to eat before class started. Turns out class was supposed to be Jose showing us Costa Rican cuisine, woops. But whatever, it was fine I was still hungry. Allison and Kelly laughed at me for eating though when we were supposed to be eating for free when Jose showed up.
As people showed up, we decided to walk down the beach and check out the local scene that we had never taken the time to look at before, since we were either too busy partying or too busy swimming. There were a ton of shops all along the beach, a lot more than we realized, and at the end we found Grant and Seth eating barbeque, which looked fantastic and made me sad that I had already eaten. Kelly and Allison gave Seth shit for that too.
We headed back to the beach to look for Jose, since he was supposed to be arriving soon, but he wasn’t on the bus that came, so we decided to go into a restaurant and just eat without him and have a few drinks. I finally got a Mai Tai and one more Monkey Killer before leaving Costa.
Jose finally arrived and we ate some more and then our class and Alysha’s class headed out to the beach in search of the perfect spot that 20 people could chill for Alysha, Danielle, Erin, and my last day of class, though apparently Jose wasn’t aware that it was my last day. He was like “what the fuck do you mean ‘bye?’” Poor kid, he must be miserable teaching a class without awesome old me laughing at him about his Spurs.
The waves were gi-normous that night and Seth and Grant took the opportunity to get surf boards and join all the pros out in the ocean. I took the opportunity to get out there too, but without a board or anything. So did Andy.
After half an hour in the water I turned around and saw Andy start going under, or I think it was Andy. One of those bigger guys. Anyway, so one of the awesome surfer dudes (this guy surfed on one of those foam boogie board things and put everyone else to shame, he was definitely the best, I was more than impressed) swam out really quick and helped my fellow American back to shore. This is when I realized that rip-tide was a real deal, and I swam as hard as I could to get back to shore, I didn’t need help, I just had to sink for a few seconds every once in awhile to gain back some strength. It probably looked like I was drowning when I was doing that, but I was just resting. Finally we got back onto shore, I was exhausted from using every swimming technique I learned in my six years of swimming lessons, and plopped onto my towel next to the girls, just utterly exhausted.
But it was one hell of an adrenaline rush, so… being the idiot I am… as soon as I recovered from the strain of surviving, I shot right back out there, testing to see if I could be sucked back into the rip-tide. This time people from Texas State noticed how far deep I was, actually farther this time, woops, and it sounded like they were freaking out a bit when they saw me struggling to get back in and sinking to relax, and all that jazz, but I’m not really sure if they were talking about me, or their own business. Anyway, they definitely noticed I was out there and weren’t happy with me about it when I came in. But I made it easier, and then someone taught me how to get out of the rip tide, which I still don’t really understand, maybe because I lost interest when they tried explaining how. Seemed confusing.
Anyway, so then I was done with the swimming, and there was a drunk guy harassing everyone, so we were all pretty much done for the day in the water. We took a few pics, and then we called it a day. Alysha, Danielle, Erin and I all got off at the school to try to find out how to get all of our shit.
After we got our transcripts and that jazz, we all headed out in the pouring rain. All of us were soaked on our way back to our host families, I did the best I could to protect my backpack, but everything was still wet.
The rest of the day I spent packing stuff until the host mom told me that someone called and said something about my passport, but I couldn’t figure out anything more she was saying to me. The other guys couldn’t either. Though Ian did get translate that a girl named Michelle, who we thought was the girl we met the night before at the Discoteca, had my passport somehow. So I set off to find her.
I took off to school, which took a bit, and by the time I got there the school was already closed and the people living there were leaving. The Barbies and their idiot friend, I don’t care to remember his name. I’m still pissed. “Well, we have this taxi… we’ll be back later so you should come then.” “When is later?” “We don’t know, just try again later. Sorry we have to go.” And the fuckers took off without me. Amber, Laurie, Emily, and that guy. Fuck all of them. I still love how they just didn’t give a fuck. I’m not the only one who never really liked them, but that made me kind of hate them. Selfish bitches.
So I’m pissed off and walk back to the house through the pouring rain. O yeah, those bitches left me in the rain too. Fuck them. I won’t be happy to see them at the parties when I get back to San Marcos.
Alberto got home a few minutes after I did, and I was going to ask Ian to try and translate what the host mom was saying again, but then I saw Alberto and ran over and had him help. This all doesn’t sound like a long deal, but this all took place over an hour and a half of my panicking until I was able to have Alberto talk to her and translate that Michelle was actually one of the managers of the school, not the girl from the night before, and Alberto said he’d drive me over to her house a few hours later.
Turns out that Michelle is Allison and Kelly’s host mom. So us three talked while Alberto and Michelle talked. The girls didn’t realize that Alberto spoke English, so they were talking about how hot they thought he was and dirtier things that came to their mind. I won’t go into that either, but it was fucking hilarious when they found out he did speak English.
Anyway, so he dropped me off at the pizza place I like and I went and had a pizza for my last night and a beer. It was good still. Then I went back to the house and we watched movies the rest of the night until we went to sleep.
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