Pura Vida
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2008
1
8
31
Trip End
May 10, 2008
Playas del Coco, Costa Rica
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Yesterday morning Cat and I woke up with one thing in common--our bodies ached. Everywhere. It hurt to move, it hurt to laugh. It almost hurt just to breathe. We painfully hauled ourselves to breakfast, where we ran into a very happy Tracy and Darby, whose wedding song twenty years ago was "Endless Love," which was playing in the restaurant. Every day, the restaurant had themed music--yesterday was clearly cheesy 80s love songs. Most of the time it was bearable, but we did manage to convince the staff to change the music on Celine Dion day--it was too brutal to bear. After seeing Tracy and Darby--really, the nicest people--Catharine and I contemplated how two people can have so much happiness in their lives
Cat
. They clearly love each other dearly, look great, have two boys they love very much, apparently have jobs they enjoy, their wedding song gets played at the hotel where they are celebrating their 20th anniversary and, to top it all off, they saw a whale on their first day here (meanwhile, Cat and I spent the whole day telling each other we saw whales when the other one wasn't looking--a game that devolved to Cat seeing "a whale with a sail that waved at her and shouted free willy"). That's just a lot of good luck. Anyway, Cat and I re-focused our attention on our aching bodies and decided that we would treat ourselves to massages (I know, very yuppy, but we really, really hurt). Our masseuse was Daniel, who is originally from Italy, and he was phenomenal. Seriously, if we could take him home with us, we would. I decided that the one thing that was missing from my life is a really good masseuse, and so that is when I developed my plan for Paul to go to massage school. I haven't discussed the plan with Paul yet, but I hope to impress on him that it would be a very good foundation for our marriage.
After our massages and lunch, we headed to town so I could pick up the rental car that I will use to drive back to San Jose. I am a bit nervous at the proposition--frankly, I tend to be a bit directionally challenged
Taking pics while tipsy
. But, it's a lot less expensive than hiring a car, and I figure it will be a good opportunity to see the country. Plus, I pretty much take one road (the Pan-American highway) the entire way, have a map, and I saw a lot of signage on the way up here. I will say it is a bit disconcerting when the rental car place makes you sign a form that begins with the line "Costa Rica is a beautiful country. There is an increase of crime against tourists." Of course, I think one advantage I have over most tourists is that, with my brown skin, I will blend in a bit more easily. We headed back to town for dinner. We decided to have a beer first, and stopped in a bar that looked pretty crowded. At first, we were disappointed because after we sat down we realized that it was pretty much all Americans, some of whom were pretty rowdy. Every time we tried to get our check however, these two guys kept sending over beers for us after the boyfriends of the two girls they were originally flirting with appeared. We thanked them for the beers but made absolutely no effort to take it any further. They eventually gave up, but were nice enough to stop by on their way out of the bar. Turns out they were from Boston, and one of them owned a condo in the area, which we actually thought was pretty cool. After they left, the crowd thinned out, and we realized the rest of the people were expatriates and locals
Us
. Among the more colorful characters was Jimmy, who came down from the States on vacation 5 years ago and never left, and the Black Widow--a local who had married and buried four gringo husbands, and was definitely on the prowl for gringo husband number five. We also met a very cute dog who we were told had been voted Costa Rica's favorite dog for the past few years. Unfortunately, there are no photos of this events because, que lastima!, I left my camera at the hotel.After leaving the bar, we proceeded to have a fantastic seafood dinner at a local restaurant--the only drawback was that it was chock full of loud, pretty annoying, Americans. We made our way back to the hotel, which was a bit tricky in the car because there aren't a lot of lights, there were a ton of people walking and biking in the streets (there aren't any sidewalks) and everything looks completely different at night. With only one false turn (which involved Cat telling me to go left, me obliging, and her telling me that "no, I said left" while she proceeded to point to the right), we made it safe and sound and enjoyed our last night of oceanside dessert and drinks (we also ran into Tracy and Darby who we had talked into going zip-lining--they loved it, of course). As is fitting with the last night, Cat and I just hung out, drank wine and whiled away the hours listening to the ocean and watching the stars
Me
. We also discussed "pura vida." Everywhere you go in Costa Rica you see and hear "pura vida." It's on signs, in brochures, and when you ask someone how they are doing in Spanish, they respond "pura vida." Strictly translated, it means "pure life." According to Wikipedia, it is used as a greeting, a farewell, and to express satisfaction. Wikipedia also says that 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. We embrace this concept of "pura vida," and find it meshes well with our theme of letting go. And so, in closing this entry and this chapter of my travels, we wish you all pura vida.
