The first thing I learnd was that the Costa Ricans use the phrase ‚pura vida‘. Like for everything. They compare it to ‚Aloha‘, which is also always usable for hello, thanks, you welcome, bye, all good and the like. I thought it’s like a touristy thing like ’same same‘ in Thailand. It’s not! Some would call it a state of mind. Others would describe it as the Mantra of the Costa Ricans. And actually it’s more like ‚pura ia‘ or even ‚peraia mae‘ if you are from Alajuela (joke..). What is like in some places ‚chimba‘ and in other places ‚chevere‘ is here ‚tuanis‘ or like the colombians always add ‚marrica‘ everywhere in the sentence it’s like ‚tuanis mae‘ and means like cool. Then there is the R which the pronounce like americans when they speak spanish with a strong accent. Sounds too funny, even though i still speak hardly any spanish, i get this stuff…

So and this is also the thing that totally gets me about this place: the mindset of the people. I know I shouldn’t generalise, and I know I should be careful with making any assumptions after only staying here for two weeks. But I just can’t help it! On a more dry approach one can say they are very helpful, friendly and relaxed. But on a more philosophical level it’s much more confusing. They seem to be more resistent to a materialistic consuming behaviour, which leads to compensating unfullfilled happyness. I met a few people and had enough time to talk and ask all my many questions I always have. The answers were often instantly and intuitivly direct. To me there seems to be a high level of awareness here with many people, which seem to lead to a high level of happiness or peace of mind with oneself. To me it seems they are not just happier because they are more simpleminded, like I always had the feeling with some other people/cultures. Costa Ricans seem highly intelligent, an intelligence wich leads to happyness. And that’s really what everyone in the whole wide world is chasing after – if they are not occupied with surviving. Here it’s different, I don’t feel (so often) like an alien – I can speak out my mind like I so much like to do, and people are not offended or scared because I invade their privacy boundaries. I had inspiring conversations, it feels like home: having good conversations with good friends, where I feel understood. Maybe it was only the people I talked to, but that is statistically unrealistic. Such a high level of awareness, not beeing too occupied with unimportant things. And possibly not so judgemental, they accept the other people and let them life there life. Pura ia! Not too worried about the future or stuck in the past. Pura ia, mae!

And they like to party, and they have partys like i’m used too in Switzerland! Actually Costa Rica is considered the Switzerland of Cental America, which I guess comes first from the mountainious landscspe (which is not really similar). I tried to find more similarities, because obviously it is very different. So: It is also in the center of Central America. It is also very expensive compared to the surrounding countries. A meal in a not typical Tico-place is arround 20 US with a drink. Hotels and everything is not what any shoestring traveller likes. Quality of food is good. Just had a croissant, it actually tasted like a real buttery croissant from somewhere in France. Educational system seems to be pretty good, very knowlegable about ‚general knowledge‘ (?). They don’t have a military here! That’s even better than in CH.

San José is a bit higher up, like on 1200 meters, so it’s not too hot. Actually since december it’s the dryseason and is supposed to be warmer and less windy. The windy thing together with the volcanic ash is a bit of a pain in the eyes, but hey there is always something – too cold, too hot, too humid, too dry, too many mosquitos, too tightup people, too unaware people, too much corruption, bad water (here you can actually drink the tap water in the capital). Ok so I could actually live in San José, which I didn’t think I would say about any place except Switzerland. It’s not like a very pretty city like zurich, but there are also nice neighbourhoods. I would defintily choose Barrio Escalante, it has a feel of home: clean and tidy, well organised, quite and calm, but without the stupid overly noise-sensitive neighbours.

One last note on a more touristy level: It’s a small country with like 4,5 Mio. people, a lot of carribean coast and a lot of pacific coast, endless beautiful beaches. Half the country seems to be natural reserves with loads of jungle, huge animal diversity, beautiful volcanoes, lots if hiking. Lots of great restaurants, lots of good nightlife. Very diverse people, many looking european, but are real Ticos. Many even speaking good german, french and russian, apart from perfect english. Great country! Great energy!

I dedicate this entry to Marc, who was such a good host and took so good care of me, showed me arround San José, thanks, peraia mae!