Wildlife Watching and Costa Rican Culture

As Yeison and I walked towards the Hacienda El Viejo cultural tour, a woman dressed in a beautiful green and white dress greeted us with a huge smile on her face. Muy buenos dias mis amigos! 

Hola! We smiled and answered back. She waited for us to sit down on the bench and get ourselves situated. Holding the corners of her lustrous skirt out, she waved to us and did a little twirl.

Pura vida! Do you know pura vida? Pura vida is what we say in Costa Rica for hello, goodbye or anything good! It’s like our national saying. So tell me, how are we today?

Pura vida! I enthusiastically responded, grinning back. Eso! Now we are in a Costa Rica mode! She exclaimed.

Juana, or Juanita as she said we could call her, then gave us a short introduction to what we were about to experience on the cultural tour. I listened carefully to one of the most animated and pleasant presentations I’ve ever had and I could tell we were going to have a very enjoyable day learning about Guanacaste, Costa Rica…