“Pura vida” literally translates to “pure life” in Spanish, but in Costa Rica it’s used to mean “the good life” and can be a response to pretty much anything. If someone asks how you are, you say “pura vida,” if someone says goodbye, you say, “pura vida,” if you agree with what another person is saying, you say, “pura vida.” Well, I think you get the picture. I don’t know if the Costa Rican people are just being overly optimistic, but I know that I certainly lived the good life during my too short stay in the country so I won’t argue that the term is overused.
We were down to out last nine days of the voyage but the responsibility of classes still loomed over us. The ship only stopped in Costa Rica for two days and I had to spend one of these precious days on a trip with my drawing class to go see the world’s largest ox cart. I was determined to go sip lining the next day, so as Tori, Allison and I ventured off on our field trip, we left CJ and Hillary in charge of finding a cheap hotel for the night. The bus took us to a metal church which had been mailed to its location piece by piece, which was relatively cool I guess, but all I could think of was the Tea House in Boulder which had also been mailed overseas but happened to be much prettier. Instead of gawking awkwardly at the church (it was in the middle of a service with actual church goers inside), we made a mission down to the nearest coffee shop for some café con leche to get a taste of Costa Rica’s famous coffee. It took the baristas a lot longer to make our coffee then we thought it would so we ended up having to sprint back up to the bus. We were five minutes late and everyone was already sitting down in their seats waiting to leave. My drawing teacher just scowled at us, she already wasn’t my number one fan. Tori and I were very embarrassed, but settled down nonetheless for the bus ride, until two minutes later when the lid of Tori’s coffee popped off and her entire scalding cup spilled all over her lap and into the bus isle. Oops, strike number two. About ten minutes later, the bus stopped and the driver told everyone to get off the bus if they wanted to look at a coffee plant. We were feeling lazy and could see the plant from the window so we all remained seated and Tori and Allison shared head phones and danced while I had I silent dance party next to them. Tori then, believing we were alone on the bus, chose to sing along to the single most vulgar line that she possible could have. Her voice echoed off the silent bus walls…and I mean it was INAPROPRIATE in capital letters. She then turned around to see a sweet old man sitting directly behind her. Allison, Chase and I burst out into hysterics but I think all of us were a little mortified. Strike three for the day.
Tori, some coffee, Chase, and an Ox Cart
We then continued on our journey to see the world’s largest ox cart. To be fare, ox carts have a large traditional importance to the Costa Rican people because that’s how they used to export the coffee that fueled their economy. All of them are handmade and beautifully painted. Still, the trip was about as anti climatic as it sounds. The cooler part followed when we got to go to an ox cart factory and we watched them make a wheel, run the water powered factory machines, and observed as a woman painted a souvenir ox cart using the traditional method. By the time we returned to the ship, CJ and Hillary had found us a cheap hotel in the form of an expensive all-inclusive resort. I resigned my hopes for zip lining the next day.
Most people spend the weekend before finals studying. We spent our weekend partying. The all inclusive did not only include food and drinks, but a night club. The five of us girls and Chase basically started the dancing at the club ourselves. Tori had the stage to herself for a while and was showing us some moves that she seemed to think were good…I should add that they weren’t good. At one point there were a couple of younger kids in the club (about fourteen I think) that Allison pulled into a dance circle with us. They seemed to be having a great time before the hotel staff kicked them out. We must have looked like we were having a blast or in some way inspiring because the place was empty when we arrived and completely packed a half hour later. Hillary kept on babbling to people who didn’t speak English and I kept on having to translate for her which was difficult because most of the people talking to me in Spanish were very drunk and difficult to understand anyways. We partied ourselves out relatively early and crashed around 1AM. Don’t worry, the next day we were up at nine and ready to continue the shenanigans. We ate breakfast, found some lounge chairs, and went for a morning swim. Tori was just speculating on my spirit animal being a badger when, to my horror, a white gift from a bird dropped directly into my mouth. Luckily, I was able to spit it out and rinse my mouth with the pool water immediately, but I don’t know if I should interpret this as a sign from the world to stay away from badgers or something.
We made the pool with the swim up bar our home and became friends with a bunch of people who worked as staff on a cruise ship. Amongst their company was a crazy Italian man who kept on skipping around in his Speedo and confessing his undying love to every female in sight. Towards the afternoon it began to poor rain but it was so warm that we all danced in the pool under the down poor. We finally had to pull ourselves away and call a cab to take us back to the ship. Right as we pulled out of the hotel driveway, Allison freaked out and asked the cab to stop because she’d left her passport in the room. Her and Chase went upstairs to search for it while I shared a cigar with our taxi driver and chatted with him in Spanglish. I felt very suave, but only because I was sitting behind the cab driver and he couldn’t see me when I choked from the cigar smoke. I don’t think it’s a habit I’ll be picking up. Crisis averted, Allison found her passport and back to the ship it is. I had to study for two finals that night and did surprisingly well on both of them. Maybe I should market a new “de-stress” study method…or I just got lucky that I actually paid attention in my classes reviewing it wasn’t too hard.
PANAMA CANAL:
The next day our ship passed through the Panama Canal. Everyone was outside tanning on the seventh deck in the blazing sun. Passing through the locks was very exciting. The ship would sail into the lock, stop, the gate would close behind it, and slowly but surely the water was forced into the lock and our ship was raised to the level of the Canal. I still have no idea how it’s possible that the Pacific Ocean is lower than the Atlantic Ocean. Isn’t all the water connected? The ship barbecued on the deck for us and we all had a relaxing afternoon before we got ready for our last day of finals and started to get excited for Honduras! 
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