Living Pura Vida: What Ten Days in Costa Rica Taught Me About Real Life

Oct 21

I’d heard of Costa Rica my whole life — the beaches, the jungles, the phrase pura vida floating around like a postcard caption. I even knew it meant “pure life.” But it didn’t really mean anything until I went and lived it for ten days.

We started near Poás Volcano, staying at Poás Volcano Lodge — green, lush, and completely peaceful. The mountains felt alive, clouds moving like breath through the valley. I fell in love with the greenhouse, the cool air, the stillness that made time feel slower.

From there, we crossed the country and took a $14 ferry from Paquera to Puntarenas, heading toward Santa Teresa. Our stay at Ecocoon Tree Villa was unlike anywhere I’ve been — a treehouse-style retreat built right into the jungle. It had a large shared pool, smaller private pools, and a yoga shala suspended in the trees. Meals were served in a bamboo dining space open to the forest, the sound of rain echoing softly as it came and went. At night, the jungle was alive — monkeys calling, insects humming, everything moving to its own rhythm.

Santa Teresa itself felt raw and free. Many people walked barefoot, surfboards under their arms, life moving at half the speed I was used to. Canadians and Americans had come here during the pandemic, fallen in love with the rhythm, and stayed — opening cafés, villas, and small shops that blended right into the trees.

Honestly, every place we stayed carried its own kind of peace. The mountains near Poás Lodge wrapped me in stillness, and the sound of the living jungle in Santa Teresa woke something inside me — an understanding of how alive nature really is. And in Dominical, standing on the Whale’s Tail surrounded by ocean on every side, I felt something I hadn’t in a long time — completely free.

Costa Rica reminded me that stillness and aliveness aren’t opposites — they belong together. Pura vida isn’t just something you say; it’s something you live when you slow down long enough to listen.