You hear it a hundred times a day: pura vida. It works as a greeting, a farewell, 'thank you', 'you're welcome', 'all good', and an answer to almost any question. The phrase spread from a 1956 Mexican film and became the country's exportable identity — but it also describes fairly accurately a real attitude towards hurrying.
A country without an army
The fact that most surprises visitors: Costa Rica abolished its armed forces in 1948, after a short civil war, and wrote it into the 1949 constitution. The military budget was redirected to education and health, and the country has maintained literacy and life expectancy figures that are high for the region. In 1987 President Óscar Arias received the Nobel Peace Prize for his Central American peace plan.
That decision explains concrete things you notice while travelling: a national park network protecting more than a quarter of the territory, and a country that reversed its own deforestation — from under thirty per cent forest cover in the 1980s to more than fifty per cent today.
The oxcart
The carreta típica, painted in intense geometric patterns, is the country's craft symbol and a UNESCO item of intangible heritage. They carried coffee from the central valley down to Puntarenas, a journey of several days, and each region developed its own pattern. In Sarchí they are still built and painted by hand.
San José
The capital rarely impresses at first sight, but three things justify half a day: the National Theatre, built with coffee money in 1897 in imitation of the Paris opera; the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum beneath the Plaza de la Cultura; and the Jade Museum, holding the largest collection of pre-Columbian jade in the Americas. The Mercado Central is the best cheap eating in the city.
Festivals and manners
The Palmares and Zapote festivals in January combine Costa Rican-style bullfighting — the bull is not killed, and volunteers run in front of it — with concerts and food. Independence Day on 15 September is marked by lantern parades. The August pilgrimage to Cartago draws more than a million people.
One practical note on manners: Costa Ricans are formal and avoid direct confrontation. A 'maybe' usually means no, and raising your voice is considered rude.