Pura Vida!

While travelling around in Costa Rica, we try to explore the way of life and creativity of the locals as much as possible. One thing is for sure: Costa Rica is a home country of life-enjoyers! Most of the time, locals greet each other by saying ‘Pura Vida!’ (Pure life!) to each other. Locals also say ‘Pura Vida!’ to each other, when they are pleased with a certain situation. The concept of ‘Pura Vida’ reflects the Costa Rican philosophy of life clearly. Costa Rican people enjoy life in harmony with nature and want to live life to the fullest.

San Jose, the country’s capital is located in the middle of the Valle Central (Central Valley) and surrounded by mountains on all sides. Some of these mountains are volcanos. At night, San Jose twinkles like a million of of golden stars!

One of the social gathering places in San Jose is the Central Market. It is full of energy, colors and aroma. There is something for everyone there! Shortly after entering the Central Market, we smelled freshly roasted coffee. It did not take us a long time to discover a small, simple coffee shop which a big roasting machine.

When Max was in San Jose 5 years ago, he visited a nice coffee shop called ‘El Tostador’ (The Roaster). He remembered the location of this coffee shop well. While exploring the city center of San Jose, we found out that this coffee shop still exists. It has not changed much. While enjoying a coffee break inside this special place, a friendly young man was roasting coffee beans with a big smile on his face. Once in a while, he was waving to us. We discovered that there are now many more ‘El Tostador’ coffee shops in San Jose. The coffee culture in San Jose is expanding!