¡Pura vida! : Social-Cultural Group -- End of First Week

We are loving Costa Rica! Pura vida translates to “pure life”, which is what we are seeing here. Costa Rica is not only full of environmental life, but social life as well. The people are active, friendly, a little different, yet fun.


The Centro in downtown San Jose, is where we really saw the people come to life. As we walked through the market and bought a few of many more souvenirs to come, we experienced the customer service and cooperation of the vendors. Many of them were eager to make bargains with us and reduce prices. There was many “2 for 1” deals and “buy 1 get 1 free” deals. It was wonderful! They were very cooperative with us as well as with their fellow vendors. For instance, if they didn’t have the product we were looking for, they would gladly direct us to another stand nearby that had it. With their recommendations, they brought their neighboring vendors business while keeping us happy too. We all felt extremely satisfied after leaving the Centro. Not only did we leave satisfied, but we left with a great experience of the Costa Rican’s social life!