From AM Costa Rica

I recently read this letter sent into AM Costa Rica and it was so deadon accurate that I felt I needed to share it with my readers.

Learn to do things
the pura vida Tico way

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

In today’s age most people would understand the level of frustration that your writer is displaying about security problems at the airport. However I have to question. If this person is so upset about the problem to make this much commotion, what will happen when they come to live in Costa Rica.

When they are waiting in a government line will they make a commotion about the length of wait?  If they are at a restaurant, will they make a commotion about the food? Living in Costa Rica is not like living in the United States, you have to learn the Pura Vida style of life.

I have been married to a Costa Rican (Tica) for the last five years.  I remember when we went to the government offices to file all of the paperwork for marriage and the lines that we had to endure as well as many bureaucratic obstacles. Sometimes, we even had to come back the next day just because some little thing was wrong and needed to be fixed.

You would have to get a stamp at one location then wait a couple of days for it to show at the office next door. Since it was December and the whole government shuts down for Christmas for a week, it even made it more frustrating.

However I had to learn what most Costa Ricans know as the Pura Vida style of life. Even to this day when we are at home in Costa Rica, when we have to endure a problem that might be easily solved if we do it the Gringo way, my wife will remind me we are in Costa Rica!

When many U.S. citizens come to Costa Rica, they have to remember to leave the type of mentality of their style of government efficiency at the U.S. boarder. Adjusting to the Pura Vida way of life is hard for many and this is why they turn around and go back home after a couple of years of living in Costa Rica.

Just coming as a tourist a couple of times a year does not make you knowledgeable about the way of life in Costa Rica! I would suggest to this individual to come and stay for eight months or longer before they decided to purchase a property and learn how to adjust to the life style! Otherwise they will become another casualty of the Pura Vida lifestyle!

Scott Benson
Tres Rios Cartago