Pura Vida!

Step off the bus and smell the air. You can feel in your bones that it’s different here. Over 10,000 species of plants and trees are breathing in CO2 and breathing out oxygen. Costa Rica is one of the most biologically diverse pockets on the planet. Ancient trees host green ferns, mosses, and vines, layered like filo dough, all grappling upward, searching for the exchange of sunlight for energy. There are more than 4,000 insect species, more varieties of butterflies than in Africa, more bird species than in all North America. In the tree branches, curious monkeys choose edible foliage, and drunken sloths lazily hang, as rainbow-colored macaws and parrots flit through the canopy emulating flowers for camouflage. Iguanas, like fat dachshunds, hide in the bushes and waggle across your path. Tiny ants, as Egyptian slaves from a bygone era, march single file, carrying leaf cuttings like boulders, many times their own body weight.  The oceans, with their lacy coral collars, are a rich bounty of sea life teeming with fish, lobsters, and shrimp. Yearly, thousands of sea turtles drag their cumbersome bodies across the warm sand, returning to their birth place to bury their eggs. Every day flora and fauna arise that we have yet to even identify. With only .03 percent of the total land mass of Earth, Costa Rica cradles five percent of its plants and animals.

Costa Ricans understand that their wealth lies in their wildlife. Twenty-five percent of the country, including the biologically abundant rainforests, are protected in national parks. Through policy, the government works diligently for environmental preservation, setting an example for the rest of the world. Here, the warm-hearted citizens are happy and proud of their farming heritage. Yearly they welcome nearly 400,000 visitors who love Costa Rica’s eco-friendly ways and keep coming back.

Located on the narrow little ribbon of land known as the Central American Isthmus, between Central and South America, Costa Rica is bound by the warm, blue waters of the Caribbean Sea to the east, the powerful, famous surf of the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the friendly neighbors of Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south.

Within the tiny 20,000 square miles country, there are five different types of forests. Riparian forests are found beside streams and rivers. Along the Pacific coast, mangrove forests are formed where salt and freshwater meet. In the southwest and Atlantic lowlands, you find lowland rainforests, characterized by high annual rainfall that creates tumbling rivers, and waterfalls. The hotter, less humid tropical dry forests of the Pacific northwest have sparser vegetation. The cloud forests, on higher slopes of mountains, with their roaring winds, are covered in heavy fog and dotted with smoldering volcanoes. (Costa Rica has more than 200 identifiable volcanoes in the northern area and central highlands, 100 show signs of activity, five of them considered truly active.) After decades of cutting down trees for logging and for creating pastureland for cattle, private and non-profit companies are being offered generous financial incentives to replant trees. Between 1985 and 2017 forest cover in the country more than doubled, rising from 24 to 52 percent.

Costa Ricans, or Ticos as the residents are known, closely protect their natural resources to keep a clean and sustainable environment. In 1948 the country abolished its military and started redirecting the funds to education, health care, and environmental conservation. In 1994 lawmakers created a constitutional amendment including a right to a healthy environment for their citizens. (Juliana vs. the United States take note!) The Costa Rica Law of 1998 embraces the Convention on Biological Diversity, a key U.N. document regarding sustainable development. (This 1992 Earth Summit treaty has three main goals including: conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of resources, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources.) In recognition, they received the Future Policy Award at the Global Summit on Biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, holding the law up as a model for other countries. In 2018, at President Carlos Alvarado Quesada’s swearing in, he vowed to make Costa Rica carbon neutral by 2021, the country’s 200^th anniversary. Employing all its natural resources, wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal energy, the country has been able to produce over 98 percent of its energy from renewable sources for the last four years, 2014 to 2018, again setting an example for other nations.

Encouraging research and education, Costa Rica shares conservation programs and policies  with the rest of the world. The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad is an internationally recognized research facility that boasts one of the most advanced data processing facilities in the region. It focuses on monitoring biodiversity, conservation, environmental education, informatics, biological inventories, and bio-prospecting. Their information is available to other countries for helping determine policy on environmental conservation. Comprised of scientists, civil servants, and indigenous representatives, this commission proposes Costa Rica policy and promotes green education. (Note: They listen to their scientists and indigenous people!) They encourage non-profit and non-governmental organizations such as Fund for Costa Rica and Association of National Park Volunteers to set up shop. Volunteer vacations for alternative tourism are exploding, promoting the education and protection of biodiversity through projects such as wildlife and marine turtle conservation. Costa Rica ranks 3rd on the Global Environment Performance Index and has received over $56 million in donations and debt write-offs from other countries to expand its forests and marine conservation programs. 

Costa Rica is one of the hottest ecotourism destinations in the world primarily due to The Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) program. This program is voluntary and open to all hotels, lodges, inns, and resorts interested in playing a part in the country’s conservation efforts. It teaches smart management practices and conducts training sessions and certification assessments, allowing an entity to earn up to five levels of responsible tourism achievement. This ensures that activities and services have a minimal negative impact on the surrounding natural environment. CST has led to an increased demand for recycling, energy-saving, proper waste disposal, and conservation of the natural environment. (If you are looking for an authentic Costa Rica experience, it’s worth seeking out these truly unique accommodations.) Similarly preserving the coastline, the Blue Flag Ecology Program assesses drinking water and water quality at beaches by controlling waste disposal and sanitary facilities. Monitored monthly, the program has the added benefit of  allowing tourists to enjoy beaches without fear of contamination.

“Pura Vida!” repeated with a grin by Ticos at every opportunity, is the Spanish phrase that translates to English as, “pure life.” A philosophy that encourages the appreciation of life’s simple treasures – slowing things down, celebrating good fortune, and refusing to take anything for granted, this wisdom of living life to the fullest embodies the spirit of the Costa Rica people. They are proud of their country, they enjoy sharing their natural wealth, and they want visitors to think well of them.

Economist Mariana Rojas attributes Costa Ricans’ high sense of well-being in part to a culture of farming. Over millennia, volcanic eruptions have created fertile, mineral-rich soil, enabling many families to live an agrarian lifestyle. Six percent of the country’s land use is for permanent crops such as coffee and fruit trees; the coastal areas produce sugarcane, rice, pineapple, bananas, and oil palm on an industrial level. Agriculture exports represent 15 percent of the GDP, or $3.3 billion US. Of that, the Chiquita and Dole companies export $981 million worth of bananas and $990 million worth of pineapples yearly and provide over 100,000 jobs to the local economy. Costa Rica is the thirteenth largest coffee producing nation.  Ninety percent of the coffee grown here is exported and prized as some of the world’s finest. Fifty thousand families depend on coffee production with ninety percent of the coffee producers being small to medium 1 to 2-hectare family farms.

On average Costa Ricans live 79 – 82 years, on par with many wealthier countries. Interestingly, in one area of the country folks typically live over 100 years while remaining healthy and active. This makes the Guanacaste Province one of only five Blue Zones in the world. Studies of Blue Zones have deduced that there are nine commonalities among these five regions:

1. They move (exercise) as part of their daily lives.
2. They wake up with a sense of purpose.
3. They have stress-relieving rituals built into their daily routines.
4. They have their smallest meal at the end of the day.
5. Beans are the core of their diets, along with vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.
6. Moderate but regular consumption of red wine is part of the lifestyle.
7. They are a faith-based community (which adds up to fourteen years to life expectancy).
8. They have close and strong family connections.
9. They have close friends and strong social community networks.

With its Blue Zone lifestyle, stable government, quality health care, and environmental accomplishments, Costa Rica ranks first out of 140 nations on the Happy Planet Index. Introduced in 2006 by the New Economics Foundation to measure human well-being and environmental impact around the world, the Happy Planet Index tells us how nations are doing at achieving long, happy, sustainable lives. Countries such as Costa Rica, achieving high life expectancy and wellbeing, with much smaller ecological footprints, score higher than wealthy western countries that are typically seen as a standard of success. The index employs The Cantril Ladder questionnaire measuring people’s attitudes toward their lives and its components. Used in surveys since the 1960s, this subjective measure of wellbeing correlates with more objective measures like stress hormone levels and brain scans. It has been found to accurately predict a range of outcomes – from how long someone will stay in a job or stay married, to how long they live, to the results of elections. (In contrast, The United States ranks 108^th out of 140.)

Costa Rica is one of the most biologically alive countries on Earth. The folks here have a grasp on what is important in life. The government has a long record of protecting its extreme natural wealth and has achieved world-wide recognition for its ecological efforts. With their “Pura Vida” attitude and farming lifestyles, they seem to have tapped into a fountain of youth and are happy to share. Retirees from around the world look to Costa Rica as a place to spend their golden years. Who wouldn’t want to live here? Step off the bus and smell the air.

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Tree House Lodge, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica —The Tree House Lodge is a 10-acre oceanfront ecolodge to the south of Puerto Viejo on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. With their blend of imaginative ecological buildings and natural scenery, they are nestled in Playa Chiquita on the edge of the Gandoca-Manzanillo wildlife refuge, just steps from the white sands of Punta Uva beach. Each private accommodation is a unique experience of whimsy and nature. Wake up to the sounds of monkeys and macaws. Walk the property to experience the biodiversity of the rainforest.  The owners live on the property and were awarded the Five Sustainability Leaf Award for their commitment to the environment. Bookmundi.com listed them as one of the top 10 best eco-lodges of 2019. http://www.costaricatreehouse.com 

 

 

The Blue Zones — Groundbreaking work on longevity led to Dan Buettner’s 2005 National Geographic cover story, “Secrets of Living Longer,” followed by two national best sellers, The Blue Zones and Thrive.  http://www.bluezones.com

Untamed: Costa Rica   Wildlife filmmaker Filipe DeAndrade calls Costa Rica a “living museum” in his digital six-part National Geographic series, Untamed: Costa Rica.  Believing that a video or photograph can help advocate for animals, DeAndrade catches on camera a unique glimpse of some of the most fascinating animals and their fight to survive in Costa Rica. (www.nationalgeographic.com)