Costa Ricans are among the happiest people in the world, according to scientific studies.
That explains how pura vida (pure life or good life) has come to be used by all Costa Ricans to greet, to encourage, and to convey all around friendliness.
Some other interesting facts about Costa Rica:
- Just about everyone there speaks English.
- The country has only two seasons – rainy and not as rainy.
- Temps are 80’s and 90s Fahrenheit year ’round.
- Every day of the year, sunrise and sunset are at 5:30.
- It’s easy to get sunburned due to its being closer to the equator.
- My husband and I used citronella wristbands and natural bug repellent, yet received fewer bug bites than many of our fellow travelers.
Take it from me — seeing a happy sloth close up definitely contributes to my sense of wellbeing!
Hover over or click photos for captions and to enlarge them.
Breathtaking Puerto Viejo Beach.
My first surfing lesson ever!
Costa Rica is heaven for more critters than most anywhere, including fuzzy kneed big insects on the side of the road.
Downtown Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.
Sloths are incredibly graceful and charming when they’re just hanging out on tree branches!
What could ever be better than a sloth that’s close enough to touch? One that’s hanging from tree branch and smiling at you!
Happiness Between Tails by da-AL 
What fun facts. I lived in a place that had the sunset at 5:30, and personally it drove me nuts. But to live in a country with an island life vibe in such a beautiful landscape of lush rainforests and such fascinating creatures perhaps I could learn to cope with such an early night fall. 😉
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interesting – hadn’t thot about that since I was vacation – definitely must be hard on people who like to go to bed late.
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It was just rough to get off of work and not even be able to play outside with my kids because the sun was already set.
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of course – makes perfect sense.
on opposite end of spectrum (at least to me in terms of relatively small no. of countries I’ve visited) was interesting that when I visited Paris several Aprils ago, sun didn’t set till something like 11pm!
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This was a special collection here! You had such nice selection and variety. Smiles, Robin
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glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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This is a great summary of a country! I like the two seasons, rainy and not so rainy!! How odd to have sunset at the same time all year round! Ahh…the sloth is living the life and is quite used to modelling for photos by the looks of it! 😀😀 Thank you for sharing your experience of a country one hears so little about. Very interesting.
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🙂
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