¡Livin’ La Pura Vida!

Hallelujah! The holidays are over now, taking with them the calorie-laden comfort foods and endless gift-giving responsibilities of the season, leaving behind an unexchangeable present – the weather. What is that magical, glittering Winter Wonderland without Christmas? Easy! Cold. It’s just cold.

Give your future-self a present for surviving the winter by spending the summer with your favorite travel company – join the Friends of Green Light trip to Costa Rica! (Find more details by emailing Apryl Black.) Need more convincing? Having recently returned from Costa Rica, I’ve reminisced to bring you the top five reasons you should make the trip!

¡Aventura! Whether you’re a megalodon-battling adrenaline junkie or a timid, “snorkeling is enough for me, thanks” vacationer, you’ll find an activity to suit your tastes. Costa Rica is renowned for its tree canopies, making it the perfect place to try zip lining; if flying through the air on a metal cable isn’t your thing, the hanging bridges tour is equally awe-inspiring. Want more? Go on a sail and snorkel tour through crystal-clear water to gaze the almost fluorescent coral reefs; trek to the base of an ominous, smoldering volcano on horseback; test your rafting skills while taking on the formidable whitewater rapids. Afterwards, you’ll feel invincible. (And yes, I totally knew megalodons were extinct…thanks, Google.)

¡Animales! Have you ever seen a sloth on the Discovery Channel? Cuteness overload, right? Try seeing one in person, in the wild, a stone’s throw away from you – it’s too much. You’ll never recover from how adorable they are. Also making an appearance are crazy-stealthy beach iguanas, friendly yet kleptomaniacal Capuchin monkeys, and red-eyed tree frogs, which actually scare off predators using only their creepy, blood-red eyes. Not your average squirrel and pigeon party.

¡Naturaleza! Like many destinations, a focal point of a trip to Costa Rica is the scenery. Unlike most destinations, however, Costa Rica has the distinct advantage of being one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet – a staggering 5% of total diversity, to be exact. Not too shabby for a country the size of West Virginia. The result is beautiful and budget-friendly travel, as you can hit the Pacific coast, a cloud forest, a volcano, and Caribbean beaches all in the same day. And, thanks to the country’s green travel initiatives, you can be sure that the sights you’re seeing are some of the purest you will ever lay eyes on.

¡Cultura! Though, at times, it can be overshadowed by the booming tourism industry, the culture of Costa Rica is wonderfully simple and refreshing. Skip the resort restaurants and walk down to a soda, the ubiquitous mom-and-pop lunch counters, to order the traditional casado – meaning “married” in Spanish, it is the perfectly balanced meal of meat or fish, rice, beans, plantains, and salad (sounds boring, but it is inexplicably delicious!). Take a moment to look around the soda and notice how community-oriented everything is. Then, as long as you’re going native, you might as well find a dance hall and break out your salsa!

¡Pura Vida! Ticos, as the citizens of Costa Rica are often called, have a motto that they live by – pura vida, literally meaning “the pure life.” And it is. The people you will meet there are eternally optimistic and genuinely appreciate their visitors – take that, Paris! So go, unplug yourself from your hectic, bustling life and after a week or so of fresh food, taking in the outdoors, and spending time in great company, you, too, will come to appreciate the pure life.