Pura Vida in Costa Rica

The expression “pura vida” is well known not only in Costa Rica but also in many countries around the world. This expression reflects the Costa Rican culture, and the way we as inhabitants perceive life in this “optimist, and happy” country. For most Costa Ricans the expression “pura vida” means a very important part of our identity, mainly is a way of portraying Costa Rica as one of the most happy countries around the world, even we know that this is not true. For me, to answer a greeting with a “pura vida” is just a way of hiding our own misery and to show to everybody that we are just fine in most of cases; which is not the reality. We human beings always tend to say that we are just okay, even when it is not true at all. In the case of “pura vida” “ticos” just want to say to the world that we are always fine, happy, optimist, and relaxed; from my point of view, we had adopted this expression to portray the country as something that it is not in the real life; and this is not what Costa Rican people have in the every day life.