Costa Rica is a very diverse place. It is a small country with seven major volcanos that have formed the land mass that we know it as today. There are eight different climate zones that make up Costa Rica’s weather pattern and you don’t have to travel too far if you don’t like the weather. San José is pretty temperate, with good weather almost all year round. They have two seasons, rainy and dry. During the “winter” you can be sure to get wet pretty much every afternoon – sometimes it only rains for ten minutes, sometimes it doesn’t stop for five or six hours. It can come at any moment and with any amount of strength, drenching you and your friends if your not lucky enough to get to shelter fast enough.
The fast changing weather makes the days have a different pace than some other places that I have lived. You get up and start super early at 6am and have eaten your gallo pinto and be ready to hit the streets by 8am. You get all your skating and filming in before 12 and have the afternoon for computer work, some fresh coffee from one of Costa Rica’s many coffee brands, and chill time with the buds. While it’s much different than other cultures, I will say that it can also be super relaxing and peaceful to have a rain shower every afternoon to wind things down.
Costa Rica is a very natural place. With massive amounts of rain, the green environment is conducive for all types of life from bugs to plants and almost any variety of fruit that you can think of. Mangos grow all over the place, even the center of the city. Vendors sell ague de pipa (coconut water) straight from the pipa on almost every corner and fruit cart. People use the term Pura Vida for everything. Hello, goodbye and thank you can all be summed up by these two simple, yet powerful words that easily translates to pure life.
Some of the last photos of this group were taken one morning out in the jungle of Hojancha. Mario and I had rented a car and invited Jose and Juan Diego to join us for a weekend to Guanacaste. We stayed the first night at JD’s uncle’s house that his family has owned for the past 80+ years. The next morning I shot a whole roll of us exploring the property, playing with the mangos and getting the car unstuck from the mud. One of my favorite photos of the whole time in Costa Rica is the one of Uncle pouring some scolding hot water in his traditional coffee maker…
Matt
