Pura Vida Found in Costa Rica

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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2003-03-26

Pura Vida Found in Costa Rica
By Jeremiah Scott

(Editor's note:In the fall of 2002, 10 students spent five weeks in Costa Rica with Jim McNay as part of Brooks' series of international documentary classes. Following is one of the many stories they brought back home with them to Santa Barbara.)

Cock-a-doodle-doo! Three AM. I think the rooster has a screw loose; the sun isn't even close to coming up. But then just as my eyes get heavy, the rooster calls out as if he is up so everyone else must be as well. I roll over and listen to the other sounds coming in through the hole in the wall where a window would normally be. The high-pitched sounds of the bats, the many sounds of the frogs, and of course the sounds of the insects come from everywhere and fill up the sounds of the night.

Photo by Jeremiah Scott

Oldemar's family.

Then a light comes on from downstairs, as Eugenia, the wife and mother of the household starts her day. I look out of my room to see her starting a fire in the wood stove, the family's only cooking option. Soon the sweet smells of food begin drifting through the house as Oldemar, the husband and father of house, gets up for a quick breakfast before heading out to work.

Oldemar's family lives in Costa Rica, on the Osa Peninsula; a place National Geographic is quoted as calling, "the most biologically intense place on Earth". Their home is surrounded on every side by the ever-encroaching jungle. The nearest town is three hours away by way of a small trail cut through the dense vegetation. The nearest hospital is on the other side of the peninsula in Puerto Jimenez. Oldemar works for the park system clearing and maintaining the trails are his daily routines.

I met this family through my guide and friend, Louise. He has been a friend of the family for many years. I came to this part of the country looking for some rare wildlife sightings. However, the last couple days here have produced so much more. The family has welcomed me into their home so completely and fully that I feel like I belong here. I spend the day hiking and photographing the area where these people make their home. I met their neighbors, who live forty-five minutes away by horseback, and was able to talk with them about their lives in amidst this vast jungle.

They told me that last week they had to hunt down and kill three jaguars that had been spotted near their children as they walked to school. I was very sad to hear this news, the very animal I had come to see being slaughtered, though I could understand their point of view. Back in California we have murderers and kidnappers, in the Costa Rican wilderness they have deadly snakes and jaguars.

Talking with Oldemar's family and living with them has changed the way I look at many things. They do not constantly lust after things that they don't own, they are not jealous of their neighbors latest purchases, and they are not so uptight about things in general. Through my experiences with them I have learned the Pura Vida, or Pure Life, way of thinking. It is not at all that they don't care, they are some of the most caring people I have ever met, it is just that they love life, they respect their environment and not much else matters to them. I will always cherish the time I have spent with these wonderful people it has truly been a once in a lifetime experience.

Related Links:

Brooks Costa Rica Website

Jeremiah Scott's member page