La Pura Vida Comes To An End

By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director

The last voyage of the famed explorer Christopher Columbus found the worldly Italian landing in Costa Rica. 

The man probably thought about retiring here.  Who wouldn’t want to spend his golden years in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  It isn’t called the rich coast for nothing.

As Class 13 packs away the last of its souvenirs and makes ready to head home, I’m certain each would say Costa Rica was their favorite stop along the three-country tour.  Few can say they’ve dined on fine Central American cuisine while gazing upon an active volcano, steam slowly puffing from its cone.  How many of us have walked through a rain forest teeming with life, navigating narrow cable bridges high above the forest floor as creatures call out to one another that visitors have come a calling?

The sights, the sounds, the food, the drink and the pineapple.  Oh, the pineapple.  How that innocuous grocery store fruit has garnered new respect. Organically grown, hand-harvested, opened with a blade and eaten with the fingers, just like the native peoples of Brazil did when they first discovered the fruit all those centuries ago.  Lucky for us the pineapple found its way to Costa Rica; the fruit of royalty now fit for commoners who seek out a splash of rum to perk up the pineapple’s punch.

Here in Costa Rica the locals have a saying: “Pura Vida,” which loosely translates to the pure life, the good life, that all is right with the world.  And depending on one’s inflection it can take on many meanings and emotions.  You’ve just one the lottery! “Pura Vida!”  You’ve lost your passport! “Aye, pura vida,” the emphasis low and worrisome.

But pura vida is really an attitude and it’s become the roadmap for those who live in this little slice of heaven.  The last four days have been incredible, but tempered by the reality that we’re just visitors here, of our own device.  Central America is still many decades behind the U.S. in just about every important aspect, and seeing it firsthand has given many a class member a greater appreciation for the place we call home.

“It was eye-opening,” said Mardell Sibley.  “I couldn’t get over how patient people were, particularly when you look at the pace at which they worked.  How hard the work was too, for such low pay.  We’ll never know what that’s like.”

“It makes me really realize just how truly blessed we are in America,” said Drew Wiggers.

No truer words were ever spoken Drew.  No need to elaborate.

No doubt members of Class 13 will reflect on what they saw over the last 13 days;  abject poverty in Nicaragua, a canal in Panama that generates $6 million a day in revenues, and a Central American labor force that works for the same hourly wages Henry Ford paid his autoworkers in 1922.

As I’ve often told my children, being born in America is 95 percent of the battle.  It’s what you do with the other 5 percent to protect our way of life that matters most.

For most class members the takeaway boiled down to this; America is the greatest country on earth.  But America’s changing.  We’ve lost a part of ourselves to the welfare state, particularly when you look at the work ethic of many in Central America.  In Panama there are no social programs.  To quote one of our guides, “You don’t work, you don’t eat.”

We saw Nicaraguan cigar factory workers glad to have a $9 a day job.  Despite their low wages it was obvious they took pride in their abilities to create a quality cigar, even if they were doing it in a country that tortured and murdered those of differing opinions.

There’s a growing sentiment in our country that success is something to be frowned upon, as if you have to apologize for it because you’re better off than someone else. I know some folks who feel that way, and no matter how hard I try to convince them otherwise, their attitude remains that if there’s enough for one, there’s enough for all.

Those in Class 13 know otherwise.  They are the lucky ones, the committed and the empowered; the impassioned  and the innovative.  They are the ones who will lead the charge, and by extension, hopefully lead the change our country so desperately needs right now. 

But changing the world can wait another few days.  Right now we’re tired but happy, missing those back home whom we know will be waiting with open arms, a warm smile and an embrace that always reminds us that be it ever so humble…well, you know the rest.

So leave the porch light on, baby.  We’re coming home.

San Jose station…signing off…