What Does Pura Vida Mean?
If you visit Costa Rica, it’s likely you’ll hear the phrase as soon as you arrive: “Pura vida!”
To an outsider, it can seem like a sort of catch-all phrase. Costa Ricans use it as a greeting, akin to “Good morning!” It can be a conversational transition, or even a goodbye.
Once you start paying attention, you’ll find “Pura Vida” everywhere. It’s lettered on decorative signs in your cousin’s kitchen. It’s sung in the chorus of Latin acoustic pop songs. It’s the name of half a dozen different shops in any given town’s directory!
Yet, “pura vida” isn’t some random catchphrase.
Instead, it’s a simple, friendly phrase that’s secretly more profound than you’d think. As people used the phrase more and more, it sank deeper into Costa Rica’s cultural soil. It changed as that culture changed.
More than that, “pura vida” became an easy way for Costa Ricans to remember what Costa Rica is. It’s a mantra to bring the Costa Rican identity, the way of life woven throughout Costa Rica’s culture and land, into day-to-day moments.
Before we delve into what the phrase does, though, let’s look at what “pura vida” means.
What Does Pura Vida Mean In English? (Literal Translation)
The most literal translation of pura vida in English is “pure life.”
In the most basic use of the phrase, “pura” connotes simplicity. Focus solely on the essential. Drop complications, release the extra baggage and clutter.
Vida, “life,” evokes the wildness and beauty of all living things.
That evocation is vital. Remember it: wildlife, nature, it’s the key that unlocks the term’s hidden depths.
Pura Vida Doesn’t Quite Fit The Speech of U.S. Culture
It’s easy to imagine how, in the U.S., “pure life” might transform into set directions: purify your life.
Pura vida would instantly conjure an image of purging one’s own spirit, oneself, of impurities. “Pure life” would demand action towards a goal. Engage spiritually. Purify your life force. Move one step closer to that ultimate goal: you, new, a platonically perfect soul.
All that action, unasked for, all leaping from an assumption we might not know we’re making: that vida, life, must mean one, single self.
That assumption is 100 % wrong.
In Costa Rica, Life Is Everything, Everywhere
Spoken in Costa Rica, the “vida” in “pura vida” doesn’t just resonate: it reverberates with the land itself—and with all that the land grows.
No matter where you walk, you’re surrounded by nature’s lively beauty. Life is downright inescapable! The reefs, the rainforest, the tidepools, even the volcano’s slopes and springs teem with living things from top to tip.
In a piece for the BBC, Costa Rican writer Carla Rosch interviewed other Costa Ricans about the phrase. What does it really mean? Have tourists changed it?
Paula Mart, a tattoo artist, believes the nature and abundance of wildlife in Costa Rica—something many visitors don’t experience at home—alters and amplifies the impact pura vida has on visitors (in a good way).
“Tourists are really drawn to it, and they make it their own,” Mart explains to Rosch. “I think nature and the good energy here really leave a mark, and they want to keep that experience as a memory on their skin.”
Rosch agrees. As the piece continues, she writes, “It’s true that Costa Ricans have a strong attachment to nature, and part of the pura vida philosophy entails cultivating a connection to the Earth. Spending time outdoors is an important part of life here.”
Life Meaning Peace: Philosophy & Origins of “Pura Vida”
A devotion to life unfurls in other parts of Costa Rica’s culture, too.
Many Costa Ricans describe their culture as peaceful. The nation abolished its military after a civil war in 1948. In 1949, the government passed a constitutional amendment permanently outlawing the formation of a standing military. The tax funding for the military was then redirected to hospitals, schools, environmental protections, and social programs.
Today, Costa Rica has one of the world’s highest literacy rates. The average Costa Rican citizen has better healthcare than the average American.
As a society, after their war, the people of Costa Rica chose life. They chose no more death. No more war. They chose the life inherent to physical health, to art, to extraordinary wilderness. They chose the quiet, life-giving grandeur of family, friends, and community.
And when the question comes up again, again they make the simple choice. Not war, nor violent conflict. Pure life.
¡Pura Vida! (1956): A National Motto’s Origins
Intriguingly, seven years after the people of Costa Rica outlawed war, a little Mexican film made a splash in local theaters. A black and white comedy called ¡Pura Vida! came to theatres in 1956. While not broadly popular, it gained quite a cult following in CR.
The film follows Melquiades, a man with farcically bad luck. He bumbles around, gets into accidents, loses things, and gets kicked out of his hometown out of fear that his bad luck might spread.
Yet, he meets every misfortune with a positive attitude and his catchphrase: “pura vida!” No matter how bad the situation gets, or how poorly timed his optimism seems to be, the phrase never fails. It works as a compliment, a declaration, even a comedic non sequitur!
The comedy struck a chord with Costa Rica’s people. We can’t say exactly why, but historians have imagined. Perhaps the film spoke to the strangeness of the civil war settling into memory? Or, perhaps the people felt the surreality and loneliness inherent to creating a new culture (particularly one dramatically changed from the cultures of their neighbors). Regardless of the reason, for a moment in the summer of 1956, almost every Costa Rican identified with Melquiades.
Maybe Costa Rica, like the comic protagonist, is perpetually unlucky. Maybe they’re a bit silly, as a people, possibly even naive. Naive enough to commit to never fighting misfortune or accusations with fists.
Laughing in theatres with their friends in 1956, a thought seemed to take hold, like a spark. Maybe, like Melquiades, Costa Rica can also meet misfortune unexpectedly. Without violence, yes, and also with something else entirely in its place.
By the end, fortunes change (as fortunes tend to do). Melquiades wins the lottery. He is beloved. So why not be optimistic? After all, things’ve gotta turn back around sometimes!
For that matter…why not be simple? Why not be laid back?
Clever people think up reasons to start wars. Simple people know life is good, and you don’t end a good thing.
Striving people destroy forests and lakes for land to serve their own ambitions. Laid back people just…tend to the small things. Let the bigger things be.
Most of the time, it seems to work out.
Thus, from the seeds of a black-and-white Mexican comedy, a nation’s philosophy began to grow.
What Does Pura Vida Mean In Costa Rica Today?
Rosch makes an important distinction here. “Pura vida” is a friendly phrase, but it’s also a philosophy. Pura vida can shape a person’s outlook on life, how they choose to spend their days, even how they move through the world.
At the start of her essay, Rosch contrasts the official Royal Academy of Spanish dictionary definition of Pura vida with its more profound cultural/philosophical meaning.
“To Costa Ricans,” she writes, “[pura vida is] a shared identity, a feeling of optimism and a uniquely positive outlook on life…
“…I realised that I felt disconnected from its meaning. On a trip back [from London] to Costa Rica to visit family and friends, I wanted to rediscover pura vida by finding out what it means to others and see if I could feel it again.”
Which she does.
Reading her piece, parts of the philosophy begin to click into place. It’s not just “positivity”; it’s a genuine emotional gratitude, living life in a state of readiness to receive the world, here and now.
To have pura vida is to have a mind open to seeing what’s real, and an easy rhythm to dance with whatever comes next.
Explore, Feel & Transform In Costa Rica
At Caravan, we want to grant our guests the chance to experience pura vida for themselves, in the place it all began. On our all-inclusive Costa Rica Tours, pure life is at your fingertips.
Our travel directors expertly curate each tour, booking the best for our guests well in advance. Join us, and start your trip stress-free from day one.
To learn more about our Costa Rica Tour options, reach out to our team at +1-312-321-9800. Or, call 1-800-227-2826 to book your ticket today.
