Pura Vida!!!

The first word that comes to mind when thinking of Costa Rica is: GREEN. The second and third are perhaps : COFFEE and RAIN, but that is besides the point. When actually experiencing the country, many other words that I did not associate with the rainforest came to mind, such as: BOB MARLEY, NON-EXISTENT STOP SIGNS, PIZZA HUT and POSH HOSTELS. However, after navigating the streets of San Jose in a small bus, crowded with 21 other beings, as our senses were bombarded with foreign smells, sights, and languages through the tiny windows, we made our way to the countryside, escaping the fast pace of the foreign city, and entered the clichéd beauty of the Costa Rican rainforest. As it turns out, even the most talked about and clichéd things still hold their own secrets.   After wandering the jungle, the knowledge of the plethora of medicinal plants that are produced by the rainforest got me to thinking..."why do we even use drugs to treat disease if there are plants that the indigenous people swear cures cancer, malaria, upset stomachs, diarrhea, arthritis..."the list goes on and on. It felt so satisfying to walk among the jungle, seeing how everything used to be produced before companies such as Dole, and Monsanto began to comercialize and mass produce the same products using chemicals, GMO seeds and mono-cultured planting techniques.  Seeing farmers so passionate and happy at what they do, while enlivening the forrest and producing wonderful food and medicine, was so wonderful to experience. They seemed so satisfied with everything they produced, and in many ways it made it taste so much more delicious; perhaps it was the love and care they poured into every seed they planted. Their moto was, "If we make the plants happy, in turn they make us happy and our stomachs smile". These people most definitely live by it and it shows.  Pura Vida! - Feliz Manzanedo