The Ticos of Costa Rica

Pura vida means "pure life." You will hear it as hello, as thank you, and as a way of saying that things are fine. It is ordinary speech, not a slogan saved for visitors. Use it the way you heard it. A short "pura vida" back is enough.

People notice when it is a performance. You do not need to open every sentence with it, and you do not need it at all to be polite. "Usted," a greeting, and a thank-you in Spanish do more.

About 5.2 million people live in Costa Rica, most of them in the Central Valley around San José. Spanish is the official language. On the Caribbean coast, around Limón and Puerto Viejo, many families also speak an English-based Creole. The literacy rate is among the highest in Latin America, and public school reaches almost every town.

Lunch is the main meal. A soda, the neighborhood restaurant, serves a casado: rice, beans, a salad, and meat or fish. Dinner is lighter and earlier than in many other countries.

The country abolished its army in 1948 and put that budget toward education and public health. Elections are competitive and civilian. The politics guide explains how the government is organized.

Spanish is enough for the whole country. English is common in beach towns and at hotels, and less common at a bus counter or a neighborhood soda in the valley. On the Caribbean coast many families also speak an English-based Creole. Learn enough Spanish to greet someone and to ask the price. That covers the places English does not.

Use "usted" with people you do not know. The currency is the colón. Dollars are accepted in many beach towns, and the change often comes back in colones. Where cash still matters is in the note below.

Greet someone before you ask for anything, even in a shop. A hello first is the difference between a normal errand and a rude one. Ask before you photograph people. In a house, wait to be told where to sit, and do not treat a soda like a hotel desk.

On a nesting beach, the guide sets where you stand and the lights stay off the sand. That rule is the same in Tortuguero and at Playa Grande. The rest of being a guest is pace. Lunch is the meal. Dinner is earlier and lighter than many visitors expect.

A restaurant bill often already includes a 10 percent service charge, on top of the sales tax. You do not have to add more. If the service was the reason you would have tipped, it is already there. A soda may not include it, and a few coins are enough.

Round up a taxi when the fare was fair. For a guide, a boat driver, or someone who carries the bags, the tip is not already on a bill, and it is the one that matters. Ask a ranger or a hotel what is customary before a park walk if a guide fee was separate from the tip.

The currency is the colón. Cards work in towns, hotels, and most restaurants. Park gates, public buses, and small sodas still prefer cash, often in small bills. Dollars are accepted in many beach towns. The change usually comes back in colones, so do not expect a dollar back.

ATMs in the valley and in the beach towns dispense colones. Use one there instead of the exchange window at the airport. Take cash out before a Sunday, or before a day that ends on a boat, when the next ATM is behind you.

Ordinary caution is enough for the towns in this guide. Use the hotel safe. Do not leave a bag on the beach while you swim. In San José, keep the phone away on a dark side street and use a taxi after dinner rather than a long walk. The beach towns are the trip most people came for, and they are not a different set of rules from any other beach town.

The risk that actually changes a plan is the road after dark. That is covered in getting around Costa Rica. The rest is in is Costa Rica safe?. A highway checkpoint is ordinary. It is not a sign that something is wrong.