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My first trip to Costa Rica was a little spur-of-the-moment. I managed to escape here with a surfing buddy who had lived here for a number of years working in leatherback turtle conservation at Playa Grande. This first trip was brief and I didn’t get much time in the water, but eight months later I returned with four friends to surf, get better acquainted with this beautiful country, enjoy some leisurely viewings of incredible sunsets, and do a little in the way of partying.
My first impression of Costa Rica was of a country where there exists a level of concern for that I have not seen in other parts of the world. It’s something that encourages you to be optimistic and to consider the fact that there are still places in the world where they are trying to implant sustainable forms of development. I believe that the will is there – even if this balance between development and the environment is being severely tested by certain realtors and large hotel chains, and by the waste generated by industry and tourism without control.
 Despite this, the fact that more than a quarter of the country is protected as Natural Park (sic) is cause for much hope.
Two trips to Costa Rica have given me too many memorable experiences to recount, but I would highlight the people that I met; both the people of Costa Rica and those from all over the world that live there. They possess a way of life and thinking that is very open, sociable, natural, and fluid. I recall a Christmas dinner with the biologists from the leatherback project where I had to take great pains to follow an English conversation spoken with accents from all over the world until suddenly, after my third rum, my English began to flow much more naturally, haha!
I also remember a sunset at Playa Grande that made realize why it is that so many people have ended up spending the rest of their lives here. The earth and the sky appeared to fuse together so that you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. I was like a great vault, full of star, and with a warm sea breeze: PURA VIDA! Costa Rica is a country with paradisaical nooks, good waves, and friendly people.
Truly a good destination for those lovers of nature who want to experience it in a pure state.
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