“Pura Vida” is the national saying of Costa Rica. Translated literally, it means “pure life” or “simple life” but as a group of music students learned in March 2019, it symbolizes the way that Costa Ricans look at themselves and the natural beauty of their country.
Since this was a band trip, there were of course some concerts to play. The jazz band entertained high school students at a school assembly in San José and the townsfolk of Oratina in the town square. The band played everything from “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” to the crowd-favourite, “Tequila”. To give the jazz band a break between sets, Fiona and Helen offered a bamboo flute/piano duet and Chris, Natasha, and Mr. Hoare performed some classic rock numbers.
The musicians really enjoyed the post-concert activities at the school in San José as the Grade 11 students there were anxious to practice their English. Each Mentor student was placed with a small group of Costa Ricans for almost an hour and as they compared their likes and dislikes, they also learned about the other school. The students learned both their similarities (no cell phones can be used at either school) and their differences (the Mentor students wanted to be wearing the Costa Ricans’ polo-shirt-and-khakis uniform and the students there thought the Mentor uniforms were much nicer-looking than theirs!).
In between band rehearsals and concerts, the group took part in activities like walking on hanging bridges, touring a coffee company, ziplining in the rainforest, hiking up and down a volcano, viewing the famous “blue river”, visiting two animal sanctuaries, and surfing. The group got the opportunity to experience several of the country’s “microclimates” going from the temperate central valley of San José to the cooler, damper north region near Arenal to the hot and sunny Pacific coast. They enjoyed near-perfect weather with only about 30 minutes of rain and daily temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees.
Everyone had the opportunity to have a laugh every morning as the “Tour Member of the Day” award was given for everything from the mundane (not knowing which washroom was for “caballeros”) to exciting (getting a police escort through the airport) to the unbelievable (losing your passport the morning of the trip). Best of all, friendships were forged and strengthened in touring this beautiful country together.
Thank you to Ms. Fuhr, Mr. Hoare, and Mr. Starkey for making the trip possible!
