The next Blue Zone in Costa Rica will be found in La Fortuna, home of the Arenal Volcano- The Nicoya Peninsula has NOTHING on La Fortuna Costa Rica.
Why? I will tell you.
I love philosophy, always have. I’ve been in many of debates on the effects of religion and how it brings comfort to the people who BELIEVE. Personally, I think this to be a ‘false’ comfort for the true believer crowd, but a comfort nonetheless. Bottom line for me: WHATEVER works for YOU, we’re all on different paths. Me, I’m a Richard Dawkins type of thinker.
Back to the La Fortuna Blue Zone
The man in this picture is somewhat of an inspiration of mine. I don’t know him, never met him, know nothing about him really. But I do know one thing: He works out in the park, everyday from 6 in the morning to whatever at night, six days a week, rain or shine. Needless to say, La Fortuna has one of the most beautiful parks in all Costa Rica for a town its size. Our apartment overlooks the park, so we know how much the locals and tourists ENJOY it! Hell, I know how much I enjoy throwing OPEN my curtains everday!
Without fail, this man and his co-worker (they look the same), work the park; trimming, cutting, pruning, and trimming and clipping some more; the never ending job of manicuring a small slice of PURA Vida for others to enjoy, and believe me, it’s often taken for granted by the locals who frequent the park. The two also pick up trash, repair STUFF; they even empty out the fountain to keep it sparkling clean since often bored teenagers will throw SOAP SUDS in the fountain (I guess that’s kinda funny), and many Tico’s also have no problem throwing their Coke cans in the fountain, you know, since the trash can is 3 ft. away. (Don’t get me started about Costa Rican’s often blatant disregard for their country in the name of LITTER). And can you imagine the dog POOP? La Fortuna appears to be the home of the CHIHUAHUA, you would never know those dogs were so small after seeing the size of their…….. well, I’m sure you get the picture. These guys start the first few hours of their everyday, pickin up the disregarded shit, people we’re too damn lazy to throw away themselves.
Seriously, these men are bent over at least 5-6 hours a day and they’re NO spring chickens. If I was bent over for like 20 minutes, well, there’s no ‘if’ about it, I couldn’t do it without the help of some serious medications. Oh, and by the way, here, they normally use weed whackers to cut the grass, not lawn mowers, everything else is done by machetes of various sizes.
I watch these guys, they’re Content- I can see it on their faces. Nothing fazes them; not soap suds in the fountain, not dog shit every other step, not beer cans from the night before, or even demolished park benches- they just go about their business of keeping up the park- putting in a long-ass day that would KILL the rest of us. I know they go home, eat a hardy meal, sit out on the porch with family, maybe enjoy a beer or two, go to bed early, and get up early and DO it again- and I gotta million bucks says they make it to church EVERY Sunday. These guys are destined to be do’in interviews on ‘60 Minutes’ as to the secrets of a long, happy LIFE. BUT, this is the attitude of much of the unskilled labor force in Costa Rica (not sayin they’re not skilled, just sayin), they do their jobs, lead the SIMPLE life, and my guess is they’ll live a lot longer than the rest of US, creating the second of many BLUE ZONE’s that will eventually be found all over Costa Rica.
Come out to La Fortuna and be INSPIRED. I don’t know if I’m ENVIOUS, or think they’re the dumbest motherfuckers out there… but they ARE inspirational, and if their GOD doesn’t reward them with an eternity of harp music, Cacique and some HOT virgin TICA’s… There’s GONNA BE HELL TO PAY.
Here's what I really think of Blue Zones: Blue Zone Bandwagon
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