On Sunday, November 17th, Fox TV aired episode #669 of the famous cartoon family The Simpsons, in “Livin’ La Pura Vida”, in which the entire Simpson family and members of their Springfield community visit Costa Rica on vacation. Amazing. La Nacion newspaper commented about the episode, saying that it “without a doubt, positions tourist information (about Costa Rica) before the eyes of the world.” The show definitely hits highlights of what is available to tourists, including exotic flora and fauna, waterfalls, canopy tours, mountains, beaches, monkeys, and luxurious hotels.

The episode begins with the families landing in an airplane marked “multi-family travel”, which Homer later describes as “group trips with people we don’t like”. Homer is the father of the Simpson family, which includes Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The famous yellow family decided to visit Costa Rica at the suggestion of a friend, and are traveling with son Bart’s best friend Milhouse, and the Van Houston family. They bring their personal problems with them: Lisa is always anxious, Marge wants to take photos to make her friends jealous on social media, and Homer is always putting his foot in his mouth. D’oh!

The show features the Simpsons arriving at their luxury hotel with a fabulous view of the ocean. They are offered welcome cocktails “Miguelitos”, dubbed Pura Vida in a glass by another character. The drinks are tall, and red, with a lime floating at the bottom, and a jaunty blue umbrella as a garnish. It is up for discussion if these are meant to be chilguaros (a famous Tico cocktail made of Cacique and spicy tomato juice), or Michelados (another Tico cocktail made of beer and lime juice). Some clever bartender will surely pick up the slack and invent a Miguelito especially for tourists.

Marge asks for the definition of Pura Vida, and is told that “It means pure life, kind of a state of mind down here. Very chill. Like what you think is chill, but, like, a MILLION times chiller.” The phrase Pura Vida is repeated endlessly in this episode; the Simpsons have taught it to the world. This Simpson episode does not have subtitles in Spanish, unfortunately.
After sipping her Miguelito, Marge comments, “Homie, I think I’m having an experience.” Homer responds, “Every time a fruit meets a booze, a magic vacation is born.”

The family goes on to have typical tourist adventures, eat typical Tico cuisine, and admire nature at its finest, including monkeys who carry on great conversations. Throughout, Bart carries a machete, something he clearly would not be permitted to do in Springfield, Lisa craves stone spheres, and Homer puts his foot in it repeatedly. His catchphrase, D’oh! was added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2001, and is an expression created by the originator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening. It is an expression of grief or anger from the realization of an idiotic act or mistake, something for which Homer is famous.

Viewers of the show were critical on social media of a scene in which someone is reading a travel guide book titled “The Lonely Island, Costa Rica”, featuring two figures with maps of Costa Rica covering their private parts. Of course, everyone knows that Costa Rica is NOT an island, and the show’s writers were either spoofing the famous travel guide Lonely Planet, or perhaps spoofing the famous Costa Rican author Jose Leon Sanchez, writer of “La Isla de Los Hombres Solos” or “The Island of the Lonely Men”. The writers were very imaginative in their portrayal of Costa Rica, and the overall impression of the country is exceedingly favorable.

The Tico experience of the Simpsons is certainly far more entertaining than recent photos and descriptions of the Kardashian family. We can only hope the Simpsons return soon for more Pura Vida experiences.