{"id":39817,"date":"2019-01-21T17:01:40","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T23:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/?p=39817"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:24:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T15:24:50","slug":"costa-rican-slang-for-your-next-surf-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/costa-rican-slang-for-your-next-surf-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Costa Rican Slang for Your Next Surf Trip."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Do you need to speak fluent Spanish to visit us? Of course not! All our staff are bilingual and love to test out their English skills with our guests. But if you want to make an impression and get some genuine smiles from the locals, surprise them with some of these popular pachuco (slang) words. It’s always fun to try to communicate in your non-native tongue, even if you completely butcher it!<\/p>

Here are some of the most common words \/ phrases that 100% exist in the Costa Rican vocabulary, even if you can’t find them in your Spanish dictionary.<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Tico\/Ticas<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 is what\u00a0Costa Ricans call themselves.<\/p>

Mae<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Dude<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0Mae, let\u2019s go surf!<\/p>

Buen\u00a0Ride<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Awesome!<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0That\u00a0mae\u00a0is super\u00a0buen\u00a0ride!<\/p>

Al Chile<\/strong>-Really.<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0The waves\u00a0were epic this afternoon!\u00a0Al chile?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Que torta<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0What\u00a0a\u00a0problem.<\/a><\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0I dinged the board,\u00a0que\u00a0torta!<\/p>

Zarpe<\/strong>-Last call for alcohol!<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0Mae, let\u2019s go for the zarpe.<\/p>

Tuanis<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Cool or everything is good.Example<\/em>:\u00a0\u00bfHey buddy everything tuanis?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Birras<\/strong>-Beers.<\/p>

Example: Mae, Volcano Brewing has birras muy tuanis!<\/p>

Por\u00a0dicha<\/strong>-Luckily<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0Por\u00a0dicha,\u00a0I had a great\u00a0time surf session this morning.<\/p>

Que\u00a0chiva<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Cool.<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0My trip to WRSC was\u00a0super\u00a0chiva\u00a0once again!<\/p>

Harina-<\/strong> Money<\/p>

Example:\u00a0<\/em>Mae, make sure to bring harina to buy birras en Pacifico.<\/p>

Dar pelota:<\/strong> To pay attention.<\/p>

Example:\u00a0<\/em>Dar pelota, I need you to watch that boat carefully.<\/p>

Hale<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Let\u2019s Go.<\/p>

Example:<\/em> Hale, to surf Santa Teresa for the weekend!<\/p>

Jama:<\/strong> To eat.<\/p>

Example:<\/em>\u00a0 Hale a jamar to Eat @ Joe\u2019s.<\/p>

A cachete<\/strong> \u2013 That\u2019s awesome.<\/p>

Example:<\/em> Costa Rica has some of the nicest people in the world.<\/p>

Diay<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0 What do you mean?<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0Are you sure that the waves will be epic in Grande today?<\/p>

Response: <\/em>Diay, am not sure.<\/p>

Suave un\u00a0Toque<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Wait a minute.<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0Let\u2019s\u00a0go\u00a0surfing?\u00a0Suave un toque.<\/p>

Salado<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Tough\u00a0luck.<\/p>

Example<\/em>:\u00a0I can\u2019t surf today\u00a0since I must work.<\/p>

Response<\/em>:\u00a0Salado!<\/p>

A cachete<\/strong> \u2013 That\u2019s awesome.<\/p>

Example:<\/em> Costa Rica has some of the nicest people in the world.<\/p>

Response: A chachete?<\/p>

Cuidado\u00a0Pierde<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Fortunate.<\/p>

Example:<\/em> I\u00a0booked a trip to WRSC for the month of August with the kids since the kids surf for free.<\/p>

Response<\/em>:\u00a0Cuidado\u00a0pierde, Mae!<\/p>

You\u2019ve obviously heard the\u00a0famous\u00a0phrase\u00a0\u201cPura\u00a0Vida\u201d\u00a0which can\u00a0literally\u00a0translate to\u00a0\u201cHakuna\u00a0Matara.\u201d Basically, it means\u00a0to live a life full of happiness, no worries and epic waves! So, if you get any questions asked and you\u2019re not exactly sure what was said, all you have to say back is\u00a0\u201cPura\u00a0Vida\u201d and you will be rewarded with a smile and a shaka.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Do you need to speak fluent Spanish to visit us? Of course not! All our staff are bilingual and love to test out their English skills with our guests. But if you want to make an impression and get some genuine smiles from the locals, surprise them with some of these popular pachuco (slang) words. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":422,"featured_media":39821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}