Dancing

Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, and even the Bachata!...oh yes, bring your dance shoes. For eleven years now we have studied, admired, oohed and ahhed the Costa Rican passion for dance. We offer dance lessons in our gorgeous new Ooh La La Dance Studio, and every Friday night offer you a chance to practice your skills with locals and our infamous Friday Night Pasta Party. It’s a wild night, where many locals come to show off their skills, drink a beer, and enjoy their lives. The music is loud from 6 to 9 PM (Costa Ricans like it loud!), so if you want to go to sleep, you certainly can … or you can head into town where there is a disco, and keep the party going.

If this experience sounds dreadful to you, we advise you to stay away from here on Friday nights - every other night is very quiet and tranquilo. However, on Friday nights, it’s a hoot! We often have 150 Costa Ricans coming our way, bringing their grandmas and grandchildren, boyfriends, cousins, etc to dance up a storm. We are very dedicated to our dance party night, and believe that we have played a small part in preserving the culture of dance in our community by hosting this Friday night party – it generally involves loud music, wild women, beer drinking and occasional tequila tasting. We now understand (having had it be made perfectly clear by a few of the quieter-type guests) that some folks don’t like loud music, dance parties, etc. So, if this party doesn’t sound right for your group, let’s not book you here for a Friday night – let’s make it easy on all of us. On the other hand, if this sounds like a party you don’t want to miss, we will see you here!

Costa Ricans are great dancers (read below).

Quoting from Chris Baker's Costa Rican Handbook and National Geographic: "On weekends rural folks flock to small town dance halls, and the Ticos' celebrated reserve gives way to outrageously flirtatious dancing befitting a land of passionate men and women, says National Geographic: 'To watch the viselike clutching of Ticos and Ticas dancing, whether at a San Jose discotheque or a crossroads cantina, is to marvel that the birthrate in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation is among Central America's lowest'."

The photos on your left of course show the fabulous dancing to be found here. Please note the group shot of the Araya family, all of whom are great dancers, great friends, and not too shabby on the volleyball court either.