Costa Rica’s new president shares something in common with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: a mutual love of the Canadian rock band Rush.

Part of a congratulatory call between Trudeau and Costa Rica’s President-Elect Carlos Alvarado Quesada from last week was, in a diplomatic rarity, recorded and made accessible online – offering a brief glimpse into a part of diplomacy usually hidden behind curtains.

That included condolences for the Humboldt Broncos bus crash tragedy, which has made headlines around the world, a brief discussion about the benefits of gender-balanced cabinets – which Alvarado said he plans for his own administration – and Trudeau insisting the two work on a first-name basis.

Alvarado also, unprompted, brought up some Canadian rock legends, and half-jokingly seemed to start a push to get them down for Costa Rica’s bicentennial of independence.

“The band in the world that I admire the most comes from Canada,” he said. “It’s Rush!”

Trudeau replied: “Oh, Rush! Classic.”

“I’ve met them a few times and have a huge amount of respect for them as well. I like knowing you’re a Rush fan, that’s going to give us something more to talk about.”

Usually, when leaders of countries give each other calls, a terse, often obtuse statement is issued from their respective offices providing sparse details on what the leaders actually talked about. Not only does that leave out politically sensitive topics, it also leaves out any awkward, non-scripted human moments and respective points of confusion or disagreement that might come along with that sort of top-level diplomacy.

But the online publication Costa Rican Semanario Universidad had front row seats to that call and, unusually, video recorded and uploaded the call on YouTube – giving a brief glimpse into the rare world of recent fist exchanges by world leaders over the phone.

There were a few things they discussed that weren’t included in the video – including a likely sensitive discussion about the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, according to a statement about the call issued April 12 from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Here in Canada, French media were the first to notice the recording of the call.

“I have a feeling we’re going to get along very, very well,” Trudeau said to the 38-year-old centre-left political leader. “Canada’s always had an excellent relationship with Costa Rica but having another strong, young voice in the leader’s circle is going to be just wonderful.”