Greetings:

Am headed for San Jose (2nd trip)Aug 7-13. Here are some of the things I am taking, many based on advice received on here and Redsnake as well as my previous travelling experiences to Israel, Canada and many US cities.
But is there anything I am leaving out?

Extra toothbrushes for the ticas
a few mini pads
dozen bottles perfume
$200 in colones to get started
carry on bag only(no luggage to check in)
3 of everything to wear, ie: shirts, socks, underwear, shorts(hotel Presidente offers laundry service daily)
1 pair long pants
2 pair shoes
toiletries(including bug spray)
prescriptions in their original bottles
cell phone
throw away cameras
vaginal lube
condoms
passport and photocopy of passport
extra wallet and credit cards
fanny pack
money(buckets of it), new US currency, lots of small bills
pre moistened towelettes
List of websites and email addresses I want to check and communicate with while in SJ
List of posts and a recent map, posted here on TJH, that outlines protocol, prices and locations of some of the places I want to visit.
Spanish Phrase book and an English/Spanish dictionary

Although I know only gringo tourists wear shorts in San Jose, I can't help it...I am only bringing one pair of long pants and will wear shorts probably the entire time I am there. I guess the biggest reason is, that "I AM a gringo tourist"! I am so gringo, that I have no chance of blending in.
Can anyone add to the "must have" list for me? Hope this list helps others.

regards to the board,
-wmax2

My top suggestion is a Doc Johnson "Pocket Rocket". Accept no substitutes! Most of the girls here have never seen them before and they go wild with them.

The only other suggestion is a couple of pair of blue jeans. You'll get tired of wearing the same pair of pants every night and it often gets a little cold for shorts at night.

TG

Tampagingo, what is a Doc JOhnson "pocket rocket"
anyway

Doctorgood, you need to get out more!

Unless you have a GSM phone that is tri-band, your cell phone in CR may not work.

For your two lists, might I suggest making notes of them? For example, click on the Notes utility on the top menu bar. Type in "contacts" and press create. Then press "Edit" and cut and paste your list of email addresses into the box. Finally press "Update contacts". To view your contacts note at any time, click on "Text" or "HTML". Now you don't need to worry about carrying around the list, you'll have access to it anywhere you have access to the web.

Notes is one of the features I personally use most on this site.

My top suggestion is a Doc Johnson "Pocket Rocket".

Tampa Gringo: How I have come to rely on your posts. You present things in CR with evidence of ample experience and maturity. I am, indeed, rethinking taking a second pair of long pants for the evenings, because of your suggestions.

I do have one issue that I cannot resolve. The pocket vibrator. I am 52 years old (yesterday was my birthday, actually), I have had many partners, sexually, throughout my life and have never been able to master the art of the vibrator. I cannot feel my partner, cannnot sense her swell beneath my fingertips, or tongue. It seems impersonal to me. Additionally, the women I have been with who use vibrators, I have found, generally make poorer partners because (I sense)that they have desensitized their clit and even their 'g' spot with so much self gratification. With all the self stimulation in which they indulge, ultimately, for what do they need a partner? For me, the sexual response of my partner is as arousing as anything that takes place in the sexual dance.
Since your aplomb at this is obvious, I tend to defer to you, however.
Do you have specific thinking about this device? Is there some touch, some tactic, some ritual that you employ which makes this "pocket rocket" more successful for you than your own touch or your own tongue? I ask in sincerity and with anticipation that I can enhance my erotic experiences.
your servant,
-wmax2

City Dude:

I did not know that about the cell phones. thanks for the heads up. Guess I won't be needing that little bit of added baggage then. Thanks,
-wmax2

WMax2,

Good move on the carry-on only, BAD move on the shorts over long pants/jeans...it actually is a very comfortable temperature in the day and, by my native-Miamian standards, cold at night. Also, the mongering is great but you'll have time to kill in the city otherwise. Although you might stand out as a gringo regardles of your attire, there's no need to stand out as an uninformed/novice gringo. Don't be a target for a thug!

Have fun,

La Muerte

Cell phones: To the best of my knowledge, you can use almost any US cell phone in Costa Rica. You have to buy a pre-paid card for it and you can make outgoing calls, but cannot receive calls.

Vibrators: Most of the girls here have never seen or used them before. Certainly they aren't appropriate for every occasion or every woman, nor do they take the place of manual or oral sitmulation. I really enjoy long, intense lovemaking sessions with a lot of variety and vibrators certainly have their place in such a session, particularly with a woman who really enjoys sex and is multi-orgasmic. Like most men, I'm usually only good for one (or sometimes two) orgasms during a session and I like to postpone it as long as possible. For me, using a vibrator on a woman or watching her use it on herself can be a very erotic, enjoyable part of sex.

There is no specific tactic or ritual I use except that if a woman isn't multi-orgasmic and /or you aren't going to spend a couple of hours or more in your lovemaking session, I think a vibrator is a waste. However, if you find yourself with a really hot woman, have already brought her to a couple or three orgasms during foreplay and want to extend your foreplay into new territory, that's the time to bring out the vibrator!

Here's one of many stories from my experiences here. A couple of years ago, before I moved to CR permanently, some friends and I were here on a visit and had a fishing trip planned the next day with a very early morning flight to the coast. After dinner I suggested going to the Blue Marlin for a drink but all of my friends announced that they were all going to bed early, so I walked over by myself with every intention of having a single after-dinnner drink and heading back to the Presidente for a good night's sleep.

Well, as I was sipping my drink, in walked one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in this land of beautiful women. She was really gorgeous! Still, I wasn't really thinking of doing business with her, but I wanted to get to know her with the possibliity of seeing her later in the week after we returned from the beach. So we struck up a conversation, hit it off really well, and talked for quite a while.

Eventually, she asked if I wanted her to come back to the hotel with me. Naturally, she wanted $100. I explained that I wanted to make it an early night and wasn't really interested in sex but wouldn't mind a nice, but brief massage. We ended up agreeing on 10,000 colones, but she made it clear that this was for a brief massage only, no sex - which was all I wanted anyway. So, we went back to the hotel. She undressed me and removed her own clothes. She was even more gorgeous than I had expected, a perfect 10 in every detail. She proceeded to give me a very good non-sexual massage for about a half-hour, then without encouragement from me, she took me into her mouth and brought me to a shuddering orgasm, swallowing it all. Wow!

After a few minutes rest, I began slowly massaging her and she began to get aroused and respond. I brought her to a couple of orgasms with my fingers and tongue, then decided this was one of those occasions tailor-made for the pocket rocket. When I pulled it out and asked her if she wanted to use it she didn't even understand what it was. I told her to just relax and I'd show her.

Well, she went wild with it. I brought her to a couple of more orgasms, then she took over and started doing herself, producing three or four more orgasms. We were now about two hours into our "brief, non-sexual" massage and she told me she wanted me to fuck her from behind while she used the vibrator on herself. She came two or three more times before I had my own orgasm. It was now getting late and I was ready to go to sleep, but she wasn't. So, she started using the vibrator or herself again.

Finally, I politely told her that she had to go and let me sleep because I had a plane to catch in a few hours. She flat refused to leave - she wanted to have sex again. I was tired, had already had two orgasms, and just couldn't do it again. Reluctantly she agreed to leave, with the vibrator as a gift instead of the 10,000 colones we had originally agreed upon.

Pura Vida!
TG

TampaGringo:
Thats why I love the Blue Marlin! I have had GFE's with girls that just really were as horny as I was. I made one chica orgasm 3 times (I was on viagra and we went at it for 30 minutes)

Now I really know that C.R. is a great destination and anything is possible and the party is just better everytime I return. Just by reading what happened to you confirms to me that C.R. is addicting. Everytime I go, I end up partying and getting drunk "outside" of the Blue Marlin with a Blue Marlin chica, whether it is down the street, at a dance club, or back at my hotel where we both stumble into the lobby in a drunken stupor and she spends the entire night for the 100 buckeroos. There are many chicas that will go and wham bam and thats it, 45 minutes which is too business-like for me. And there are those other girlfriend experience chicas that hang out with you for hours and just make you wonder about what the hell did I do to deserve this? By the way, do you speak spanish Tampagringo?

PS: This topic started with a list of items to take to C.R. If you ever forget any toiletries, just go diagnoal from the Presidente hotel to the little pharmacy in front, durex condoms available there and other stuff.

Peace!

Forget your cell phone unless you have researched that it will work there.
Absolutely bring your passport under the new law.