WARNING: Traveler's Checks. I do NOT suggest taking traveler's checks (as I did). A hotel staff member noticed a SLIGHT difference in my signatures and nearly refused them. These hassles transpired: 1.) She spoke to a manager who informed me that THEIR bank might refuse the checks because of SLIGHT variations in signature 2.) on the back of each check I had to sign up to FIVE times 3.) write my NINE digit Passport Number 4.) My three digit room number 5.) at one point, they took my passport and PHOTOCOPIED it. Everything turned out OK, but it was a terrible to feel like you were playing roulette with the Hotel's bank. If the checks "bounced" back, it would have put a dent in my mongering budget. Don't even try to find American Express' contact number (most do not work). I found it as part of my contingency plan should disaster arise but I won't print it because it would give you a false sense of security. Trust me.

On a better note, the hotel is no longer picky with the physical condition of U.S. dollar paper currency. I exchanged for colones with some pretty crumby bills.

A Possible Strategy the Massage Parlor Whores Use on YOU. Okay you've got her fellating your schlong without a condom and it feels great, THEN she puts on that sensation killer condom. What's going on here? Here is the Game Theory: option #1 -- she gives you head without a condom ---> whores know this usually takes a lot of work on their part and let's face it; they are lazy humans...therefore....option#2 -- she put the condom on you --> now your sensation is less and you KNOW it will take eternity to get off, so you look for an easier, quicker way -- you fuck her. She has just manipulated the situation so she works less by simply putting a condom on you in the middle of a BBBJ. Pretty clever. Of course, I could be wrong.

Now for my trip report:


Where: Blue Marlin, When: Jan. 14, 2003 2300 HRS, Amount Paid: $200, Length of Time: 12-16 hrs per day, Length of Hunt: About 30 minutes. Services had: Sexual & non-sexual companionship. Notes: My intention was to have "company" for 24 hrs a day. I entered the BM, surveyed the scene noting less Dominicans than last June. The girl to guy ratio was acceptable; about 5 girls to every 1 guy (estimated). Attempted to negotiate in Colones with two different ticas, each IMMEDIATELY switched to dollars, asking $400 (which I refused). Fortunately, one girl I refused introduced me to her friend whom I ended up taking to my room. She went to her day-job as I slept and wandered around San Jose which brings me to my next subject......

Where: Arte Sauna, When: Jan. 15, 2003 1417 HRS Amount Paid: 7500 Colones, Length of Time: 1 HR, Length of Hunt: (Not applicable, flat rate, about 7 girls to choose from, this is a brothel folks), Services had: Massage only. Notes: The selection has improved 100%!!! Last June, I saw only old bag-lady "toothless" whore types there. NOW there are girls that could work the Blue Marlin scene if they wanted to! Fresher, younger, better looking meat! Had an great massage. Was "monogomous" with my steady tica (from the BM) until she got a cold virus and didn't perform one night as I had desired. The next day I felt the magnetic pull of the Arte; the instant gratification that was available...

Where: Arte Sauna, When Jan. 18, 2003 1515 HRS, Amount Paid: $40, Length of Time: 1 HR, Length of Hunt: N/A, Services had: Sexual, Notes: Using the maxim of "A lay per day in San Jose" I chose my former "massage only" girl that I'd had on the 15th. Happy, I looked forward to my steady arriving from her day-job. Then she was on the phone with one of her friends....

Where: My Hotel Room/girl aquired via my "steady" When: Jan. 18, 2003 2130 HRS, Amount Paid: $100, Length of Time: 1-2 HRS, Length of Hunt: N/A This was a Whore of Opportunity, Services had: Sexual. Notes: My steady called one of her friends, asked if I wanted her and we had a threesome. Then my steady ended up in a hospital (found this out days later)...

Where: BM (Blue Marlin) When: Jan. 19, 2003 2200 HRS (estimated), Amount Paid: $200 per day, Length of Time: 1 & 1/2 days, Services had: Sexual & Non-Sexual Companionship. Notes: Tried to negotiate in Colones, but she soon saw dollars (her starting price was $400). With much help from my trip buddies, I got another tica because my "steady" tica (aquired on the 14th) failed to appear. She (the new girl) left on the 21st. But Arte still called...

Where: Arte Sauna, When: Jan. 21, 2003 0930 HRS, Amount Paid: $40, Length of Time: 1 HR (I used about 45 minutes though), Services had: Sexual. Notes: Just in case my plane was too crash, I thought it would be nice to have had "company" recently (ie. within the past 12 - 24 hrs). Entered Arte and noticed a couple of whores eating breakfast and conversing with co-workers. Since I was unhurried, I told them not to rush and to enjoy their breakfast. I sat down beside them and we were one big happy family: whores, customer, and manager alike.

Scouting Report: Scoped out Fantasies. These people definitely know how to cater to American tastes. This is a polished, professional, cookie-cutter, industrial, assembly-line, type of operation COMPARED to, say, Arte. It is commercialized. It doesn't have that nice, scummy, sleazy feeling that I've come to enjoy in Costa Rica. The "Fish Bowl" that has been mentioned in other reports is more like a "Cereal Bowl". Fish Bowl, Big. Cereal Bowl, Small. You are in a cramped hallway. You peer through a small one-way mirror (2ft. x 2ft.) mounted into the DOOR of a tiny room (9ft. x 9ft) where the girls are sitting on cafetaria-type chairs around the perimeter of the room. Anyway, free tours if you want them. I think it was $50 per hour for service. Guys were coming and going so it appears to be popular. Average range (in beauty) of girls, nothing remarkable one way or the other.

Overall, it was a good trip. It ended much too soon though. A personal commentary on the girls is that most are not hardened and they are quite human. Many are doing this because they are single mothers. They work eight-hours during the daytime, then lease their most private parts until the wee hours of the morning. I'm sure many get 6 hour of sleep per night. Many use caffeine to stay awake. Many gamble their earnings away. There is never a guarantee that they will get a customer each night. I've met their friends, their immediate family member, their kid. I perceive some of these girls less like whores and more like companions. So, the next time one asks you "You want company?" maybe that's just what she means.