Our plane landed at approximately 8:30pm in the evening. I accompanied two female friends I made on the flight through immigration and stood with them shortly while they waited for their baggage. I was tempted to exchange contact information, but I decided against it after thinking about how I would explain the details of my trip at a later date. I settled for handshakes and quickly made it through customs. After passing the line of car rental counters to my left, I continued to the right where the cab drivers were waiting. The official cabs are a bright orange and impossible to miss. I paid $12 in US dollars and followed my driver to his orange van. There were all these normal sized cabs, and here I was a single male with a backpack and small carryon getting into the biggest van.

One of the nice things about traveling to Costa Rica is the convenience. Not only is the country a short flight from the US, but San Jose itself is just a short ride from the airport. I didn't recognize the drive from the airport to the city, but even though it was only my second time in San Jose, pulling into the Gulch was like coming home. My driver brought me to the front of the Presidente. The front looked a lot different than it had two years earlier. I entered and walked to the registration desk which was in a new location back farther and to the left.

The Gulch, or Gringo Gulch, is a small section of the city of San Jose that many visiting tourists stick to. The Hotel Del Rey/Blue Marlin Casino, Hotel Presidente, Hotel Morazon, and Hotel Balmoral are all in The Gulch.

I only had 4 nights in the Presidente, then the hotel would be full with visitors coming for the weekend. As my first order of business, I walked a short block to the Morazon to see if they had rooms availalble. I was having a lot of difficulty finding contact information for the Morazon on the web prior to my trip. One reason, as I would later be told, was that the official name of the hotel is the Hotel Costa Rica Morazon.

Hotel Presidente http://www.hotel-presidente.com/    info@hotel-presidente.com Phone: (506) 222-3022 or (506) 256-1175

These babies got plenty of action	A large counter is hidden to the right

I had no problems getting a room at the Morazon, but would later read that the Morazon isn't the best at honoring reservations when high rollers arrive looking for rooms. Everything was cool with me, though, and I will probably stay at the Morazon on future trips.

I returned to my hotel to leave my passport, made sure everything was in order, then walked two short blocks to the Del Rey.

Hotel Del Rey http://www.hoteldelrey.com/    info@hoteldelrey.com Local: (506) 257-7800 Toll-free US: (888) 972-7272

The Hotel Del Rey is also home to the Blue Marlin Bar/Casino, the most popular place among tourists for freelancing prostitutes. The convenience of being connected to the Blue Marlin comes at a price, though. The Del Rey charges a $10 guest registration fee for each visiting prostitute. Any vacation spanning multiple days with multiple ladies can add up to significant fees going to the hotel which could better be spent elsewhere. Most Costa Rica veterans seem to avoid staying at the Del Rey.

There are two entrances to the Del Rey/Blue Marlin. The front entrance faces the Morazon. Upon entering, you see the restaurant/cafe to the left, the casino and bar straight ahead, and the hotel registration desk to the right. A sports betting desk is to the immediate left with some slots on both sides of the cafe past the small tables. A tourist activity desk is to the immediate right with rows of brochures and photos detailing the many tourist options which can be scheduled from there. To the left of the registration desk and parallel to the casino tables is a booth where you can change money. Tables include Rummy, Tute, and Canasta, which are roughly comparable to Blackjack, 5-card stud, and Roulette.

Various slots and video poker machines are located around the tables. The bathrooms are located in the back past the tables if standing at the front entrance. The steps to the bar area are directly to the right of the bathrooms.

The bar is in the shape of a U, or horseshoe. In the mouth of the horseshoe is a column with barstools around it. At the left end of the horseshoe are a few bar tables with accompanying bar stools. The right end of the shoe is a narrow passageway which often becomes a bottelneck when the bar is busy. Past the right side of the shoe are more steps down to another dining area with dining tables and bar tables. Straight ahead from the steps is the side entrance to the hotel/bar. To the right is a passageway where you check the ladies in and take the elevators to your room, or you return to the registration desk if you continue ahead. If you make a U-turn after descending the steps, you re-enter the casino area. There are a couple phones to your immediate left if you re-enter the casino from this direction.

I order a Corona from a cute but bored looking bartender that was walking around with the peel of a lemon slice sticking out of her mouth. Then I started to make my rounds.

I was slightly disappointed at the talent that was available at 9:30pm on this Monday evening, it wasn't as good as I had remembered from a couple years ago. I did not yet recognize anyone yet. The prettiest young lady was a Dominicana standing near the right steps. I spoke with her briefly, but she left me unimpressed with her attitude. She was definitely a professional and knew she could get by on her looks alone. I didn't need to excuse myself as a rude American butted into our conversation and started bargaining with her. She opened with a hundred and she responded with $50. He tried to get her down to $60, but she wouldn't budge from $70. I took this opportunity to excuse myself and continue the hunt. I saw her alone shortly after, she was unable to close the deal.

I continued to make rounds while seeking out my evening company. I saw a number of prospects here and there, but no one that really impressed me.

On one of my rounds, I got flagged down by a bald guy with glasses. For this story, I'll call him Mel. If I recall his story correctly, Mel was an American expat now living in Costa Rica. He was sitting at the tables in front of the cafe with two ladies that I had been eyeing occasionally. He told me that they thought I was the best looking in the place and that they were too shy to talk to me on their own. We chatted for a bit when our discussion moved to the topic of hotels. He recommended Del Rey over the Presidente, and the Morazon over the Del Rey. I asked why and he said that the going rate for the company of the ladies was $100, but that some will come down if you are closer. I was a bit surprised at that statement as I didn't think the short extra distance to the Presidente would make a difference to even a beginning negotiator.

We all spoke for a while with several of the friends of the young ladies stopping by and other friends of Mel joining us. I started talking to one of the ladies more.

Monica is a short brunette Tica (Costa Rica local), maybe 5'3 with dark toned skin. I originally suspected she might have been from Nicaragua(Nica).

Monica and I escused ourselves after a while to head back to the hotel after settling on a price of $80. I'm sure I could have gotten her down lower, but she seemed really sweet and I didn't feel like doing much negotiating.

We ignored a few beggars on the walk back to the Presidente. After the security guard unlocked the gated metal entrance, something new since my last trip, we walked to the registration desk and signed her in. We took the nearest of the two elevators up to my room on the 5th floor.

We showered before and after our dance. Monica was a full GFE session with DFK, DATY, BBBJ, and multiple positions.

Afterwards I paid her to leave. I didn't negotiate any overnight stays on this trip as I prefer to sleep alone.

Vlad,

I'm glad to see the report is making it to the board. Nice, quality reporting - I'm looking forward to the rest of the story.