Two days left here in CR and thought I would post a message I like to call: A Lesson Learned, on Saturday night I discovered what to me is the Holy Grail at the Blue Marlin- a beautiful non-pro GFE. I was waiting for another Chica to arrive when I spotted her and instantly new she was different from the other ladies there. Short blond hair, tight slim young body, dressed in ordinary Tica attire and when she smiled-braces! Upon talking to her I asked her age which she said was 24, she didn´t look a day over 19! She produced her ID and proved it, I was relieved. I told her I had never seen her here before and she told me she only came there about 4 times a year when she really need money. She spoke very good English and told me she was a student taking computer classes, livng with her mother and had two 7 year old twins. Well to cut to the chase I was enthralled with this girl, our conversations were terrific as we talked about numerous things. The next two days were spent with her: movie, dinner and the best sex I have ever had, totally passionate GFE sex. When making love with her all I kept thinking was how she would remind you of a high school cheerleader type. Her face is about a 8 & 1/2 her body a 10, no sagging, pink nipples, no stretch marks and an absolutely perfect ass! My mistake- I started developing feelings for this girl. Big no no guys, always remember she is a working girl and you are a paycheck. To end this story I made plans to take her to the beach to which she enthusiastically agreed and she stood me up. I haven´t heard from or seen her since. Perhaps she sensed my feelings or whatever, but to those new to coming here it´s a blast in candyland but leave your heart at home. I´m back out hunting tonight.

Good story. Experiences like the one you describe are the reason I go to C.R.

Don’t get down on the fact she was a no show. Anytime you make plans with a Tica, there’s about a 90% chance she’ll be late and a 50% she won’t show up. I wouldn’t take it personally. Sounds like you have the right attitude in focusing on the good times and not getting attached.

I try to do the same thing at the Marlin. I look for chicas who I haven’t seen or look out of place. With some work you can find new ones or semi-pros, although it has become harder to do.

One thing though on her being a non-pro-if she was a student, single, mother of two with no job, how could she afford braces?

Pura Vida,

HC1

Believe it or not, many of the girls do NOT want romantic relationships with the guys. They already have families and/or boyfriends, or in some cases, girlfriends.

But it may just have easily been that this chica had a family problem... someone ill, no babysitter, etc.

It's probably 50/50 as to what her problem might have been. Unless you gave her payment beforehand, or a good sum as down payment... if that was the case you already know what happened.

A lesson learned. It's not easy to have a trusting relationship in these circumstances from either one side or the other.

As to affording braces... medical insurance there is more reasonably priced than in the U.S. I'm not sure if it includes dental, but it wouldn't surprise me. Of the chicas I know at the Park Hotel, who are nowhere near as well off as the Del Rey girls, some have insurance for their kids, though not for themselves. So I think the braces are not necessarily a good clue.

I think the government provides medical care for all Costaricans. The ones without coverage are the immigrants from Nicaragua, Colombia, etc.

did you know that the Costarican government also provides free internet service to all their citizens? All they have to do is go to a post office and register for it.

Sorry, but you've been mislead on both counts. Costa Rica has socialized medicine, available through their social security system at reasonable cost. All employees and families are automatically covered, through mandatory payroll contribution. Other residents may voluntaily join - the cost is about $15 per month per family member. Very few of the working girls are signed up, although many of them have their kids enrolled.

There is no free internet service program in Costa Rican.

I stand corrected on the internet, Tampagringo, although that's what a native Costarican told me, his ISP is "@costaricense.com". Perhaps that's a free service like Netzero here in the US?

Re the medical care, that's what I meant, it's socialized medicine with universal coverage of those that want it. $15 per month is only one bj :-)

Another thing that seems unusual to a foreigner is the mandatory year-end bonus. As I understand it, all employers are required by law to give their employees a bonus of a fixed amount (so many weeks of work or some such), called the "aguinaldo". Is that the way it works?

The Christmas bonus equal to 2 weeks pay is mandatory for all employers, and applies even to domestic help. Actually, it's not a bad idea - more like a forced savings program for the employee than anything else since it's certainly figured into the compensation package by the employer and doesn't run his costs up except for minimum wage employees (and the minimum wage is ridiculously low). Most Costa Ricans are very irresponsible with money (and with other things), so at least they'll have a few colones set aside for the holidays. At leat, that's the rationale.

As to the free internet, what he's talking about is a free e-mail account - not exactly the same thing as free internet service. There's nothing like netzero or any other private ISPs in Costa Rica. The government has a monopoly - the only service provider is RACSA, the government owned monopoly. Service may be provided through other companies. For example, I have cable modem service through one of the local CATV companies. However, that is through contract between them and RACSA. I pay the cable company each month and they pay part of the fee to RACSA. RACSA is still the actual service provider.

Relatively few Ticos have home computers and of those who do, less than half have internet service. There are several reasons for this. Until recently, it was prohibitively expensive. Now, home users have a special deal 5,000 colones per month for unlimited use. However, unlike the U.S., here you also pay for each minute of telephone line usage, and it gets expensive. Additionally, the telephone line quality is so poor in many areas that you can't connect to or maintain an internet connection over a phone line anyway, or if you do connect, your speed works out to something like 14,000kbs. It sucks!

I finally had to move into a new home in order to get a decent internet connection, since cable internet service is only available in very limited areas. I'm happy with my internet service now but I'm paying $80 per month for it, including basic cable TV.

Update, My last nite in CR I ran into her at BM, instantly she was apologizing profusely and her story was that her mother's sister died and she stayed home with her grieving mom. True or not I forgave her we had dinner and my last nite was spent with her. We talked for quite a while, and she is very intelligent and fun just to be with. We exchanged emails and addresses so we''ll see if she keeps in touch as I plan on being back end of Nov. first of Dec. I tell you guys it's hard for me to keep from thinking of her although I know I am back here and she's with other guys at the Marlin. Have any of you checked out the tall blonde big titted chica from Colombia who goes by Marcelo? She is hot, at the BM she gave the impression of being quite haughty and she did not budge from 100$, normally bad attitude in the bar = bad attitude in bed, not in this case she became a real sweetheart in my room and oh my god what a body!!!!!! D-cup tots and all natural, 19 yrs. old , highly recommended.

TampaGringo: You are correct about RACSA. Many years ago, I had RACSA folks fly in to attend
a free seminar my Co. was doing in PTY. During lunch break they told us that most of what we
were saying did *not* apply to RACSA because they
owned the distribution of the connection. Given the telecomm laws existing in CR, it is a long way before things improve.

Thanks for all the info, Tampagringo. Yes, that is what I was told, that all Costaricans had free email, and I assumed that meant free internet, which I now realize isn't the same thing. So is there is a site that they can log onto for free but can only use for email, not web access? Sorry for all the questions, but that's what happens when you get to be a senior citizen :-) Universal free email sounds like a good idea, as you point out about the aguinaldo.

Everyone in the world has access to free e-mail if they want it through services such as Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. There is NO free internet access anywhere or anyhow in Costa Rica. Most people use internet cafes, which are fairly reasonable here. Also, McDonald's and perhaps others have Internet cafes in some of their locations. At Mcdonald's in Heredia, for example, you get a half-hour of Internet use with the purchase of any Combo meal over a certain value.

...and if my telecom company could work out something with the Chinese restaurant down the street for DSL takeout with General Tso's chicken I'd be a happy man.

Melia Confort, now renamed Tryp Confort has a American Express business center. A combination of my Amex Card and MAS card allowed me free access to internet. It is on the 6th floor.

Whoa Indy...
You can sleep with scores of women in your trips to C.R. and never fall for any of them
and then BAM! and we know better, but we are human. I don't remember who said it on this board but I've never heard it said better " when you fall in love in Costa Rica you're falling in love by yourself" Maybe, just maybe, she is telling you the truth.
Good Luck!