www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Hello all. Not 100% sure i am posting in the correct area, but i apologize in advance if i did. I have a June trip planned and have some concerns about the election and any related changes that may occur. Am i worrying over nothing? I realize changes may occur that may be game changing, but it seems June would be a pretty aggressive timetable for such.

Yes....for now at least. Changes won't happen over night but even if there were changes, you could always go somewhere else.

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El Gringo

I live here and am not concerned. It looks now like Laura Chinchilla is going to win, but what she can actually do is limited. The legislative process here is very slow. There are 'executive orders' that can have some effect, but remember that she was a member of the Arias administration, vice president, and about the worst she did was restrict casino hours. A tragedy for compulsive gamblers maybe, and for casino workers definitely.

The biggest campaign topic has been crime. I don't see her or anybody putting a lot of CR's meager law enforcement into shutting down all the sex business in town. If they somehow shut down the Del Rey, which they won't, you'd see a giant upsurge of girls in other locations, even on the streets. Even if it happens, which it won't, it won't happen overnight. Don't sweat it, is my final advice.

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

I agree with Bilko. Attempting to shut down the major venues of prostitution will put the girls on the street and in the cheap bars where they will be in danger. Costa Rica is experiencing the highest crime rates they have ever known. The locals are afraid. It is not just in the big city. It is all over Costa Rica. A Tico friend of mine lives in Parita and he has had two attempts made to burlarize his house since it was completed a year ago. Drugs are a big part of the problem. The shortage of good jobs is another. Poverty does exist in Costa Rica. Over the weekend 40 families were left homeless after a fire destroyed the shantytown they live in. Normal homes in Costa Rica are almost solid concrete and don't burn. The poor live in really tough conditions. They don't have large scale public assistance here. Tourism accounts for a major portion of Costa Rica's economy. Although hobbiests like ourselves account for a small portion of the total tourist dollar spent, it is substantial enough to hurt an already depressed industry. Not only would the major venues be hurt but thousands of other jobs would be effected, from cab drivers, restaurant workers, tour operators, to you name it. I don't think Laura is stupid. She may not agree with everything that goes on in society but I think she knows the impact that sudden change can deliver. The main things that have been under attack in the past are Ch*ld molestation, a severe problem here but not one that is the fault of hobbiests, and forcing girls into prostitution, pimping. Most of the girls who work at the Del Rey and the other venues have been the victims of Ch*ld molestation as is obvious by the fact they have had at least one to two K*ds by the time they are 18. Social problems are the cause of this. It is not accidental. Incest is rampant in the poor neighborhoods. The same as it is a problem in the good old U.S. I investigated sexual assaults on women and Ch*ldren in Atlanta for over five years. I speak with expertise in this area. Costa Rica does not want a reputation as being sin city. The majority of people who come here never know the Del Rey exists. It is best to keep it reasonably low keyed and continue as is. The news media here is just as irresponsible as the media in the states. Anything to sell a paper. Whenever the media directs attention to what they consider a problem the politicians respond with some kind of action. It is usually a show of enforcement, not a complete shut down. We will see how Laura reacts. The ones who will suffer are the girls and their families and the thousands of workers in the gulch who will be left jobless.