Jay raises an interesting question. How do we really know streetwalkers are so bad unless we or even just someone we know has actually tried one? Because "streetwalkers - bad" is such a strong part of the conventional wisdom, probably very few CRTers other than BB57 have actually tried one themselves. Does that mean I'm suggesting they really aren't that bad? NOT AT ALL!!! But it would be interesting to hear the tale of someone else who has tried it (and lived to tell about it) to either contradict or, I suspect, more likely confirm what everyone else has been saying. BangBang may have survived but he listed so many caveats and precautions that I have to wonder whether it is really worth it even for him.
Now, while I haven't every been with a SJ streetwalker myself, like most of us, I've had more than share of close encounters short of that, which I feel ARE still somewhat instructive.
First, I'd say the vast majority of streetwalkers that the average monger would be most likely to come across would be those that can be found in the evenings between the HDR and the SL on the east side and the Clarion Amon Plaza to the west and beyond. Nearly all of those that I have seen in those areas of late have been TV's. Nearly all of those are pretty obvious, so there is not much chance one would make an embarassing mistake. OTOH, if you prefer tall bigger boned "women" rather than spinner types (as I do) AND you weren't already forewarned about the prevalence of TV's in that area AND you were really really drunk then I suppose there might be one or 2 with whom you MIGHT make that mistake.
Secondly, YEARS ago, when I first started going to CR, there WERE a LOT of FEMALE streetwalkers that hung out in Morazon Park, mostly as a group on the south side of the park in front of what now is the Del Mar Restaurant, but they were also mostly (or all) und***ge. The ones that hung out there back then were mostly (homeless?) street K*ds (teenagers or younger). Mixed in with the girls were boys who'd offer to sell you drugs or even "chickenhawks" who offered to sell themselves as well, some may have acted as pimps helping to sell their girlfriends, others were pickpockets, and still others one could only guess how they made their living on the street, but you never wanted to get close enought to find out. Back in those days, sniffing glue or paint thinner was probably the most commonly abused street "drug". Today, street urchins or "Chapelines" (or Grasshoppers because they can hop away so quickly after they rob you), have moved on to far worse things like crack. Being malnourished, living on garbage or whatever handouts they can beg during the day, these street girls were not particular healthy to begin with, and being involved with drugs and street sex, one can only guess how many of them also had contracted various STI's. So there you have a group prone to steal to survive, involved with drug abuse, quite possibly carrying some sort of disease and in most cases being und***ge (or else they might have been able to get in the bars where the gringo customers were), and you had all 4 of the components that make up the perception guys have about tico streetwalkers.
Of course, you don't see them in large obvious groups like that anymore. For one thing back then, not only did the teenage (or younger
) girls lie about their age (but not have any ID to "prove" it) but some would come right out and admit they were too young and even sometimes even use it as a selling point if they thought you might be into that sort of thing. I don't know how many gringos went for that (and I don't want to know), but I think (hope) far fewer would go for it today (if not out of sense of what is right then out of fear of prosecution), thanks to the public education (like the posters we see at the airport every time we fly in to CR). Between that and the more general sense amongst most Gringo mongers that bottom feeding with street trash is not worth the risks, those und***ge (and other) streetwalkers have diffused to other areas further away from the Gulch where they can still get some business from regular ticos. Lastly, because of rising crime, particularly in Morazon Park, the police no longer tolerate large gangs of street people congregating in that area. But whatever the reason why you no longer normally see such large and obvious groups of street hustlers, I think they were the original basis for a lot of the stereotypes gringo mongers have about streetwalkers in SJ.
The third type of streetwalker, one sometimes sees in SJ even today but in areas much further removed from the Gulch and usually by themselves or perhaps one other (visible) girl. They're usually female and they're usually of legal age (but sometimes "and then some"). But they still USUALLY leave a LOT to be desired (BangBang's newly arrived and paperless Nica notwithstanding). Where do old worn-out MP girls go to finish their "careers" when they're no longer good enough looking to get hired at an MP (and if they're too worn out even for a tico MP, that really says something)? Sometimes they wind up hustling on the street. These are usually not particularly appealing looking women. Think Calle 6 pensiones or worse. Some of them may be drug abusers, some of them may just be plain street drunks, but whatever it is something in their past and current life has taken a severe toll on their bodies. Turning countless tricks for pauper rates, one could only guess how many of those tricks they agreed to do bareback in order to make the sale and, in turn, how risky it might be for your own health to go with them.
The types of places these gals are to be found are not our usual haunts and certainly not the types of places where we'd be out walking at night when they're more likely to be found. Sometimes, even during the day, you hear the "psst, hoy guapo" catcalls from these gals while you're out walking in these areas on your rounds of MP's (like in the area of the bus stations or north of there in the Zona Roja). Usually, if you even bother to turn your head, you'll wonder why anybody would pay to be with THAT
. But, even if you found them mildly attractive, at least for the price they quote, would you really want to go with them into some strange decrepit room in one of the surrounding flophouses where good knows who is lurking to possibly bop you over the head and steal your cash, or the girl herself may try to slip something out of your pants while you're distracted? And at night you definitely don't want to be out walking where these gals might be.
About the closest recent incident relating to a street girl that I can think of, did not happen to me but did happen to my friend Chilimike. You can search for the full story yourself. But the basics went like this. He spotted a gal with a "come hither" look across the street from Arcadas when he was coming out of there one night. Ignoring his impulses he crossed the street to check it out and when he did he was almost immediately mugged by 2 guys who came out of the shadows. Moral of the story, even when the girl looks like a girl, looks healthy and looks reasonably attractive, picking a girl up off the street is just too fraught with risk. There are risks to picking a girl up in a bar too, but at least there you're in a crowded place with lots of witnesses and don't have to worry so much about being set up for a mugging or worse.
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