www.CostaRicaTicas.com

How the heck do Ticos make a living in Costa Rica?

This Nica, 1 bebe, I know made an attempt at working at a department store. She put in 12 hour days for a month and a half, sometimes staying late to fold clothes. When payday finally came after working a month and a half she received 40,000 colones. "What!?? She went home crying and had no other choice but to return to HDR.

A Tica I know, 2 bebes, worked 12 hour days at a restaurant for two weeks and afterwards received 30,000 colones. She also went home crying because she knew she had to go back to work at HDR. The Tica was taking a cab to and from work and paying a babsister to watch the bebes. "How can you survive on these wages?" We talked about her going back to "work" and she was so freakin' depressed. Said, "you don't know what it's like working at HDR. If you could get into my skin to see what it's like you would know what I'm talking about. I have no other options. I will not stand around and watch my bebes starve to death."

This 20 year old Tica, no bebe, who is at the University dresses up sexy in friends clothes to work at HDR. She will only do CBJ and no sexo, wants to save herself for someone special. Also won't undress and does not allow touching. She is a very attractive Tica, hopefully she doesn't get lost in this "world." After talking to her for a few hours I invited her to the movies that night. She kept thinking i was lying. "are you serious? she kept asking me. After talking to a few chicas to get some background on me she finally took me seriously. She wanted to know what time so she could go home and change, did not want to meet me back at HDR. I told her to meet me at Hotel Castillo. Well, when she showed up she was dressed like the sweetest chica in the world. You never would have thought this chica "worked." Anyways, the whole time at the mall and during the movie she is a total sweetheart and acts like she is on a date with her novio. We went out as friends and all I paid for was for the movie along with popcorn and coke. She was so freakin' bashful when she asked me if she could get a chocolate bar too. It's not difficult to make them happy.

After a session with a Tica I offered her a piece of gum. As I was getting dressed I turned to see she is standing there with her head down. I ask her if everything was all right. She picks her head up and asks me if she could have another piece of gum for her son. Damn!!! I feel bad for these chicas. I went into my bag and gave her a whole pack of gum and she could not stop thanking me.

It's heartbreakin' that so many chicas have no other options but to sell their bodies in order to support themselves.

What's a Tico/Tica to do if they have a family to support?

Also, how do Tico businesses in Costa Rica survive? I've walked into almost every store in San Jose and I'm usually the only customer in the store, with six employees tending to my needs, which can get pretty annoying at times. I like to be left alone when shopping. This is the same thing in the mall... more employees than customers. Who has money to shop at these stores? Some of the things are too expensive for even a gringo.

How do these people survive? Don't know how they still manage to keep a smile on their face?

The poor people in America are lucky... because McDonald's is always hiring.

TP,
I have wondered about that myself recently. A few trips back, I went to San Pedro Mall and a non-brand name pair of jeans was $60. That's twice what it costs in the US.

Some of the girls, especially the ones with 2 or more Babi*s, HAVE TO WORK @ HDR/MP'S. There's just no other way for them to make ends meet.

I can't figure it out either.

TP, thanks for writting that post.

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

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Well put Traylor Park, I had some serious culture shock coming back to the states after my first trip there. I couldn't handle coming back to the states where so many complain about their portion/lot in life, when in actuality they have it so good by comparison.

Its nice to see a small gesture like gum is so greatly appreciated, when here you might only get indignation and an "is that all you got" in reply.

I went into a shoe store on avenida central expecting to get good service and a deal; I got good service from 3 different ticos talking about ONE shoe, but I was reeling from the sticker shock! Prices higher than in the states, it blew me away! It doesn't figure. And I'm sure those guys can't be getting very much of the profit from selling those shoes...

My solution to the problem is to adopt a family. Find a good one and threat them right, and you can support them and keep the mother away from her work. You don´t have to get married. You will feel good about what you are doing, if you help the right family. Trust me there are a lot of them in CR. There are many of us sitting in there $100 Hotel room wondering why these people are poor. SEAHAWK

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DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO

TP,

Nice post. I can relate to what you're saying. I've often gotten involved with chicas that have bebes to support and it just breaks my heart to see how they live and what they have to endure. I'm not ashamed to say that I've helped them out with money, food, shoes, clothes, toys, medical, dental, etc., and it makes me feel good to do it for them. I've cried when it was time to leave knowing how their struggle would continue.

Apparently though, there are some people making money. Just go into the Universal store on Central Avenida on a Saturday afternoon and you'll see the lines at the check-out cashiers backed up 10 deep, buying anything and everything, that in the U.S. would sell for 30% to 50% less.

Seahawk, that idea of yours is not too far fetched.

Zebra

TP I really like your style & how you immerse yourself in deeper things than just getting laid & treating them as a piece of mongering tissue. You are getting much more out of this with a deeper appreciation of life. I have toyed with some of what you have done also. It fascinates the hell out of me how it all really works there. On one hand it is sad but then it makes me glad that I have my life style & options.

It is fun to make someone’s days there with so little. Does make you feel good about yourself. The bad part is the more you really get to know the more discouraging it can get. Need to limit who & how you help because you can't save them all no mater what. What impresses me more than all is they still SMILE!

I have known one like this for 3 years & she is still somewhat shy? She is far & above most young women I know of in the states & is really bashful about asking for things. There are some very sweet & appreciative women I have met. I hate to see them suffer since I know them so well & know they are totally what I call normal or even above the norm. Life sucks sometimes plain & simple. When I see some hateful Gringa witch in a store bitching I just wish I could snap my fingers & let her fat asss trade places with some Ticas I know. Just doesn't seem fair??

I see so many young Gringas throw their lives away on crap & have forgotten the basics of being a good mother or just don’t give a crap about it! Sometimes it seems we need life harder to be able too understand how to appreciate it.

Hard to imagine this one getting many men to go with her . There are just so many that are like her that will do more than this with the appearance of enjoying their time.

All posting is interesting but one like this is nice to see our caring side. It helps us understand better some of our own experiences we encounter. Thanks TP.

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"Run silent, run deep"
Spunk glazed Chicas are the building blocks of the universe!

Yeah, it is difficult, but a lot more aren't hookers and they are making it.... still I don't understand the whole situation.

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TP I have spoken to several chicas about just what you are saying. Even though I think some of what these chicas have said is exagerated,the disparity between the DR and a straight job is enormous.One Tica friend of mine is working waiting tables at a Chinese restaurant away from SJ.She has been averaging 35,000 colones/week for the first month.That's certainly not much,but more than the chicas told you. I also know chicas at the DR who earn in excess of $2000/week. Talk about a disparity.So if you wonder why a pretty chica is drawn into "the life" just look at those numbers. By the way my waitress friend worked for a short time at the DR a couple of years ago and had no problem getting clients to fork over cien/hora.

This is a question I've asked myself for sometime. NO easy answers but the following example is something that might make the difference between the "working" and non-working chicas.

You have a nice Tico family living in a house that has been in the family for generations, this includes Mother/Father/Ch*ldren/Grandparents. An older male usually a neighbor, family friend or employer takes a fancy to one of the young innocent daughters and before you know it she ends up pregnant. It doesn’t matter what angle the man works to get her to have sex with him, but keep in mind that a lot of the men practically force themselves on these young innocent chicas. In the U.S. the law would consider this RAPE. Anyways, after the chica is pregnant the man denials that it’s his and walks out of the chicas life forever, leaving the chica to have the baby on her own. No support from the family because they feel ashamed because what the neighbors must think about them having a young pregnant daughter. The parents ask themselves, “where did we go wrong?”

Most of the homes they live in are small and overcrowded, so the chica is made to feel like she is a burden on the family. These chicas don’t have the highest self-esteem to begin with and now they find themselves young, pregnant, alone… basically worthless. They may make an effort to find real employment. Keep in mind that jobs are hard to come by in Costa Rica and when you find one they don’t pay enough to support yourself. And if the chica is lucky to find a job as a maid which includes room and board she still has to contend with the male in the house, who will eventually try to force himself on the chica. She is easy prey.

After a period of time working as a maid and sleeping with the man of the house, she may come to the conclusion that it would probably be better working at HDR because at least she is her own boss and she does not have to live like a caged animal. A lot of the chicas working as maids are expected to stay inside the home and are not encouraged to go out with friends and/or boyfriends.

So you have a young chica with a bebe, and somewhere along the way she usually winds up getting pregnant again, and you have the Ticos with the whole machismo attitude who are not going to waste their time on some chica with bebes, they have a plethora of other chicas to prey on instead. The chica doesn’t have a chance to meet a nice Tico who would be willing to take on two/three new mouths to feed… his life is difficult enough already.

The newbie chica starts to “work” at the HDR and there she finds a whole new group of “friends” who may have had similar experiences in their young lifes, so they can relate. After sometime working it just becomes a job to them. It’s easy money, lots of new friends, gringos treating them well, they receive gifts and lots of attention, something they’ve never gotten before. It feels good to have your own money to pay for the things you need. The chica has a “new” life!!
But at what cost?

Because in the process they loose their innocence and any dreams they may have had in the past. They are lost to this world… the world of a working-chica.

This post is not specific to any chica I know… but is a composite of many chicas I have met and spoken to in the past. All the chicas have mentioned to me how thye have cried themselves to sleep for days, months after getting pregnant and being abandoned by the father, who is usually a married man with Ch*ldren of his own and is almost always 15-20 years older than they chica. After awhile they build walls around themselves and this is something that usually helps them in making the decision to “work.”

As far as the possiblity of making a lot of of money a lot of chicas I spoke to work only to make enough money for to make ends meet. There are not a lot of chica pulling in $2000 a week. I've been at HDR/KL and have seen many a chica stand around for days without any business. And I'm talking about good looking chicas.

It's incredible how whenever you ask a chica how she is doing they always reply “PURA VIDA!!!” with a great big smile.

How they do it I will never know.

TP, what you've described is a situation that exists all over the world. Costa Rica is not unique. Within Central America, however, Costa Rica is better off than any of the other countries. What a shame it is that the families, knowing that c h i l d abuse in rampant, do not do more to guard their daughters against the predators.

Oh well, this subject is really too deep for CRT so I'll end by saying that if you think CR is bad, imagine Nicaragua, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador.... Brazil... the Philippines.

I had a GF from Belize about 2 years ago. Her parents left her alone way too much so she was abused at 8 years old and then accused her of wanted to be abused!

Women in the USA haven't a clue how good they have it.

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TP, that would be a nice script for a "novela". In the real world, those innocent girls get pregnant because they do not listen to their parents. Protecting our daughters is an integral part of our machismo, but nobody is going to kick somebody ass because our little darling decided, against our advise, to open her legs for the horny guy next door.
There's always a choice, but if you notice, most of those HDR darlings have something in common, they're lazy.
Remember that you go to CR to have a good time, and if you stir the shit, it's going to stink.

THANKS GYPSY
THE BEST PART OF OUR HOBBY IS THE LACK OF DRAMA IT IS SUPPOSE TO CONTAIN. I TREAT EVERY CHICA IM WITH NICELY BUT REMEMBERING THAT THIS IS ABOUT ME AND THAT SHE IS BEING COMPENSATED FOR HER TIME AND EFFORTS. IF I WANTED TO GET CAUGHT UP IN SOMEONES PROBLEMS ID GET A GIRLFREIND.

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But mama, that's where the fun is

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abandoned or orphaned young girls/women in places like Sudan will trade favors for a sandwich.

humanity is pitiful at times.

_________________
The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

I disagree with the entire premise of the post.

I have met lots of hard working Ticas, and Ticos for that matter and there was always another option; Its called hard work (I would name them and what they did, but someone would accuse me of dredging up ancient history or posting to an old thread or some other high crime, )

Unfortunately, and only IMHO, the women in the DR are taking the easy way out, just like the women that work in Strip Clubs in the states.

Everyone has problems and everyone makes compromises, take your average poor girl in the United States, she might say she has no options to go to college, so she becomes a stripper. Are there other options? Of course, they could go into the service and get college paid for, however the military is hard work and dangerous. So, there is an option, but for some, the road is too hard.

If you look hard enough you may see that with many of the women in the DR, as well as many of their U.S. stripper counterparts, engage in addictive and destructive behavior, such as drug use. Additionally, they may have made bad choices and there may also be issues outside there control, but what they can control is their own behavior and their decisions.

Go take a walk around the San Pedro Mall, there are literally hundreds of women in there that have chosen not to work as a Del Ray Deb and some of them probably have Ch*ldren and have been knocked up by a neighbor or have otherwise had a hard life.

If you want to help someone, there are plenty of charitable organizations in the CR where you could go and donate your money, but the Del Ray Debs are not one of them.

As always, that is just my opinion, I could be wrong...