www.CostaRicaTicas.com

First post from a newbie. After reading through the forums, it seems that many of you have ended up seeing girls who had the flu or a cold, and have gotten sick yourselves. My question then, is, do the girls in Costa Rica normally cover their mouths when they cough? This might sound like a strange question, but in some cultures they simply do not do this. If the girls here do not, do they usualy turn away from you when they cough? Or, have you actually gotten coughed on? Would be very curious to know as it's a good gauge of how easy or impossible it would be to avoid catching their flus.

I don't think it is the flu as much as it is a combination of San Jose air pollution and smoking that causes many of the chicas to cough. As for personal ettiquette in covering their mouths when they cough.....I suppose it's just like here in the states, some will, some won't. I don't think I have ever caught a respiratory ailment from a chica......and I'm big on DFK.

Zebra

I am sure the sanitation, or lack thereof, has a lot to do with spreading viruses as well. I had read of the bathroom facilities before my first visit but was amazed at how primative they seem to be in all but the most North Americanized places. Just toss the TP in the trash, good luck finding hot water to wash your hands and forget about clean towels with which to dry them.

One day my "novia por la semana" asked to stop at la farmacia to pick up some medicine for her niños. Seems they both had a case of "intestinal parasites". I'm not sure what the hell that is, but thankfully as fas as I know I didn't bring any home with me.

On my first trip to San Jose, I caught some sort of respiratory illness
that lingered for about a month. It seemed that every chica I saw
was coughing. Since then I have been lucky.

I have found that the chicas have reasonably good health habits
and cleanliness. But being around K*ds and having intimate contacts
with lots of strangers put them at high risk for all the viruses.

From what I read, the best thing you can do is to wash your hands a
lot with antiseptic soaps, which I carry with me. You just have to
assume that every door you open is filthy. I try very hard not
to touch my nose, mouth, or eyes unless I have just washed my hands.
I also ask the chica to wash her hands (when I request this, she often
wants to take a shower). I don't do the tongue-down-the-throat
thing, but if I did I would use the listerine right afterward.

I wish these lovely babes who allow CIM would use the super antiseptic
mouthwashes that the ladies I know use in Canada. I did see one brush
her teeth.

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Same river, new water

In my time here I have found that the worst season for flu/colds is when it's cold/flu season in North America. The gringos bring it down, give it to the locals and the locals share the wealth.

Recent research shows that shaking hands is a major, if not THE major way colds are spread. Right now there doesn't seem to be a lot of 'grippe' going around. Most girls I know are as polite about covering their mouths when coughing/sneezing as their North American counterparts.

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