www.CostaRicaTicas.com

FJC

This guy looks to be well over 18. He is very smooth talking and has sort of long curly hair. Maybe 5-10 medium build Maybe early 30s.

Is this the same dude?

As for the blood pressure guys, I don't know about you guys, but if I have a cigarette in one hand, a drink in another, no sleep for 36 hours and my dick is ready to fall off, I really don't want to know my blood pressure.

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Tunaman

Tuna:

Ya can't miss "Gut Bucket Guy" Black, Thin, Nice Personality, Maybe 40s
Sings and plays the instrument with 1 string. He really isn't all that bad.

Flander:

Are you talking about the smooth talking curley hair scum bag asshole
schmuck that tries to sell you drugs and other stuff? Nice to hear from you. Thanks for the picture of me and Ganja Girl. Ah the memories.
How are your band of disfunctional females? Please advise.

King Costa:

Yes, that is how I would describe him. Steven is well over 18 years of age. He has an afro-like hair style that is dark and curly, latino like facial features, and skinny body. Whenever I see him he is always wearing knee length pants and tennis shoes. He will befriend all American guys that will listen to his smooth talking bullshit. His intent each time is to ask for money.

That guy needs a lesson in marketing. First off, he sure as hell doesn't need to wear that suit to shine our shoes, and secondly the LAST thing any of us have on our minds is a freakin' shoe shine.

Personally, the blood pressure guy didn't bother me. I actually waited outside for about 15 minutes one day standing about 10 feet away from him and he didn't engage me once. I approached him to see what his deal was, thinking maybe he was there because someone in the BM was hurt. He explained that he is in some kind of doctor or nurse school and is trying to raise money for it.

You never know, one day it may be very fortunate that a guy with some medical training is standing right there.

Almost forgot - the black guys that play music and sing outside the News Cafe. They didn't really bother me until one time when I gave them a coin that was too small for their taste. Colones coins are such a pain in the ass because the 20's are so big I forget they are only worth about 4 cents. So the fellow holds it out in his palm complaining and wanting me to drop something bigger down with it, so I just took it back from him and said thanks.
Had a quick laugh and then gave it back to him. He walked off mumbling something about G-damned Costa Rican money not being worth enough.

Yes, she was the small grimey lady with black hair. Looks like she hasn't taken a shower in about 900 years. In the context of my encounter with her, the marketing approach was golden. I was eating breakfast so about halfway through that button coming undone I had a coin out for her.

One of the funniest things I saw was gut bucket guy and one of the beggars fighting each other over who would get my attention. The image of gut bucket dragging and playing his instrument while trying to stay ahead of me and at the same time physically fighting with one of the beggars makes me laugh so hard I could almost piss myself.

In retrospect, I think for some of us these people actually provide more entertainment than annoyance. I've had many hard laughs over their antics, and its fun to think up creative ways to counter them.

Carib

This a half the fun of all this is laughing at all the antics. What a great freak show and it's free!

I still like looking at all the hot Ticas walking in front of the News Cafe.

Its all part of the experience, and just wouldn't be the same without them. Its also a test of one's own character when formulating a response to these folks.

And si, me gusta mirar las Ticas tambien.

YO Guys:
I rest my case from post at 9:14am........................Just go with the flow.....it's the side show that you saw as a lad at the gringo fair. Think about it.

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Damn if I'm going to repeat this shit again. I need a drink.
I've been drinking vodka every day for 45 years and I have certainly never found it to be habit forming.

I gave them some dough just to get lost at the bar in hotel morazon.A mil note.They told me it was for the Ch*ldren, and looked like some red cross
volunteers.
They put a lot of effort into this charade and I really didnt think twice about it.Was my last night and I was making out with a mujere and had been drinking.I wont make another contribution to them.

Cali

I hate to be negative, but something I find somewhat irritating is when people give money to these irritating characters because they find them somehow amusing or simply "to make them go away". Don't you think that giving them anything at all only encourages them to try to extort money from the next gringo that comes along (or even you the next time they see you)? Paying off a woman not to show me some disgusting scar while I'm trying to eat, will only encourage her to try her extortion tactic again on someone else. The best thing to do is to ignore them completely or to tell them to fuck-off. If you are having breakfast at the Rail, report them to management. They'll get rid of them fast. But never ever give them even one single colone.

The misuse of authority is not only irritating, but just plain wrong.

I was at the sidewalk cafe at the Hotel Costa Rica this morning--sitting at the table closest to the main entrance. Along comes the newspaper guy--who is one of the more pleasant vendors. I gestured to him so that I could check to see what papers he had. He made the mistake of crossing the restaurant's rope line. Five minutes later there were six policia who had been called by the restaurant. A half hour later, when I left, he was still being detained--despite his and my protestations.

This use of police resources on the same day that there is a two page spread in La Nacion about increased gang violence in San Jose .

The MOST irritating in my opinion has got to be drunk loud-mouthed gringos...for that matter sober loud mouthed gringos pretty much suck too. When there on my first trip in March I ran into just about all the described cast of characters. On the shuttle to Jaco a few gringos were relatively annoying. As they disembarked at their hotel the driver, in Espanol and also in fine English requested them to be sure to check and make sure the luggage items were theirs. As I then arrived a few moments later at my hotel (Hotel Cocal, I recommend it) I found that, sure enough, they had taken one of my pieces of luggage. The drivers were horrified, virtually flew back to the other hotel where we located the not so bright one standing in the lobby with my bag, name tag and all. We exchanged bags while he loudly began to blame the drivers, at which point I lost my temper and loudly let him know he was being an a-hole. He relaxed, we went on our way. The driver was extremely apologetic on the way back to my place, repeatedly apologizing. I kept telling him I wasn't upset, and it certainly wasn't his fault. He insisted on giving me an old style 5 Colone note as a souveneir. Very nice guy, but the gringos were muy malo. Later saw them at the Beatle Bar, hammered out of their skulls. Two left, one skinny freakish semi-effeminate yet wanna-be bikerish guy remained, and he was singing to himself, weaving in place, conversing with the air, arguing with the table drunk. He was performing that annoying, drunken "into the music" dance, but with an odd effeminate chorus girl twist. Kind of like a jail house tattooed, long haired, toothless, skinny red neck Boy George. He came to the bar next to me, yelling at the bartenders, argumentative about service, just a gem. He grabbed his wad of dollars from his pocket demanding a beer, and threw the money on the bar. I then thoroughly enjoyed as the bartendress charged him about 25 us for his Presidente, then returned a few more times to "tip" herself. She saw me see her, I just smiled and told her "no problema, el es un pendejo", she started laughing and behold, my next few presidentes were tin roof . I normally would have told him but he was such a complete tool I just laughed. The 40 or 50 he lost could have served as a lesson except I'm sure he was too borracho to remember what happened.

As to the wild-haired crack addicted k*d, I was accosted several times and just told him to go away. He accosted my friend several times also, then about 2am with a good load on he approached him for about the 5th time that night. My friend had just had a really bad experience at the BM, he has a short fuse anyway, he is a really big guy, and he blew up screaming at the little mutt . The crack addict virtually took off running, I loved it. Subsequently, after returning from Jaco, we were at the rail at the Prez. Some twitchy gringo, looking like a cokehead, started talking offering services, and asking for money. We had been accosted a million times already. He, with a straight face, said he did not want me to give him any money, but he wanted to work for it. I said OK, gave him a buck and told him to keep anyone from bothering us while we finished our drinks . A moment later up comes CrackB*y again. GringoFreak yells at him, CB yells back, Gringo pushes him away, and CB starts whaling on him with an umbrella, really whacking him. At this point I have Ron C and Diet coming out of my nose, and I can't breathe. Best dollar I ever spent. Hotel security then accosts them, Gringo tries to rat out CB, CB runs away and security ousts GringoFreak. Everybody wins!!

PacoCop...that Beatle Bar story is hilarious

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"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)