www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Herb,

It wouldn't be OK if this guy was a Gringo, black, Chinesse, White, Hispanic or any other color and race. The fact is, is just annoying to have a begger next to you "mumbling" not singing, while you are eating.

Mente

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Tico and Panama, let me know if you need any help down here.
Panamaexplorers.com

Some thoughts.

Maybe one reason there are so many beggars there is because some one must be actually giving them some money. If no one responded to their begging they would have to find someplace else to make their bread.

Sitting in the back is certainly an option. But part of the reason many of us like sitting and eating at the News Cafe is that when you are at the rail you can check out the chicas coming down the way. One just can't do that from inside.

Another option if one likes to check out the street scene but not necessarily be bothered by it is to eat on the 2nd floor balcony overlooking the pedestrian mall on the other side of the street from the Pres at the new Plaza Venida.

Security guards who don't do their jobs certainly should be fired, but given what they probably pay those guys why should anyone wonder why they fail to give their jobs much effort or even, as has been suggested, make a little side money tipping crooks off on the best candidates to rob.

They probably see their job as keeping trouble outside the hotel and feel little responsibility addressing what happens on the other side of the rail. Also, as has already been suggested, part of them probably has more than a little sympathy for an impoverished fellow countryman than for a some rich gringo (with enough money to buy the beautiful ticas they themselves can't afford).

Even if they did and they tried to shoo away some of the riffraff, there is little they could do. They can kick people out of their hotel, but they can't eject people from a public right of way. And even if they successfully "persuaded" one beggar to leave, another one would only show up 3 minutes later to take his place.

Finally, you can talk to management and hope they will do something, but ultimately there is only one thing that you can do that is within your own power. Hope things change, but if they don't (and they probably won't) decide for yourself whether to deal with it or just take your business elsewhere. That's a message that the Prez management will have to respond to. I've never seen any beggars hanging out in front of the Amon or the Sportsman's.

Being from NY, I have little patience for the street people. I would tell them to GET THE PHUCK AWAY! But the chica I spent most of the last 5 trips with has changed me.
She always takes leftovers for the beggars. She always takes (from me of course) loose change for them. One time we had the flower guy join us to finish her dinner- even bought him a drink. He is a very nice guy with a sad life. Some of the street k*ds are ok too. One of the young ones was even in the same school as one of hers.
So, I guess I am guilty of being one of the people that sometimes encourage the beggars-but not in front of the Pres. I don't want to shit where I eat.

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Why Chicas Come to CostaRica:

"Predators gather where prey abounds"

Scubabum, I am in Jursey (sp u know), about 25 minutes from 8th St and 6th Ave (Avenida de la Americano) (?)

I will make my first trip in 4 weeks. I have spent so much time shoving off the beggars in my hometown in New Jersey and the car window washers in NYC that I have begun to realize this is a global thing. I may just do what is not an acceptable thing to do while in CR. The short term education I received here is that the locals (ticos y ticas) are really poor in comparision to US standards. My objection to the beggars in the US is they have an opportunity to at least get a minimum pay scale job. I believe this is not so true in CR, so maybe, just maybe I will keep some 500c coins in my pocket. What coins I will pass out I could easily save by not saying no to a "Cien para un ahora")

Herbf;
Make that 100c coins. A hundred colones is a lot to them.
LVSteve

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Just an old horney, fat gambler.

Are you serious? That is less than 25 cents $USD. Are things really that bad? If so the cien una ahora gringos at the BM need to be kicked in the a**. I don't like beggars, but there are times when one needs to be thankful for what they have and share. One less Imperial could give 4 personas someting to eat?

Beggars in NYC hit you for $1 USD just to wipe a dirty rag across your windshield. Actually you would rather give them $5 just to not touch your car.

Give them nothing, and they will not hound you every time you walk out on the street.

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Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

One point nobody is thinking of and why I don't give away any money: Who do you give it to and at what point do you stop? From the time you step out of your room in the morning until you go in for the night you are bombarded by someone begging, wanting to sell you something, or sing you a song. You could give away money all day.

I used to give to beggars but then i had a couple of incidents happen to me that changed my mind. I was at a stop light when a beggar comes up to me to ask me for money, in my car i keep all my pennies i scooped up a fist full and gave it to him. He looked at me and goes

"Pennies? come on guy why cant you just give me a couple of dollars?"

My reply was "Excuse me i though you were a beggar? Isnt it the point of begging to get ANYTHING? You dont like the pennies? fine give them back, ill give it to someone who will actually use them!"

Guy gave me a dirty look and walked off.

Later that week i stop off at gas station there is a some homeless guy asks me for money I thought about giving him a quarter but it was a cold night and i felt a twinge of concern for the guy so i took out my money and gave him my singles (I had 4 dollars). Im not even a few feet away when another bum stops me and asks for money.

"I just gave that other guy my money"

The guy replies

"Yeah but i saw you had a ten, i could really use something to eat"

I tell him to Phuck off and storm inside to pay for my gass.

I have offered homeless people food when they come with the bullshit line I need money to eat. No they dont they need money to shoot up. They would rather live in shit than quit a drug that has ruined their lives then sorry but ive run out of pitty for the guys.

Im sure in San Jose there is a genuine need for food, but the pushy in your face anoying beggers 5 times out of 10 are junkies. So keep that in mind before you hand out a couple of colones, where is your money really heading? To a warmn meal or to a needle?

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herbf;
Yes, 100 colones is a lot of money. I know people who can live on 500 colones a day (rice, beans, fruit). There is another post on this board that speaks about costa rican pay scales. Take a look.
LVSteve

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Just an old horney, fat gambler.

Some more thoughts:

Scubabum, I'm glad to hear you don't shit where you eat. Does that mean that the beggars that inhabit the Gulch area will have the courtesy to wait until you are done eating and on your way back to the BM before hassling you. I don't think so. That policy is only marginally better at best.

Last trip to SJ, I did sort of shit where I ate. I had a momentary lapse into compassion. I was sitting in the front section of Mariscar and I had just finished my meal of a half chicken, or at least all I could eat of it. I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was when I ordered it. Anyway, since I was obviously finished (I had just tossed my napkin up on the table and had slid back patting my tummy) this street guy came up to me and asked if he could have the rest. Magnamously, I said sure help yourself. He literally grabbed it off my plate and ran off ravenously eating it as he went. I'm sure a lot of the cash street donations in the Gulch go to crack, cheap guaro or inhalants, but I know from what I've seen that food goes to filling empty bellies. Still, I had mixed emotions since while I knew my gesture went to the right place (his stomach and not the local drug dealer) I know that ANY offering only encourages others to continue to hassle you.

Is paying someone to not mess up your windshield, not hurt your ears by singing off-key or worse yet paying them to simply go away for offering you nothing but a demand for a handout, is any of that really charity that you can feel good about or is it just paying blackmail money? And doesn't paying blackmail money only reward undesirable activity and only temporarily remove the problem? Ultimately, doesn't it only encourage more of the problem?

Herbf, giving 500c IS like giving $5 here. Heck, if everybody gave me $5, I might even start panhandling myself. However, how often do EVEN those that give to street people in the US give that much? OTOH, I suppose whether it should be considered too much depends on whether one thinks they should use what would be considered a lot to the giver or what would be considered a lot by the recipient as the standard. No one is saying 500c is a lot to any of us.

Also, for HerbF on relativity. While it is true that there is a wider social safety net in the US than in CR, it is far from hopeless for people in CR. They do have social welfare agencies in CR and plenty of employment opportunities. There are plenty of places in the world that could use your generosity FAR more than CR. I violated my rule about not giving to street beggars when I was in Cambodia. But then over there the beggars didn't chase after you. There they were lined up one after the other unable to move around because their legs had been blown off by landmines. Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it? My only problem over there with giving was in not running out of change and small bills before I got to the end of the street.

You could also look to Nicaragua right next door to CR. Did you know that hardly any ticos pick coffee in CR anymore? It is all done by migrant Nicaguarans and people from other poorer countries. If a tico is begging you for money his position is not altogether different than those in the US. They should quit wasting the little money they have getting stoned or drunk every day, get off their ass and work for their money like everyone else or go to an agency that is equipped to provide the services they need and stop hassling us Gringos who came down to CR to enjoy ourselves and not think about the problems of the world.

Ah, but you say that you're not in Cambodia or Nicaragua, which brings me to my next point. If you still want to help the poor people of CR, or the US or even more impoverished places than either of those, you don't have to wait until you actually go to those places to give something. It is probably much wiser and efficient anyway to do it through agencies that know how to disburse the money and will do it fairly.

I used to give money to street beggars in the US until I ran into some of the exact same problems as Coqui and I always used to worry that the money I gave would be wasted on drugs or drink rather than food. One time I saw a guy with a sign will "work for food" so I handed him my business card and a quarter and told him I had a job for him. I never heard from him. There used to be a beggar here in Tampa that carried a sign that said "need money for beer (and that's the truth)". At least he was honest.

Now, I only give to organized charities, where I know my money will not be misspent (check out charitywatch.org for a list of charities that do not waste a lot of money on fundraising or overhead). Every month I send $25 to support a Ch*ld in Africa and another $25 to support another Ch*ld in South America. I know the money doesn't go to the Ch*ld or to buy them a simple meal. It goes to their village and helps them build wells so they can have clean drinking water or schools where Ch*ldren can learn to read and write and adults can learn better ways to raise their crops.

I also send another monthly $25 to Banda Aceh and $25 to Thailand for Tsunami relief. If you think the street beggars outside the Prez have it bad, then you haven't seen the devastation over in SE Asia. but if you absolutely have to give money to someone in CR, consider UNICEF or Fundacion Rahab (works retraining street prostitutes so they can get off the streets).

Here is an option. On my last visit, I had an unfavorable session with a DR chica, even though the sexo sucked I still paid her the 30K that was negotiated. Well to say the least, I was pretty pissed off, so as we were leaving the Prez a beggar started hounding me asking for dinero, so I looked at him and said in broken Spanish "Don't talk to me, she has all of my dinero". Fortunately he understood and started going after her, she gave in and went into one of the restaurants and exchanged one of my 10K for change, and gave the beggar some colones. I actually felt better.

I am truly getting an education here at CRT. I have read some of the "normal" tourist books. To me it seemed there was not a drug problem in CR as the government did not allow it. I am slowly learning that SJ in CR probably has the same day to day problems I deal with in any major city in the states.

You are such a cheap bastard.

Once in a while you need to let the moths out of your pocket !

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" I have neither the time nor the inclination to expain myself "