www.CostaRicaTicas.com

ok

Some excellent, incisive commentary in this thread, which I couldn't agree with more. I checked out the Blue Marlin on my first night in town this trip (Friday) and couldn't believe the difference between now and my first trip in early November last year. Just seemed like a totally chaotic, highly pressurized scene that I really didn't enjoy. In fact, if I hadn't run into a chica I knew from the previous trip, I would have easily walked out of there alone.

I haven't been back. Since then, it's been a combo of Zona Blue, Oasis, and my beloved Kamur, and I couldn't be happier. There's a lot to be said for good solid service at a fair price (Idem is usually a good bet too), where you pretty much know in advance what you'll be getting.

Love Idem!

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

VegasBob

Yes, my point of this thread was that the girls are adding the words "for an hour" after stating their price (which was something I had never heard before). This happened on several occasions during my last trip when talking to some new girls at the BM.

Its true all of them say $100. Its the part about a time restriction that is new.

I'd have to agree with the assumption that it is supply and demand that drives the prices. When I was there in September, it definately was a buyers market. Sure you get the odd one or two that are so hot that they really can dictate the price but the rest of the time it was a take it or leave it option and most of the ticas were happy. I'm planning my next trip for May which I am told is just after high season.

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"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" - Maybe Shakespeare was a CRT member?

The girls are in business period. Like any business person they maximize their profit when they can. They are no different than the owner of a department store who makes as much as he can during the Christmas shopping season so he can survive the slow periods.

They know the green season is long and business is slow and the name of the game is to get as much plata as possible in the high season.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

I'm going to Costa Rica for the first time in a few weeks and this thread isn't encouraging. It reminds me of a situation in Nevada's legal brothels. I was a regular in them in the early and mid 90s when one could have fun for $100. Now many of the girls won't look at you for anything less than $500. They didn't used to let money walk out the door but since some guys are willing to pay these sky high prices the girls are more than willing to walk any guy who won't cough up the money. Needless to say, I quit patronizing them. The prices have also risen in Tijuana a little over the past few years but not much. In 1999 the going rate was $40, now it's $60, still well worth it. It costs considerably more (for me anyway) to travel to Costa Rica than to Tijuana and I heard prices were similar. I certainly hope I can land girls in the $60 range. Bottom line is girls will charge as much as guys are willing to pay. Sounds like I'll have better luck in the afternoon.

Whatever the market will bear is the rule. All you free-enterprise fans should be applauding the girls who can get the most for the least.

I had an experience this very night that really upset me (very temporarily). I live here, and have been talking to and buying an occasional drink for a nice looking but not incredible chica off and on for a short time. Tonight I was feeling richer than usual (I am an RBC100 disciple by nature) and after I bought her a drink at the Key Largo, I asked her how much for an hour of her time. She told me $200!!!! Well I just shook my head and walked away. Then after finishing my beer I took a cab (400 colones) to the Molino Rojo, talked to a chica I met a few nights ago and went back and had a very nice time for 15 dollars, give or take.

The sad truth is that the word will NEVER get out to all the 'fish' who come down here and think 200 dollars an hour is a great deal. You can not get the word out to everybody unless perhaps we all want to chip in and buy a super-bowl ad. Seems kinda counter-productive, or cost-ineffective, whatever.

If you don't like playing the Blue Marlin or Key Largo game, then I suggest going places with fixed prices, of which there are too many to mention. Otherwise, play the game and feel good when you get a deal and try to be 'philosophical' when that hottie you JUST HAVE TO HAVE won't budge from her throne.

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

Though I may bemoan the current situation at the BM, I'd be the last person to fault the girls for asking for cien per hour if they can get it. The problem is NOT the girls that ASK for it. The problem is the GUYS that PAY it. Guys around here often like to mention the basic rules of classic capitalism - supply and demand. But if you really know anything about economics you know that is NEVER quite as simple as that in real life. So let me throw out 2 other economic terms - "barriers to entry" and "imperfect knowledge".

If classic capitalism really worked in real life the way it is purported to by people like Adam Smith, prices would be the same everywhere. Anywhere prices were higher would cause the supply to increase leading to prices climbing back down. We all know it simply doesn't work that way. Barriers to entry can work to our advantage. Chicas just can't pick up and move to the US where the going price for pu*sy is even higher than it is at the BM. This is one of the factors that keep supply shifting to meet where the demand is at. At the same time, as prices in CR go up relative to their native countries Nicas, Colombianas etc. are increasingly drawn to CR (with far fewer barriers to entry) further moderating prices here. OTOH, the gringo demand has still fewer barriers to movement. Tiring of high prices at home, an increasing portion of the demand in the US is shifting to where the supply is at in places like CR and as that happens the "artifically" low prices are naturally going to rise.

If that was all there was to it, I wouldn't be complaining. If enough guys knowing all the options perceived a better value at the DR that justified paying the higher price, the prices SHOULD go up. However another major simplifying assumption behind classic economics is perfect knowledge, meaning that buyers and sellers know where the best deals are at and move towards that equilibrium behind price and value.

It doesn't work like that in real life. Sure,chicas at the DR know what the other girls are getting. Maybe not perfectly but the transmission of knowledge is much more extensive than it is on our side. Unfortunately, most guys don't have clue. We share knowledge around CRT, but we're still just a drop in the bucket. Most guys just know what they have to pay back home and think that $100/hr is a bargain. They don't know, don't stop to think or just don't care that adjusted for the typical local wage/salary levels that is a HIGHER price than they pay at home. That's bad and they should be better informed. But I don't think it is going to happen. They also don't know that other similar girls in the very same occupation at other places get as little as 1/10 that price (I say similar though that ignores the fact that girls at those other places often have a much better attitude). And that may be just as well. Let them screw up the BM and leave those other places for better informed whorticulturalists. Unfortunately, because there are few barriers to entry, I fear that there will inevitably be some spillover of price creep to these other places as well. Time will tell.

ANY ONE WHO PAYS $100.00 for an hour at the DR is a dame fool.

Are you that desporate? I was at the DR last week. After a half hour of small talk and bantering about price( yes they both started at $100.00 for an hour) I took two girls back to my Hotel; was not the DR for almost two and a half hours of fun, complete sexo, girl sexo, and pics. Total cost 20,000 colon's each plus taxi; 500 colon. Oh yeah we had a beer and some killer brownies from Spoon. No one would eat the Banana after all the fore-play. So I had to settle for the two of them eating mine.

The next day after chatting for 40 min. at the DR I had a killer spinner fron nic. who was in town after danceing in Quepos for the holiday back to my Hotel for one of the best complete body massage's, pic's and oral; 1.5 hours for $42.00 and taxi fare back to the DR.
Guys take a few min's to chat with the woman of your dreams. learn something about her; like what she will do and won't.

The most important thing to keep in mind is for the both of you to have fun. PURA VIDA

In my opinion it's not free enterprise but price gougeing. I think that both the girls that charge it and the guys that pay it are to blame. Most of the guys however are unaware of the economics of the area and how much they are being over -charged. This I think puts the blame more into the girls corner. They know the local economy and value of money and still decide to price gouge. Is it thier right to do so?, absolutely. Is it good business?, maybe maybe not. If the price continues it's climb to where it cost the guys the same as back home many of them will ask why pay for a flight and a hotel. More likely they will seek out other places that haven't been ruined by free-spending Gringos.

Ok, I think we all agree that ignorance is the prime cause of overpaying, right so far? This board does its best to correct the situatin but it's an impossible quest to 'enlighten' all.

Ignorant and free-spending (drunken sailor mode) gringos are a fact of life, and are not going to go away. However, this ignorance works to the advantage of those who know the alternatives. The price HAS 'skyrocketted' at the Molino Rojo to an 'astronomical' 6500 Colones. However, I find that by economizing on things like gallo pinto, I am able to get laid sufficiently often to avoid terminal blue balls.

The truth is (according to Bilko) that there are just too many chicas working in Sex-biz to ever be overwhelmed by the number of 'clients'. Except during soccer matches, the girls always outnumber the guys and there are plenty that go home alone and coloneless. As a member of the RBC100 cult, I will do my part to enlighten the unwashed by leading them hither from the the BM/KL inferno to the promised land of the 'Tico Joints'. Amen and blessed be the cheap of wallet, for they shall keep the prices affordable.

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

Ah Yes,I do enjoy the tico joints.Damn, thre is nothing like that in northeast Texas.Home less than two weeks and already wishing I was there again.I guess it was inevitable prices would go up at Molino Rojo but a 500 col increase is easier to deal with than $200.Hope to see you again soon at the Tico joints Bilko, just holding out for a good airfare.Too bad it looks like theres nothing til April.rbc100

A couple of years ago, on the 'old' board, I suggested paying a couple
of the street k*ds/beggars a small amount to hand out one-page
flyers outside the DR containing warnings and advice for newbies regarding overpaying the chicas. The only problem with that is, once the chicas/putas heard about it, they would most likely beat the urchins senseless.

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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)

Gtim-
Although this is a great idea, my guess is that the working chicas at the DR would pay the lazy tico more to throw the flyers out. Perhaps, it would be more cost efficient if the tico handed the flyers out right at the airport