San Jose General Reports

[DR Monger II]

It's a shame Mel Gibson has fallen down so far.

I tipped 10k for girls, but this was negotiated for better service. bbbj or 2 pops and etc.

[Rzoll77]

The photo of Mel was published in La Nacion, the main paper in San Jose.

So it was not photo shopped.

And he was in a bar in Samara, near to where he purchased property.

[Doubt98]

I don't know anything about Costa Rica but saw this photo on-line today.

A few of those honeys sitting in that bar with Mel are not too shabby at all.

Is Nicoya a monger area?

http://www.tmz.com/2007/07/16/mel-gi...sta-rica-loco/

Is the guy smoking in the background Carl Rove?

[Mr Jetsetter]

Prolijo,
As usual, another lengthy,thoughtful, and reasoned post from you. Yeah, I fully admit I did overtip this last trip. Maybe it had something to do with the fact I made over a grand playing hold'em at the Clarion, and the fact that the service was indeed incredibly sensational, vastly superior to previous experiences at ZB, in which I generally left around 3,000 colones or so for the tip. I still think what I chose to tip is my business, and I could really care less about possibly impacting the experiences of those mongers who chose not to tip at all. BTW, I won't tip a single colone if the service is mediocre or poor. I'll compromise and say a tip of 5,000 colones would have been more appropriate in my case, which is a tad over 20% of the entire charge.

I also agree with you about doing a bunch of walking and getting out of the gulch and San Jose from time to time. For the record, I never, ever took a taxi when visiting Oasis or dining at Maccu Picchu. I have scuba dived off of the Osa Peninsula and hiked Corcovado, visited Cahuita and Puerto Limon and other points along the Caribbean coast, and rafted the Pacuare on three separate occasions.

We ain't so far apart, and I'm a big fan of your contributions to this board.

[Npaul1]

In the US, TIPs USED to stand for "To Insure Prompt Service".

Wrong.

Tip was what men would do with their hat out of respect for the person. It was a complement.

[Dodger Bulldog]

I don't know anything about Costa Rica but saw this photo on-line today.

A few of those honeys sitting in that bar with Mel are not too shabby at all.

Is Nicoya a monger area?

http://www.tmz.com/2007/07/16/mel-gi...sta-rica-loco/

Others have pointed out that in the photo the neck looks extraordinarily long and out of proportion to the head.

Also, the color of the skin changes between the neck and the chest.

I'm no expert, but after studying it a bit the photo looks bogus to me, too.

DB

[Prolijo]

Is Nicoya a monger area?

Not generally speaking, but when you're a multi-millionaire anywhere can really be a mongering area.

[Lookin]

I don't know anything about Costa Rica but saw this photo on-line today.

A few of those honeys sitting in that bar with Mel are not too shabby at all.

Is Nicoya a monger area?

http://www.tmz.com/2007/07/16/mel-gi...sta-rica-loco/

[Prolijo]

I guess we'll have to add a new term to the lexicon: "tipping police."

Jet, I was just stating my opinion. This sort of debate has probably gone on as long as there has been tipping and people traveling between different countries and cultures and occurred on more general foreign tourism boards as well as ones like these. I've long since given up any hope of converting any (IMHO) overly generous tippers over to my way of thinking and even if I did, there will always be plenty of other overly generous tippers such that my 1 or 2 conversions would make little difference.

You've been a service industry worker IN THE US who has depended largely on tips, so your perspective would be entirely different from most other people. That is not to say that makes your perspective on tipping IN CR any more right or wrong then someone elses. For whatever its worth, however, I'll throw out a few other facts to back up my point of view.

I'm not sure what sorts of restaurants you've moonlighted at but if you were working at fancier places with menu prices that are double what most other regular restaurants charge (as ZB prices are double that of other MP's) and received 50% tips on those bill totals (like you're paying at ZB), I am positive you'd easily have made WELL over $50K/yr on tips alone.

In the US, TIPs USED to stand for "To Insure Prompt Service". It WAS a reward for "above and beyond" service. With restaurant bills being what they are, aren't we supposed to already be paying for the service of bringing the food to the table. At what point did it become expected of us that we pay a premium for getting what we should already expect of the them as basic service. Don't misunderstand me, I understand that service staff are underpaid and depend on tips for the vast bulk of their income, but in what other industry do customers essentially pay an employers employees for him. Do you tip your store clerks at places you shop, office workers at the companies you do business with, automechanics at the place you take your car. I always tip waitstaff well over 15% or even 20% whenever I eat out because I know workers in the restaurant industry can be paid less than the normal minimum wage based on the expectation that they also get compensated by tips, but I'm sorry you have to admit that is a screwy system. Shouldn't if be the restaurant owner's responsibility to pay them a reasonable living wage, expect they provide good customer service for that and fire them if they don't (and reflect that with menu prices that already include those costs in it without requiring you to pay another 20% premium). If the service was TRULY extraordinary, diners could still leave a REASONABLE tip, but not nearly 50% or even 20% and not anything at all for service that was merely ordinary.

But back to CR. The actual share of the fee that chicas at MP's get is typically about half. While certainly not great, all things considered, is certainly MUCH greater than the share of the restaurant tab that waiters typically get. The reason is because they do not expect to have to make the bulk of their income on tips. Even if they did, a 10K colone tip in CR represents well over 80% of the average daily wage in CR and would be roughly equivalent to you getting over a $100 tip based on the average daily earnings in the US. And how many tips like those have you received?

You may not be a "fat cat", but with tipping practices like yours you might just as well be. You say the performances at ZB have gotten consistently better each time and the chicas now flock to you. Damn, I hope they would for the types of tips you're paying. Where does all that leave those other guys who those chicas leave hanging in mid conversation? Which brings me to my other objection. A common rationale of the generous tippers is the "its my money and its my business" argument. Whether these girls actively solicit these sorts of tips or not or whether some guys just give them of their own initiative, those girls quickly come to know which guys tip heavy, which guys tip by US standards (3K colones would be a 15-20% tip) and which guys tip by tico standards (which would be nothing). This is evidenced by the fact that they now flock to you. That might not make you a fat cat, but I bet it makes you feel like one. A 50% tip SHOULD and DOES get you excellent service, once they know they can expect it. What sort of service does that leave those guys who "only" tip 20%? Average or humdrum? And what about the guys who don't tip at all because they think they should already be getting above average service when they're already paying 50-100% more than the prices at those other MP's?

Eddie may be trying to deal with the problems those excessive tippers have created and he may very well be able to get the chicas to stop hitting guys up for tips, but as long as there is a policy that allows for guys to give tips (as there probably should be), Eddie won't be able to do anything about EXPECTATIONS. What is he really going to be able to do about girls providing lackluster service if they know, god forbid, the guy is "only" going to tip 2-3K colones? And should the guys even tip that much if the service is lackluster?

Last point. I can fully appreciate not really having "the desire or energy to scope out multiple MPs in one jaunt." But what else are you going to do while hanging out in SJ during the day? Sit at the SL or BM bar or ZB cigar bar and toss down overpriced beers. Personally I like to get out and walk, if for nothing else, just to stretch my legs and work some of those beers off. And walking between the various MP's (which if you plan your route are rarely more than 2-3 blocks apart) provides one theme of walk to take. Lest anyone think I'm a hardcore monger, I also like to explore different and nicer neighborhoods than Zona Rosa, as well as parks, museums and better yet getting out of SJ altogether during the day to go rafting or whatever. But spending a couple of hours in the afternoon after I get back from a tour or late morning, if I'm hanging out in town, checking out the Zona Rosa or Paseo Colon area MP's, is not that big a deal, for me at least. And the mental energy involved is still far less than what many guys like to expend in their fishing expeditions to places like the BM for chicas who finally agree to something still higher than the set prices at the various MP's.

[Mr Jetsetter]

Prolijo,
Kind of curious why you seem so annoyed about supposed "excessive" tipping at Zona Blue, as indicated in a couple of your recent posts. I've sessioned there at least 30 times in the last two years and have never had a lady solicit me for a tip. Until my most recent trip, I never tipped anyone over 5,000 colones, but the service I received this last trip while engaging in multiple 3-somes was so clearly "over the top" and "above and beyond" that I felt compelled to reward the ladies accordingly by giving them 10,000 colones each. By some strange coincidence, every session seemed to be an improvement on the previous one, and I never seemed to have a problem repeating with my favorites. A couple of them would actually depart from conversations with other gentlemen when they saw me walking into the bar area. Imagine that!

I realize other guys on this board and CRT have complained about tip solicitation, and it appears that Eddie is specifically dealing with this issue in an appropriate fashion, as indicated on info boards posted in every room in which he requests that he be informed if any lady pulls this kind of stunt.

By the way, I moonlight as a catering waiter to pay for these trips, and I have an enormous first-hand appreciation for receiving nice, even "excessive" propinas! I have never made more than $50,000 a year in my life, so I'm hardly a fat cat throwing 10,000 colones around like it means nothing to me.

I greatly respect your advice about searching for less expensive alternatives, but,you know, most of the time I don't really have the desire or energy to scope out multiple MPs in one jaunt. Yes, I have been to Oasis and VIPS but have generally not been very impressed, although I fully realize I might not have hit them at the right time.

I've observed posters referring to the "price police" on this and other boards. I guess we'll have to add a new term to the lexicon: "tipping police."

[Prolijo]

I've got CR covered pretty well, but I'll be heading to Nicaragua for 5 days, 5 more in San Salvador, a night or 2 in GuatCity around 8/5, then on to Copan and Utila in Honduras for 9 days (with possible mongering stops in La Ceiba, SPS and Tegoose along the way), returning to Nicaragua on the 15th and CR around the 19th. If you or any one else has any last minute pre-departure words of wisdom for me (or even happen to match up with any part of my route) drop me a PM.

[Dodger Bulldog]

Hey Prolijo,

Thanks for fleshing out the details.

I knew there were many more MPs than I had mentioned, but many were closed when I went on a similar walking tour, as it was the holidays.

I didn't want to refer him to someplace where I hadn't personally had some success. Except that Oasis has been very well reviewed, so I felt comfortable throwing that name out there.

Sorry, I am going to be stuck here in sex prison until at least Thanksgiving. When I had my wisdom teeth removed I saved back some hydrocodone pills to deal with the immense pain of withdrawal from CR, but they ain't helping me any.

Truly I would rather have another tooth pulled than to be this far away from the chicas.

You would ask me for tips? That's like Warren Buffet asking me for a loan.

It sounds like you have some other stops on your itinerary. Where else will you be going?

I know that you will have a great time while you are there!

DB

[Prolijo]

specific names of some of the cheaper local mps might help: i have found gems at 747 and chachacha, and they are right next door to each other. at other times, i found nothing of interest there.

its hit or miss at all those places, but then again that is the beauty of there being so many of them. you just pop your head in each one and ask to see who's working. if you don't see anything you like you just move on to the next one. 747 and chachacha are conveniently right next door to each other, but you don't have to start there. starting from 'ground zero' at the bm, one can also stop at muses, europa 2000, dungeon and krysis before even coming to 747 and chachacha. if one hasn't come across one do-able chica at any of those places, one could detour south from there to check out pensiones, but personally i wouldn't do any of those chicas with your dick, no matter how cheap they are. instead one could loop north and eastward roughly back towards the gulch, hitting jetset and, if you still haven't found anything acceptable at any of the more reasonably priced places, finally resorting to the higher price options of first zb and then nf. what's that? a 9 stop mp tour.

and those are just the daytime options in the zona rosa. around oasis, if you find the picking there slim, one could head back toward paseo colon but bang a left on avenida 1 at the end of the block. another half a block down on the left, you'll find a sister mp of oasis (run by the same mgmt). i had a really excellent session there with a cute tica spinner on my last trip. another 2-3 blocks down from there is vips mp. and on the other side of paseo colon in the same area is veronicas and sala vilma and reportedly a few other hidden mps that even i don't know anything about (ask brandon). thats what? another 5 cheap mp's all within walking distance of each other. and i could name yet another half dozen or so mp's rep001tered around sj, but you get the point.

and if its too late in the day and these places are all closed, there are still other alternatives than the price inflated bm. if nothing else, idem is open until midnight. but just as there are "gringo mp's" like zb & nf and "tico mp's" like 747 and chachacha, there are "gringo bars" and "tico bars". in the zona rosa, there tico bars like monaco, bachata, club 40 and vips taberna. just be very careful wandering around that area late at night (preferably take cabs whereever you go).

btw, i'm heading to sj on tuesday for a couple of nights before taking off on my 'central america 2007 summer tour'. if anyone is going to be around then and is looking for a wingman, drop me a pm and we can talk about it. db, we haven't been able to hook up at any of the tampa crt chapter meetings (there's another on the 11th, which i'll miss this time), hopefully you'll be in sj and we might be able to get together and toss down a couple of imperials or something at the sl or bm or something. i'd love to pick your brain and get tips for the rest of my trip.

[Dodger Bulldog]

I agree with Prolijo.

ZB and Bar Idem may or may not be cheaper than the Del Rey (as many of the girls at HDR can be bargained down to 20-25,000), but they are not cheap by the locals' standards.

Specific names of some of the cheaper local MPs might help: I have found gems at 747 and ChaChaCha, and they are right next door to each other. At other times, I found nothing of interest there.

And though I have never managed to be at Oasis when it was actually open, there have been many good reports about this place, at reasonable prices.

Good luck!

DB

[Prolijo]

i would go to massage parlors. zona blue, idem and etc for cheap play. it's a lot cheaper than hdr girls.

wrongo!

i have to strenuously disagree. without the crt discount, zb is definitely thee most expensive mp in sj at 24k colone hour. with the discount, it merely roughly ties idem and nf as just one of the 3 most expensive mp's (with rates in the 17-19k colone range). there are literally dozens of tico mp's rep001tered around sj with rates of only 12k colones per hour or less. and if your money is really short there is always the pensiones on calle 6 with rates of only 3k per half hour, but they definitely won't be supermodels at that rate.

comparing the gringo mp's to the hdr/bm is really not the toughest competition to base your evaluation. rather than comparing mp girls to the overpriced chicas at the bm, maybe one should compare the gringo mp chicas to their tico counterparts like i've done above.

and that is a big part of the problem. because of the former weak comparison used by so many guys who then feel they have to compensate them like a bm girl with excessive tips, the chicas at places like zb are increasingly coming to expect such tips, not for exceptional service but almost as a regular anf expected entitlement. think about it. if those girls work at those mp's instead of working at the bm, its for a reason. maybe its greater security, maybe steadier business or maybe greater anonymity. if all those intangibles, without any excessive tip, weren't already enough to offset the greater money they could get working at the bm instead, they'd be working at the bm instead. sure some do wind up working there. who cares? leave them for the guys that don't mind paying $100/hr. there are still plenty of chicas that will work for even less than they make at places like zb.

one last thought: its the same false logic that the guys who pay cien use. how is comparing bm chica rates to what gringas charge in the us as a basis for rationalizing paying cien any different from using the most expensive and overpriced chicas in cr as a basis for overtipping the most expensive mp girls?