Other Areas

[Fillychaser]

I spent a night in Alajuela last week, and have some information for interested members. First, I spent $100 at Fiesta Casino, something which I would not recommend.

After that I took a cab to the Central Park and walked around. By this time it was 9:30PM, and I found my way to Bar Jupiter, located from the SE corner of the park 2 blocks south and 1/2 a block East. There were a couple of policemen and a bouncer. This isn't a real nice place but there are some chicks, maybe 5 and 6 with an occassional seven. Beers were C$1500 colones, due mostly to it being a chica bar. I was told the chicas go for C$7000.

Then I was referred to a place called Casa Blanca, which also had a couple of chicas and was about 5 blocks away. The chicas were not too inviting, and there were a couple of drunks outside.

Lastly I visited Polanco's, a working class strip bar. The entry fee was C$4000 which bought two beers. This was way better than the other two places. Chicks were 7's and 8's. Costs were C$50K for the jacuzzi suite and included the chica time for one hour, the regular rooms were C$30K. The chica drinks were C$4000, and lap dances were C$7000 and C$10000 for a privado including CBJ.

Enjoy,

Robert

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[Norman Stormin]

A true gem. We liked it so much we ended up staying here a week and using it as a base of operations for the Caribbean coast south of Limon. 1,500 2 hour bus ride from Limon every hour. There's buses in and out of here every 30 minutes in either direction. Also several direct buses to and from San Jose.

We pulled in about 4pm and started looking for a room. Everything was full except the Hotel Puerto Viejo which turned out to be a backpacker place where you share rooms and baths. Not appropriate for our needs. Back to the bus stop where we had passed a motel looking place. BINGO. Nice looking room with 3 single beds, tv, safe, and most importantly, a/c. $40 per night for 2. This turned out great as it was the closest accomodation to the water, right next to the bus station, only one block from grocery store, a bakery that opened at 6am, and many restaurants. Hotel Mariza (really a motel).

Food was the glue which held us here for a week. I have never eaten so well anywhere in Costa Rica. Europeans have civilized this seaside village of 12 square blocks and 1,500 inhabitants. Pizza like in Napoli, seafood like in Valencia, bangers like in London, cordon blue like in Paris. Fresh bagettes and croisants at 6am with properly brewed (not boiled) coffee.

Europeans have invaded this place. Young backpackers in the lower end places in town. Middle class young couples staying in the higher end jungle lodges. The town fills up with rental suv's at sunset and is pretty much deserted by midnight. With one notable exception....

The bar in front of our ho/mo/tel appropriately called the Mariza Bar. This was our first stop after checking into the room, showering and changing from jungle fatigues to turista caribe. Their promotion of 2 cuba libres for 1,000 was an invitation for disaster. I swore off those things years ago after spending the night in the Ensanada Jail. After 6 of these delightful aperatives and watching the comings and goings of droves of backpackers at the bus stop, we headed for restaurant row. Two blocks along the shore road with absolutely every cusine imaginable.

We chose the last one which was Spanish. We had seafood pallela for two and grilled sea bass with a pitcher of sangria. Fantastic and set us back 16,000. By about 11pm all the touristas were mounting their suv's to head back to their jungle love lodges and all the backpackers had made their appropriate he/she, she/she, he/he pairings for a night of beach smoking and rolling in the sand.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, things were really rocking. Seems this is the local hangout with a caribe band jiving until the wee hours. We drank and danced until closing time. No use trying to sleep as our room was right behind the bar.

The next night we spent more time at the Mariza bar and eased off the alcohol throttle to get a clearer picture of the enviornment. Met the proprietor, an expat named Charlie. Bot a lot of girls drinks and chatted them up looking for a score but no dice. Went back to the room about midnight and decided to have a beer on the balcony. Saw a lot of room action coming and going but when I saw the same girl with a diferent guy I knew what was up. I went back and asked Charlie. He claimed to know nothing but pointed out the guy I should talk to.

I introduced myself, bot him a drink and got the low down. Basically every girl in the place was available for 5,000. I just had to arrange it through him. No problemo. The rest of the stay was smooth sailing except for a few police shake downs, a couple of murders, and lest we forget the guy that came looking for his wife swinging a machette. I'll detail those in another thread.

[Prolijo]

Anyone have any info on Ciudad Cassada or Fortuna by any chance.

Any info is appreciated!

Yeah, I have info. What exactly do you want to know. Yours is a pretty wide open question. I will tell you this. Ciudad QUEsada aka San Carlos is decent sized city in the Alajuela province but not anything special (bascially just a regional center and transportation hub). La Fortuna is often mistakenly referred to as Arenal by tourists because of its proximity to the Arenal Volcano, but there is whole 'nother town on the north shore of Lake Arenal that is actually named Arenal (Nuevo Arenal actually, since the original town is now under water). The Fortuna area is quite interesting with quite a lot to do including several hot springs to soak in, but little if anything in the way of local P4P. It does have a really big disco just outside of town that gets busy on weekends but again no P4P as far as I know. Here is a link to a video of the action there: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2m...ulcania_travel and another link to a site with really good info on the Fortuna area in general: www.arenal.net

[Studmuffin44]

Need to find a massage parlor in Heredia, the ones in SJ are just to far away for a quick dip. Any help is appreciated, TIA

[Birds]

This is almost certain to be useless information, as no one in their right mind would stay in Guapiles unless, like me, you wanted to get into the nearby National Park early. There are two roads into town off the main San Jose. Limon hiway. Halfway in between these roads, coming from town back toward the hiway about halfway in between, is another road. A couple blocks along this road is an ordinary looking bar (except with guys that want $1 to watch your car) with 5-15 WL. They sit around the edge of the bar and don't pester you. Some of the locals seem to come in just to chat them up, so someone who looks busy might not be. They each have their own room in the back. Maybe they live there? Mine was a Nica. Price is $14.

The bad news: girls kinda thick, 2-5, kind of worn out service. But it makes me wonder how many other CR small cities, if you went to enough bars, you'd find more of these places.

[Mose]

Some changes have taken place, Coco Verde hotel changed ownership, they will no longer let the putas hang out on the porch. Now they are on the steps in to the hotel by the street. Lower numbers arrive each evening not sure why, first night no one. I give this new owner about 2 to 4 months before he goes under. Without mongers he will be out of business. Second night I get a call from the front desk saying the girl I brought to the room is a no, no. I told them this is not over night, just for an hour, finally told them if she has to go I am leaving, that shut them up. Turns out one of the putas boy friends works the night desk at the hotel. Seemed to sneer at me when I went by. I am 6'5' and look like a tackle so he stoped bothering me. Quality as usual. Prices start at $50. Lizard lounge and Santanas also are spots. I befriended a bartender in town who set me up with some nice 8 or 9's nice skinny flaccas. My last night he said he was getting me two 18 yr olds but they never showed up. They wanted me to pick them up at a house and then go to another hotel where they would not be seen. One of my friends said a puta was packing heat for protection so be careful. Not a place to [CodeWord140] people off. Will add some pics at a later date. Oh, as to other activity, diving was good, not good vis but many fish, turtles, sting rays etc. Lastly the food, excellent

[Mose]

Thanks for the update, seems business as usual since my visit two years ago. Hotel Coco Beach is Tica friendly and as to security they are on our side.

[Howman]

Playas del Coco is the closest beach town to the Liberia International Airport. It is quickly becoming a sizable resort town with nice resorts and fishing. I was surprised to see quite a number of ladies available for P4P. They mostly hang around the steps leading into the Coco Verde Hotel and Casino. More ladies hang out in the bars in the casino. This is nothing compared to Jaco or San Jose and the quality is not great but at least there are some options. I met a fairly attractive punta in one of the main discos downtown but I didn't partake. She told me a lot of girls make there way up to Coco from Puntarenas.

I really enjoyed staying at the Coco Palms resort in the center of town at the beginning and end of my trip. It is an American owned hotel that has a great restaurant and bar. I was fortunate enough to meet a non-pro and was able to get her past the goofy armed guard at night. I can't say if it is always girl friendly but I'm sure there is nothing a little propina won't solve.

Since more and more international flights are landing in Liberia, Playas del Coco makes sense as a minor p4p option if you want to bypass urban San Jose and take in the local beauty.

[World Travel 69]

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a great little town. It is about 80 miles south of Limon. The prices are about the cheapest in Costa Rica.
The water temperature is about 80 degrees.
Our problem was that I did not read the Lonely Planet guide book first. We went to a travel office in San Jose, next to the Holiday Inn. They had only had one piece of information on the area. They put us in Punt Uva, about 8 miles from town on the new shitty road. It was tarmaced wrong in 2003. It also costs us $8 each way to go to town to eat.
There is a saying "The leaf cutter ants build better roads than the Costa Ricans." Their roads are smooth. They should have laid the tarmac from Manzanillo to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. Not the other way round. First they did not use high enough tar. Maybe four inches instead six or more. Starting from Puerto Viejo they put down their first section. I guess they maybe waited a day then put down the second and the third and so on. Each time driving their heavy trucks over the newly laid tarmac. So when they got to Manzanillo all the freshly laid tarmac was destroyed. They get $80,000 every year to fix it, but the money keeps disappearing.
The town in Puerto Viejo is a backpacks hot spot. With lots of other people that are not, mostly coming from Europe. Most of the hotels and places to stay do not have air conditioning. If you go, stay in the town. 5 places do have air conditioning. Try to get the magazine Caribbean Way. Here is a web site that is not set up yet. www.costaricaway.net
The crowd is young. 20-40s. We only had two days and could not get into town late, so we only saw one Bar, the Sunset, that looked like you could get some action. One local said he could hook me up. But I did not have the time.

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