General Info

[Bx Loco Gringo]

Long Time Monger from NYC and senior member on the sister board. I am thinking about going to Costa Rica or Cuba and wanted advice from you guys on this. As an american that speaks a little spanish but not alot which is better to go to?

Do I need a Visa for Costa Rica - any pointers would be great!

Or would the thought of going to Cuba from Mexico be better let me know what is better for a Gringo from NYC.

Thanks,

Bx Loco

[NastyBoy]

Thanks for the response, RB. I've been reading your posts on that "other board" and Kama Sutra sounds like a good place to try. Sorry to hear about Oasis, but I suppose nothing is forever. I'll give it one shot and if it doesn't measure up, on to new adventures.

($337 round trip. Puta Madre!)

NB

[R Brandon]

Nastyboy, Oasis is not at the level of a year or two ago but still some decent talent. There are sevreral outher places in the Paseo Colon area to chose from including Kama Sutra, Veronicas, VIP's massage and Saphires around corner form Oasis. Happy hunting. These cheaper airfares are a nice change even form Dallas these days.rbc100

[NastyBoy]

Greetings gents,

It's been awhile since I've been on the board and even longer since I been down to the playground but now that airfares have dropped considerably, I'm heading back down in a month or so. Does anyone know if the rates at Oasis are still 12k colones p/h? How about the quality? Still holding up?

TIA

NB

[Bill Buxton]

I have stayed in asia many times often more than 6 months at a time and never had a problem on the re entry into the U.S.Yes they ask some questions and thats ok just keep thing simple and no problems.

B.B.

[Lorenzo]

Prolijo,

I've been well, thank you, as I assume you have. Might even come back to Costa Rica later this year. You make some good points, especially that ICE officials can make your life miserable if they want to. I think next time I'll tell them I was on a religious pilgrimage and see how they react...but not if I'm coming from a Muslim country.

Stay well.

[Prolijo]

Lorenzo,
How've ya been, buddy? "Sex tourism is not illegal under US law unless it involves minors." Maybe not, but it is seriously frowned upon by the authorities and in particular ICE and their religious-conservative Global Vision allies. And they're tightening the screws more and more all the time. Five years ago, maybe that Customs officer was as exhausted and exasperated as you were and just finally decided he didn't want to be bothered any further. You should ask yourself, why he even bothered to delay you at all back then or not accept your initial explanation (which was plausible enough) and whether today he might be even more difficult. Any way, Its not so much an issue of embarassment or doing anything outright illegal (except the violating the US embargo on Cuba thing, and we should have given that up a long time ago), its an issue of intimidation. "Either way, what can they do?" Maybe not arrest you for admitting to legal adult sex tourism, but they can do a lot of other things if you [CodeWord140] them off. Like marking you out for a "random" customs search or flagging your passport for extra scrutiny each time you pass through immigration. After a long flight, do you really want to have to waste a lot of extra time answering (and re-answering) a lot of fool questions every time you come back from out of the country? And if you also happen to have made a side trip to Cuba that time around, maybe they'll pick up on it because of that extra scrutiny. Don't tell me such things aren't possible because I know of guys that such things have happened to (not specifically the Cuba thing, but the red-flagging). Remember, we're living in the post-Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzalez, George Bush, anti-civil liberties, big brother is watching era.

Still I'd agree with you that, barring any other red flags, the odds of them bothering to notice your stamps is very remote and your point about reducing those odds further by only trying it when you have a relatively full passport is also a good one (in which case with all my stamped pages I shouldn't have any problem at all)

[Lorenzo]

Now try explaining why a single middle-aged guy is taking so many trips per year to CR, a country known for sex-tourism. ICE is starting to look suspiciously at that sort of travel pattern too. Its all part of the warped and misguided foreign policy emphasis of the current administration.

Sex tourism is not illegal under US law unless it involves minors. So let them ask all they want. You can either tell them the truth and watch the expression on their face, or if you are easily embarrassed you can tell them you like to snorkel, hike, or whatever. Either way, what can they do? Absolutely nothing. A little over 5 years ago, within a few months of 9/11, I had a Customs officer hassle me when I arrived back from Thailand. He wouldn't accept my explanation that I was sightseeing, and he insisted that I tell him exactly what I was doing in Thailand. Since I was exhausted and exasperated after a marathon flight, I finally said "eating, drinking, sleeping, and fucking, not necessarily in that order." The guy gave me a disgusted look, shoved my passport back at me, and motioned me through with his head.

Regarding Cuba, chances are pretty good that immigration officials won't catch anything. If you are going to travel to Cuba illegally, it's probably best not to do it on a new passort. Wait until you have taken a few trips and your passport has a lot of stamps. That way they're much less likely to catch any irregularities. Very few of them look at the visa pages of a passport anyway, except for a space to stamp your re-entry to the US.

Lorenzo

[Prolijo]

Hello Brothers. I would appreciate a piece of advice on this subject.

Can Americans travel to Cuba out of Costa Rica without having a custom stamp on their passport from either countries?

I know it is regularly done out of Mexico where the mexican authorities don't give a damn and the Cuban one knows the drill.Thanks to all.Happy hunting.

You don't get a stamp in your passport when you leave CR and the Cuban know the drill about stamping a seperate piece of paper rather than your passport no matter which country a Yankee is coming through. The real question here is whether you have to get a 2nd CR ENTRY stamp when you come BACK into CR or whether your original "90 day tourist visa" entry stamp is still good for a second entry or, at least, if it has to be renewed, they'll also do your entry stamp on a seperate piece of paper. I'm sure its a wise idea to ask them to do any stamping on a second form BEFORE you hand the tico immigration officer your passport for inspection but it would be even better to know this won't be a problem before you leave for Cuba.

The reason all this is so important is because US immigration officials are no dopes. They know the Cubans are more than happy to stamp US citizens' visas on seperate forms to help encourage them to ignore the US government's embargo and come to Cuba to spend US dollars. So the US inspectors also sometimes look for unexplained gaps in your travel stamps. "It appears you entered CR twice on this trip, where did you go in between and why isn't there another stamp for it in your passport?" The chances may be slight that they'd catch it or, if they did, they wouldn't be forced to accept your song and dance excuse explaining it, but do you really want to take that chance given the possible consequences.

If the ticos don't restamp your passport than the issue becomes moot and you just got back from an unusually long trip to CR. Now try explaining why a single middle-aged guy is taking so many trips per year to CR, a country known for sex-tourism. ICE is starting to look suspiciously at that sort of travel pattern too. Its all part of the warped and misguided foreign policy emphasis of the current administration.

[FastFishRacer]

Has anyone got an update about Tamarindo?

We're heading there in June.

Thanks

[Pussy Seeker]

Hello Brothers. I would appreciate a piece of advice on this subject.

Can Americans travel to Cuba out of Costa Rica without having a custom stamp on their passport from either countries?

I know it is regularly done out of Mexico where the mexican authorities don't give a damn and the Cuban one knows the drill.Thanks to all.Happy hunting.

[Fla Fun]

I saw this report in the news today.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - An American tourist who watched as a U.S. military veteran in his 70s used his bare hands to kill an armed assailant in Costa Rica said she thought the attempted robbery was a joke — until the masked attacker held a gun to her head.

He pointed the gun at my head and grabbed me by the throat and I thought I was going to die," Clova Adams, 54, told The Associated Press by telephone Friday.

The assault occurred during a ship stopover Wednesday in Limon, 80 miles east of San Jose, Costa Rica's capital.

Adams was with 12 American tourists who hired a driver to explore Costa Rica for a few hours. They were climbing out of the van to visit a Caribbean beach when three masked men ran toward them, she said. One held a gun to her head, while the other two pulled out knives.

Suddenly, one of the tourists, a U.S. military veteran trained in self defense, jumped out of the van and put the gunman in a headlock, according to Limon police chief Luis Hernandez.

Hernandez said the American, whom he refused to identify, struggled with the robber, breaking his collarbone and eventually killing him. Police identified the dead man. The other two assailants fled. A Red Cross auxiliary, examined Segura's body and said he died from asphyxiation.

The U.S. Embassy confirmed the account, but refused to release the name of the American who defended the group, citing his right to privacy.

Costa Rican officials interviewed the Americans, and said they wouldn't charge the U.S. tourist with any crime because he acted in self defense. "They were in their right to defend themselves after being held up,"

[Prolijo]

I think he's confused on several accounts. I believe that "15$ Bus?" in his message title was referring to Chilimike's post and what Chili was referrring to was the DIFFERENCE between what it costs to take a taxi downtown and what it costs to take the bus. The actual difference is really a little even more than that, but his point is still valid. The difference is not insignificant and certainly more than the "couple of dollars" that postie seems to think it costs. Furthermore, the public buses in to town are no more "deathtraps" than any of the taxis and probably much less so since they're so much bigger than any of the taxis who do you think is going to lose if they were involved in any collision. To suggest otherwise is simply absurd. Now, whether it is worth paying the EXTRA $15, or much more if your latest figures are correct (something else I find hard to believe) vs. the somewhat greater convenience of not having to carry your bags an extra 50 yds to the bus stop, waiting 5 minutes for the next bus and then having to catch another $2 cab when you get into town, well that is another question. But I'm willing to leave that one up to each member to determine on their own. All Chili, Kented, myself and others are doing is providing some facts about some alternatives to expensive taxis and our own personal evaluations based on those facts to other members so they can make their own decisions. No one is saying the rest of you have to agree with our conclusions. But lets not confuse the issue by mixing up the comparative prices.

[Member #2666]

I take taxis straight from the airport to San Pedro right to my doorstep for 16. 20$ max. Remember these words [phonetically] kinsey mil colones or bente mil colones.


Yes, why are you on a death trap bus. Pick a taxi that looks newest and take it for a couple dollars more.

This would be about $39.00 or thirty-nine dollars, not $16 or 20$

sounds like your confusing colones and dollars


.

[Postie2007]

I take taxis straight from the airport to San Pedro right to my doorstep for 16. 20$ max. Remember these words [phonetically] kinsey mil colones or bente mil colones.

Passport check: deal with it. All the lines suck. You will get to the hotel when you get to the hotel. It's HELL for me. I'm a smoker and I have to fight lines just to go outside for a smoke and get surrounded by drek screaming "TAXI, TAXI AMIGO! " and all I can do is take puffs and retort "fuck off. Fuck off. Oh, taxi? Fuck off"

The scanning lines are common sence. Stay out of lines with surfboards follow the people with small bags, not many bags. It's the other way around for me, I get into lines that are jammed packed cause I bring back alot of electronics. Security gets tired of checking bag after bag, so I go for the long line. Works every time.

Yes, why are you on a death trap bus. Pick a taxi that looks newest and take it for a couple dollars more.