Before we talk about the Costa Rica Sex business today, it should be noted that this is NOT normally the topic of conversation on this website.

In fact this is rarely mentioned…

A million + tourists a year visit this beautiful country called Costa Rica for as many reasons.

Two of the reasons that a few men travel here is because Costa Rica does indeed have A: Truly beautiful Costa Rican women and B: Some of them are available for a remarkably affordable fee.

Now this column is simply a brief review of the economics of prostitution in San Jose, one of the world’s oldest professions. This is not a comprehensive analysis of the moral issues of this business, whether it’s right or wrong. I’m not that smart!

As is normally the case, economic need is the bottom line for entry into prostitution and this was made crystal clear after two unrelated conversations.

One evening in a discussion over cocktails and bocas with a Guatemalteca (a lady from Guatemala) who owns shoe stores, the economic reality of a young person working in the retail trade was revealed to me.

My lady friend is well respected by her employees, she is well known for paying more than normal and she attracts good staff. Her full-time staff typically earn the equivalent of about US$500 per month including commissions and before you tell me that’s nothing …

Those earnings are on the very high-end in retail! We’re talking about the most expensive, upscale mall in Central America! Not just in Costa Rica…

She recently hired someone from a competitor who used to work more hours, was only ever allowed to take one day off per week which could never be at the weekend and he was paid less than US$400 per month!

One day later, in a conversation with a man who had started quite an elegant, well managed and very clean Gentleman’s Club here in San Jose, I was shocked to discover that the attractive young women that work at his hotel are available for US$47 per hour.

Out of that US$47 the natural healer (:-) keeps half plus the gratuities (normally US$5-20) that are given and the house keeps the remainder.

So the natural healer probably makes a minimum of US$23.50 plus gratuities for each hour she works and normally has 3-5 clients for a total that might range from a minimum of US$70 up to about US$200 per day.

Forgive me for not analyzing this in more depth but this is probably about as much analysis that’s done by some of the young women that enter this line of work. You can just imagine the thought process…

“Hmmm! Let me think about this for a minute… I could choose between working in a retail store for a whole month, six days per week for a little more than US$100 per week or, I could make about US$200 per day (including tips) working in this hotel as a natural healer.”

Tragic maybe but unfortunately this same scenario is played out in every single major city all over the world…

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1: How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, 2: Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore and 4. ¿Cómo Comprar Bienes Raices en Costa Rica, Sin Perder Su Camisa?

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.