Hola. I am in love with Costa Rica. Like, I want to move there in love. I mean, how many places in this world offer multiple establishments with a 10:1 young female escort per male ratio? Not many, my friends. Anyway, the
Nine.com,
VIP.com and
English Harbour affiliate appreciation trip was a huge success and one hell of an amazing time. This was my second trip to Costa Rica and I cannot wait to go back, hopefully next time with
Gambling 911's SULTRY Jenny Woo so we can cause some real trouble. Speaking of Ms. Woo, please be sure to check out her
blog for a peek at some of my pics and her phenomenal captions- they are hilarious. Actually, you know what? I don't have anything ridiculously outrageous to report this time around. Perhaps this is because the more "adventurous" young men on the trip mysteriously disappeared during the night and gave some vague explanation of the "rest of their night" the next day? Hmmm. Regardless, here are my stories, benign as they may be...
Costa Rica Affiliate Appreciation Trip 2006
Day 1: Tuesday
I landed in Costa Rica on Tuesday afternoon and was greeted by Nine.com's finest, the one, the only, Simon Eaton. Simon and I made our way to the downtown San Jose Holiday Inn, strategically placed across the street from the Del Ray. For those of you who are unaware, the Del Ray is a huge bar full of escorts. Full of them! I am not kidding. More on this later. So, after checking in and reuniting with the Nine.com, VIP.com and English Harbour teams, we took a ride to the Nine.com offices, fought some serious San Jose rush hour traffic, and got ready for dinner back at the hotel. There were about 30 of us on this trip, pretty much all men and one token female (me) so as you can imagine, we were quite the group. After an exquisite meal, we went up to Simon's "presidential suite" for some cocktails followed by a "field trip". To the Del Ray, that is. Ok, so I've heard lots of stories about this place (apparently a certain Bodog CEO enjoys making a cameo from time to time, but that's probably just a rumor) although these stories did not quite prepare me for the scene that I was about to witness. Two interesting facts for you: first, I was asked for an ID when I walked in- not the boys, just me. What the hell? Apparently these escorts are licensed and the bouncers thought I was one? Not sure if I should be flattered or insulted...unbelievable. Second, the bar is totally normal looking except for the fact that there are very large number of young, scantily clad, large chested, and eager to negotiate Costa Rican girls working the floor. It was shocking. I totally got the evil eye, especially considering I was sitting amongst a potential gold mine for these lovely ladies- 29 white men and myself. Funny, right? Anyhow, after this enlightening experience, the group headed back to the presidential street, and in honor of my Gambling 911 nickname "Rebecca Liquorero", I passed out cold on the couch right in front of everyone. Whoops. Ha ha.
Day 2: Wednesday
I woke up at 9am (no pun intended) with all my clothes on, extremely full due to excessive late night cashew consumption, and feeling like death. In this sad state, I made my way to the bus for a 2.5 hour windy and hilly ride to Jaco. Awful! I almost puked on my English Harbour friend so many times! Other than feeling like crap, the highlight of the bus ride was when we stopped at a bridge overlooking a huge family of crocodiles. To spice things up a bit, one of the affiliates in our group suggested buying some whole, raw chickens and some twine so we could taunt and feed the crocs. Sounds slightly psycho, but it was very appropriate for the situation, I promise. Honestly, I have never seen anything like this in my life- 15 huge crocs fighting over chickens dangling from a bridge. After this spectacle, we made it to the Los Suenos resort, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. That evening we enjoyed a cocktail while watching the sun set in Villa Caletas, had a lovely dinner, and topped off the night in downtown Jaco at...guess where? The Beetle Bar, which is...guess what? Another bar full of escorts. Awesome. Oh, and I was carded at the door again. Super. Anyway, I called it a night around 1 or 2am and went home alone, although I cannot speak for others. Rumor has it that a few escorts made it back to the Los Suenos resort and had to be registered with security- apparently they have a huge list of all the escorts in town- not even kidding. Who brought them home? Sorry. Not telling.
Day 3: Thursday
On this fine morning we all met bright and early for a catamaran trip to Tortogua Island. This gorgeous spot offered a nice little beach, hammocks, snorkeling, some interesting wildlife, and of course, a volleyball net. One of my very favorite Nine.com guys, Marty Davis, put together a volleyball game or two (surprise surprise) and did I play? Nope. I suck at volleyball. Anyway, after a great day at the beach, we got together for dinner and hit up downtown Jaco once again. I had seen enough young ladies hanging off the arms of old white men, so we decided to make our way to the Monkey Bar- a place where men actually have to hit on girls rather than pay them. Imagine that. Upon arriving at the Monkey bar I was immediately hazed by one of Nine.com's loveliest ladies and FORCED to take some tequila shots. What is it with online gaming and tequila? My tequila loving friend from Fortune Room wasn't even there! Anyway, once the hazing was over, I went back to the hotel and had a nice chat with some very drunk individuals on the terrace. I was secretly hoping to bust at least one person taking home an escort or two, but sadly, I saw nothing. Damn. They must have gone elsewhere...
Day 4: Friday
The first event of the day was scheduled for noon, so I slept in for the first time in days. It was amazing. Feeling nice and refreshed, I caught the last few minutes of the Costa Rica vs. Germany World Cup match and enjoyed lunch with some extremely hung over people. Very reluctantly, we left the amazing Los Suenos resort and made our way back to San Jose for one final night out. I had been looking forward to this night for the entire trip as my favorite girl in this industry- the key accounts affiliate manager for Absolute Poker- was in town as well. Immediately following our farewell dinner, she came to pick me up along with our friend from BetOnSports and some others from the Absolute Poker team. We managed to recruit the rest of the group to meet up at Utopia, a very nice and respectable club in San Jose (not quite the Del Ray). Between Nine.com's open tab and Absolute Poker's VIP table, we had plenty of drinks and completely tore up the dance floor until closing. I am not sure what happened after that.
Day 5: Saturday...back to reality.
While sitting in the extremely crowded San Jose airport waiting for my flight, I could not stop thinking about what an amazing time I just had. Nine.com, VIP.com and English Harbour are backed up and run by some really amazing people. I just cannot say enough nice things about them. Everyone that works with them- players and affiliates- will be treated very well and with the highest standards, I can promise you that. Anyway, I hope you take some time to see what Nine.com, VIP.com and English Harbour have to offer, and I certainly hope you enjoyed my stories. However, before signing off, I would like to bring your attention to the picture below: I present to you three of Beetle Bar's finest escorts. Lovely, aren't they? 
