Costa Rica News – After at least six years of annual celebrations, sexy girls in scantily dressed Halloween costumes is something we have come to expect from the Hotel Del Rey in San José, Costa Rica. Although the pagan holiday is a common experience in North America, it is far from traditional in this small Latin American nation with catholic values. However, if you ask any of the sexy young zombies last night their response is likely to be, along the lines of “genial” or “mae, es muy cool”.
The big change at the Del Rey is that these days the bar clientele are more likely to be local than tourist. And, by local I am not referring to the expatriate community of English speaking retirees. Overwhelmingly the crowd last night at the Del Rey and the Key Largo Bar was Costa Rican. By 11pm all of the bars at the Del Rey and the adjacent Key Largo were filled with Spanglish speaking, twenty and thirty-something, well-heeled Costa Rican gentleman looking for a date, paid or otherwise.
Some might say that while the United States has no cultural monopoly on the world’s oldest profession, the American Dream has always had to suppress a healthy appetite for vice. The Del Rey Hotel and Casino, which opened in 1993 as a venue for American sports fishermen to enjoy the delights of local ladies, has come full circle. Twenty years later it’s the Costa Rican men who are lining up to pay cien ($100) for the company of the loveliest single mothers that Costa Rica can provide.
Hotel Del Rey Costa Rica Website
Adherents of globalization might point out that it’s still the same Yankee money funding the boozing and cruising in the Del Rey. It’s just the actors have changed as jobs were outscored by the CAFTA-DR trade agreement. Just as computer microchips and medical devices have replaced coffee and bananas as top Costa Rican exports, tourism from the United States has dried up considerably while local costs have skyrocketed.
For the moment, it’s a fortunate subset of the Costa Rican middle class with increasing purchasing power who are can celebrate in style. Retirees from the United States are having a harder time of financing the fun in Costa Rica as high inflation in Costa Rica eats away at dollarized Social Security checks. While the price of airfare, hotel room or a beer may have gone up, cien ($100) still buys an hour or two in the bedroom with a Tica.
The trend, however in locals replacing tourists at the Del Rey is still far from complete. A few other hotels in San Jose, notably the Sportsmens Lodge and the recently 
opened Mona Lisa decided this year to throw their Halloween parties on the weekend after the 31st. Although locals are likely to be in attendance at either venue next weekend, spreading out the party over a week increases hotel room capacity for tourist participation.
Halloween is also the classic example of turning lemons into lemonade. It’s an event that fills hotels in downtown San Jose to capacity at the height of the rainy season. While the rest of the tourism industry is praying they can hang for one more low season, hotels that cater to sex tourism are doing well and selling drinks to locals.
The local brand of Costa Rica Ron Centenario, which sponsored the event at the Del Rey is clear evidence that Halloween at the Del Rey is good for business. The majority of girls who didn’t mind posing for photos also shows the world’s oldest profession doesn’t have such an image problem anymore in Costa Rica.
For more sexy Halloween pictures from the Del Rey fiesta go here – http://www.latintravelvip.com/del-rey-halloween-in-costa-rica-is-evolution-of-culture/
