I was on a forum on tripadvisor.com and saw an email stating that a family was traveling in CR and staying at a best western when a women approached one of the daughters and tried to abduct her. This is the first thing i have seen like this on Costa Rica and wanted to see if anyone else has had concerns that way. This post stated that sex trafficing in Costa Rica was an issue.

Prostitution is legal in Costa Rica and I believe the age of consent is 16. It may have been that the daughter was mistaken for a lady of the evening.

It is definitely true that Costa Rica is getting a reputation for the child sex trade industry , sad , but true . A complex , big problem , in fact it is often described as the Thailand of central america , Honduras a distant second . Who would have thought ?? Horrible stuff . ....

is kidnapping a problem in Costa Rica?

No , I do NOT think so , I have NEVER heard anything about that . I have been three times and have taken my children , that seedy side is VERY unfortunate , but it is a wonderful country with amazing qualities .

Yes, it's horrible stuff. Especially disturbing when many of the perpetrators (sp?) are from the U.S., traveling where they think they can practice their perversion with fewer obstacles.

Prostitution is legal in CR, and the age of consent is 18. The "business" is regulated to a certain extent but the sex trade and its abuses got to be a high-profile problem and a CBS "Sixty-Minutes" segment was aired about it. There are still plenty of poor and exploitable people in CR, many of them recent immigrants (legal or otherwise) from Nicaragua and other nearby countries.
I cannot imagine the incident described in the post above happening in any of the major tourist areas - possibly in the seediest areas of San Jose maybe?

We enjoyed our trip to CR immensely, but it was sad to hear how the Costa Ricans spoke about Nicaraguans. I understand why they fell the way they do, but it's still not pleasant to hear.

Similar to our experiences in St. Martin and Bermuda and the way the citizens on those islands felt about Jamaican "temporary" laborers in their midst.

While it is unfortunate, I can understand the frustration the Costa Ricans have regarding Nica immigrants. It is factual that a huge amount of the recent increase in crime (especially violent crime) involves Nicas. Yet it smears the reputation of the entire country--a tiny country that has is banking on tourism en esto momento.

Our experience has been that the people from Nicaragua tend to be more aggressive on several fronts. We know (and maintain correspondence with) people from both countries. The Nica folks don't hesitate to ask for assistance (financial and otherwise--which we occasionally provide). Our Tico friends, on the other hand, wouldn't dream of doing likewise, regardless of need. More pride, I suppose; and years of peace and prosperity in their country have allowed them to maintain that sense of pride.

In respect to dineroguru's original article. The age of the daughter is not indicated but it is possible she was being 'recruited' rather than abducted.

We do need to remember that prostitution is legal in Costa Rica for adult women -as legal as being a doctor or school teacher.
An aquaintance of mine runs a internet-based 'companion agency' out of Tamarindo. His business is quite upscale and very much within the law. His clientele consists mainly of middle aged Gringos and Europeans who usually take their companions to a resort in the Guanacaste area.
His employees are all legally in CR and include women from Nicaragua, Columbia, Dominican Republic and a few Ticas.

I had a fascinating conversations with my friend and 2 of his full time employees during my second last trip to CR. One of the ladies is a single mom of three teens; the other has no kids and has never been married. Neither smoke, one is a very light drinker , the other an abstainer. Neither touch drugs. Both are very safety and health concious and have regular health checkups. Both are literate, intelligent women in their early 30's who have decided they prefer to make $1000 a week entertaining a gentleman rather than $80 or $90 a week working in a shop or hotel.

Many of my friend's employees are part-timers who work 3 or 4 weeks a year to supplement their income.

Unfortunately all of the prostitution in Tamarindo is not as upscale. There are many women working the bars. I did speak to one of them, [in the Hotel Diria bar] and her story was not as pleasant, to say the least. A notorious bar /brothel outside town just recently shut down and there are more than a few women working the bars and streets of Tamarindo [and Jaco and San Jose]to support drug habits. That is sad and horrible in my opinion - but it is a world wide problem.

So far it appears that prostitution in Tamarindo does not have the international underworld influences that have moved into Jaco. That is where the 'sex trafficing' mentioned in dineroguru's original post is a very real concern.

Everyone I talked to in Costa Rica deplores child prostitution and it does seem that the CR government is finally starting to do something about the problem rather than just talking about it.

So, whether we agree or not, prostitution is a fairly significant 'tourist attraction' in Costa Rica.
With, unfortunately, the potential for exploitation of the women but also with the potential to provide a decent income for women who have chosen the profession.

LOL....In case you were wondering....I was not a 'client'.....my travelling companion would not have approved.

Jerry

whether we agree or not , for all KINDS of reasons ..... In the end , the aquaitance is basically a pimp ???? Of course we can pretty it up , and say how much more money they can make etc. , etc. But in the end it still boils down to exploitation...... Sensitive subject , of course not really meant for a travel thread , I probably should not have responded , my apoligies , it was stronger than me ! back to travel !! Faith

When we first started traveling to CR we used to hear from ticos how they felt sorry for the Nicas and were more than glad to let them come in and do the jobs that the Costa Ricans really didn't want to do like working in the cane and coffee fields. Then Hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua hard in 1998. Again, the Costa Ricans felt sorry for their neighbors and wanted to help. We just happened to be in San Jose at that time and it was amazing. There were 10's of thousands of Nicaraguans lined up around town waiting for their papers for temporary visas. I forget now what the actual count was. It was after that that I started hearing less and less about how sorry they felt and more and more about how they thought there was more crime.

As far as child prostitution, it has been a problem even before then. Every once in awhile there is a huge flurry of activity to get rid of it but then it just quiets down again. A few years ago I was looking for some volunteer work for my son and came across so many volunteer opportunities for women who wanted to help with teaching the Costa Rican women self worth. I wasn't able to do it at the time but it has stayed with me ever since. With all of the physical abuse Costa Rican women suffer it is no wonder they go into prostitution so readily. This was the first time my eyes had really been opened to the abuse problem. I have since had an opportunity to talk with many women about this and I cry every time.

The women need to be taught that there is never a reason or excuse to put their children into the "trade" and I am sure I am not alone in wishing the government would follow through on their attempts to rid the country of it. The government is sorely lacking on this issue.

Just cleaning up loose ends. In response to my original message, after having now completed my trip I can say this is not a burning issue in CR. IT is a bigger issue in Las Vegas or Chicago than in CR as far as i can tell. Sorry for raising the question- it was never an issue traveling with my two young girls.