Jacó Tourist Traps

I just got back from Costa rica last night (5/10). I’ve travelled the world and clocked over one million miles I had the most horrifying experience of my life in Jaco Beach Costa Rica at the Copacabana Hotel.

This happened on Wednesday May 5th as we arrived into town in Jaco at 6pm and checked in.

At 7:30 we went to explore Jaco and we were disappointed with the street, full of old men and hookers and crackheads!!!!. We walked the street and were approached for drugs at least 20 times in 15 minutes. I was ashamed to bring my girlfriend there. But we were on vacation and made the best of it.

At 8pm we went to a nice Swiss bar on the main drag and had a beer (the only bar we found without hookers and old men). I went to get her a souvenir she liked and returned in 10 minutes to find a couple sitting right next to her (in an empty bar). This is where the con started.

The American man and Costa Rican woman befriended us and they invited us to tag along because they were “local”. (Approximately 8:45-9:00pm) We somewhat reluctantly went with them to the monkey bar across the street and down a block or so. We noted the tica talking with the bouncer of the (empty) Monkey bar and then 2 minutes later the American showed up with 4 beers. “Why not” I said – to be honest I didn’t even think of it.

They continued to try and get us back to the “Copacanbana hotel” which we weren’t interested in…until we started to get loose (mind this is Beer #2, but Beer #1 with drugs in it). So we played a game of pool where I magically won (part of the con) and I drank the first of my 3 spiked beers. By now I’m loose (on 2 beers!?!?)and Copacabana seems fine. So we follow them there.

We get to the COPACABANA HOTEL (JACO BEACH) bar and the bartender (tico about 26 years old 5’ 8” with kind of a jerry curl look – I think his name was “KIKI”) is whispering back and forth with the American and another round shows up for us (beer #3 and Drugged beer #2) . Another free beer, no problem…. By now it feels like its getting late (its like 9:30 pm). The two left the bar area and then came back and talked with the bartender. MY GIRLFRIEND NOTICED THEM PUTTING SOMETHING IN BEERS and said “you had better not be spiking our drinks!!!” To which the bartender fired back a whole slew of “I’d never do that …blah blah blah…’ I told her to pipe down because we were in a foreign country. (I hate myself for this…..)

Less than 5 minutes later I felt really drunk. I mean really drunk – I thought it was 300am and it FELT like I drank a case of beer and then did 5 shots (I had 4 beers). I asked what time it was and the person next to me said 10:07. 10:07 pm !?!?!?!?! WTF!?!?!?

I grabbed my fiancée and ran for a cab (I just left my car). We started to trip, fall down and lose conscienceless in the 50 yard run to the main street from the copacabana. We made it to the cab and COMPLETELEY BLACKED OUT. Somehow we got into our hotel room (left the door wide open) AND WOKE UP 17HOURS LATER NOT KNOWING WHO I WAS OR WHERE I WAS. After my 17 hour black out (my fiancée blacked-out for 20 hours). For the next day we were so sick, couldn’t walk or drive or make any sense of anything.

It took us about 8 hours of talking to figure out what happened and to trace our steps and recall details. They gave us a complete mind erasing drug and they also gave me a hallucinogen. Who knows what the gave me. My girlfriend almost OD'd on their concoction and threw up continually (black stuff and blood) for 5 hours and through the next day.

I kept it inside and was horribly sick, hallucinating, and I’m still not right 5 days later.
(her too, but not as bad). We think they used GHP (date rape drug) and then LSD on me (I drank an extra drink) - but really - WHO KNOWS!?!?!?!?. I hallucinated for 2 days after my black out and the sickness we experienced was worse than any surgical drug I have ever had. We dont use any drugs and we only had 4 beers that night. They spiked bottled BEERS!!!!

Here’s the scary part.

First – they targeted my girlfriend – not me. I showed up after they targeted her. This probably means they intended to not just rob her, but to rape her as well. As a man with a fiancée, this was the hardest thing of all to deal with – Im still not over this part.

Second - They get you back to their hotel, rent a room for a few days and park a do not disturb sign outside. When you black out and pass out at the bar due to the GHP, they act like they are your friends and carry you back to the room that THEY rented, strip you, rob you, rape you, take your real hotel room and hotel safe keys, rob your room (passports and cash, etc) and then RE-DRUG you so they have plenty of time to steal all of your money from your ATM and credit cards.

The Amercian fits into this con very wall because in Costa Rica, all Americans look the same to ticas (plus they never ID me for any credit card purchases while I was there). The American could have passed for my drivers license and d completely wiped my bank accounts out while I would be getting pumped full of drugs in some hotel room until I die.

When I came through and was able to walk I went to the police, they wanted to arrest me for intoxication. They asked if I drove to the station (to get a DUI) and then they wanted to arrest me for public intoxication (I was hallucinating, vomiting, and sweating profusely). I called a lawyer when I was in the police station and they laid off of me. They offered NO HELP but were disappointed they couldn’t shake me down as well. We could have gotten the bartender and maybe the con men couple, but they just weren’t interested in anything but my money. THE POLICE DID NOTHING AND WE KNOW WHO DID IT!!!!

Im a very experienced traveller and I can not begin to relay to you how horrifying my experience was. We were 2-3 minutes from being dragged into a motel room, stripped, robbed and my fiancee would have certainly been raped.

This is not a joke or a vengeful post. We cuold have lost our lives.

I am lucky to be alive.

PLEASE FOR YOUR SAFETY AVOID JACO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF YOU DO DO NOT GO TO THE MONKEY BAR OR COPACABANA HOTEL!!!!!

Note: we found other areas of Costa Rica to have the most wonderful people and we would definitely recommend other areas (arenal, quepos).

Unique Suggestions: Dont accept anything from strangers. Only drink beers that they pop in front on you.

Fun Alternatives: Manuel Antonio, Arenal, Monteverde

NEVER PICKED US UP AS ARRANGED – LEFT US AT THE AIRPORT
Do NOT pay in advance for services from Easy Ride Costa Rica. I paid in advance and Javier Ortiz left us at the airport and never picked us up as arranged even though I confirmed with him via email the week before that he would be picking us up. The tourist officials at the airport tried to call him and he did not answer. He will not respond to my emails requesting a refund, and I had to dispute the charge through my credit card company. There are plenty of reputable and reliable services you can use - I do NOT recommend using Easy Ride Costa Rica because after this happened to us, I heard that it is a fairly common experience for customers of Easy Ride Costa Rica.