Axl and the boys weren’t there, but they would have felt right at home in the menagerie of pirates, hookers and booze that was the inaugural Costa Rica Bash.
But to say that it was like being backstage after-hours at an early’80s metal show would be selling the event (skillfully put together by IWantU) short.
The Costa Rica Bash was also about glad-handing and frolicking with your fellow pornites. Really finding out how many shots DrinkingHard can do or just how many times [nameless] can corral a hooker in the bathroom provides priceless bonding experiences that transcend business conversation.
After the initial jaunt into San Jose for a night of carousing with strippers at the airplane-themed Tango India and a morning of hangovers and breakfast at Denny’s, the 150-plus strong contingent of adventurers set off for a three-hour bus ride to the more primal settings of Jaco Beach, on Costa Rica’s western shores.
It was Jaco where things really got wild and wooly. Imagine: Jaco is a town where there are more holes in the pavement than in Dick Cheney’s hunting buddy, where there’s a Colombian hooker-filled dive called the Beatle Bar, and $50 U.S. will get you just about anything. Yeah, it was that kind of excursion.
Speaking of excursions, how about a Pirate Hooker Cruise? Put on by IWantU, GTS, and WEGCash, the Pirate Hooker Cruise was an adventure that will not soon be forgotten. Complete with pirates, hookers, and an open bar, the Cruise took riders on a two-hour trip to an island off the Pacific side of Costa Rica for swimming and other, er, activities.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the jungle, those who didn’t want to worry about STDs and didn’t care about plummeting to their deaths were on the canopy tour, zip lining their way from treetop to treetop in the Costa Rican jungle. These, my friends, are unforgettable experiences.
Throw in the 2bet Poker Tournament here, a party there, sprinkle in a dash of poolside lounging and pinch of beachside sunsets, and you’ve got a pretty nice formula.
“People were rarely carrying business cards on them, but they had so many opportunities to sit and have a drink with other attendees that business was actually great,” says IWantU Sam, the organizer of the bash. “A lot of deals were made because of the different occasions to do follow-ups.”
Oh yeah, that’s right. People did business, too. That is the point of it all, I guess. We are pornographers; we work hard and we live hard.
Is this what’s to come in show formats? Who knows?
One thing is for certain, though, the Costa Rica Bash – which, due to laziness, I will now coin the CRB – will return next year. The formula will remain the same and the residents of Jaco will likely take note because a drunken gringo and his money are easily separated.
It was for damn sure one helluva time supporting the local economy.
