Online Gambling?

It was funny today. Somebody on the Yahoo Costa Rica Living List accidentally inferred that we make our money by working for the online gambling community. If you didn't know this already Costa Rica has a large number of gambling companies that do the majority of their work online. These people make a lot of money and are probably associated with the underground current here in Central America. We are most definately not associated with these people.

You can usually tell who these people are. If you ask what they do they come up with some vague internet job, but if you ask them details like "Oh, what industry?" or "What company?". They will give you some vague answers or change the subject completely. They usually drive really fancy cars and have a lot of expensive stuff. It's illegal for any American to engage in this sort of work, no matter what country they currently reside in.

On a different, yet similiar subject...I was talking to this one American guy who has been in Costa Rica for five years, whose starting up his own language academy. We were talking about all of the large malls in the San Jose area, how empty they are (except on the weekends), and the fact that everything in them is really expense. We are not sure how Ticos can afford the goods for sale in the stores. He was told that the large malls are just a money laundering endeavor for drug money. I don't know if this is true, but just telling you what I heard. Interesting yes, true? Maybe...