Magdalena: A Prostitute's Life in Costa Rica

The Reality Behind the Stereotype

Magdalena Tells Her Story

Beginning with her dirt-poor childhood, her alcoholic mother and pedophile step father, through her days as the "star prostitute” of the El Jardin Hotel and beyond, hear her tale of sex, drugs, violence, love, and survival.

Divorced Mother at 14

"I already had a baby girl and was divorced by the time I was fourteen. I was a mother now, but I was still young, cute and very popular with the boys. I liked sex and I had a lot of boyfriends. They would share their marijuana with me and their beer or rum or glue or whatever they had and we'd have sex. I liked sex and drinking and the drugs. The sex was just one part of it all.
“But I was still very poor. I worked for a few weeks at an ice cream factory but I didn't like it and I hardly made any money there. One of my boyfriends, told me about a place I could earn money just by having sex with gringos, the Hotel El Jardin. He said he thought I'd be better off being paid for sex by gringos than giving it away to the local losers. So I decided to try it."

Thomas Ray O'Brien was born in what is now Silicon Valley back when there were apricot trees in every back yard and there was no such thing as a transistor. He is an alumnus of UC Berkeley and CSU San Jose. He is a former professional musician and computer programmer. He has never been married, has no known children but is very fond of women as friends and lovers. He is a long time 49er fan going back to the days of Y. A. Tittle and Joe 'the jet' Perry. He was his Jr. High's softball home run king and has very big feet. He currently lives in San Jose, Costa Rica.