Barrio Amón, one of the most traditionally upscale neighborhoods of Costa Rica, is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. As recently reported by the Sunday magazine of national newspaper La Nación, an exhibit of more than 100 paintings depicting scenes of this San José residential district was held at the Casa Cultural; the works of art were eventually transferred to the nearby urban campus of the Technical Institute of Costa Rica, which is just a few blocks away from one of the most resilient sexual tourism hotspots of Central America.

Most reports about sexual tourism in Costa Rica will invariably mention the Del Rey Hotel and Casino in Downtown San José; however, the New Fantasy massage parlor in Barrio Amón deserves a special mention for its ability to withstand several raids by law enforcement agencies over the years.

New Fantasy occupies an elegant corner mansion of Barrio Amón; thanks to careful maintenance and constant renovation, this establishment certainly fits in with the distinguished and historic examples of residential architecture of this district. At a time when Barrio Amón wants to attract more art galleries, trendy boutiques, performance spaces, sidewalk cafés, and other commercial spaces to attract tourists, it would not be unreasonable to think that New Fantasy will not be able to survive gentrification; nonetheless, history is certainly on the side of its administrators.

The aforementioned feature article published by La Nación does not mention New Fantasy by name, but it does mention Barrio Amón’s history of sexual tourism:

“We know this used to be a bourgeois, and later upper-class, suburb, a modest vision of a tropical London. We know what it later became: a scary district besieged by crime and prostitution, particularly of the sexual tourism variety.

In 2012, a research study by Eduardo Mora Castellanos of the National University estimated 400 daily visits by tourists who arrived in San José in search of sexual trysts. “Many gringos used to come [to Costa Rica] ostensibly for sport fishing. Instead, they came to the capital when prostitution on the beaches had not yet arrived.”

There is a problem insofar as the re-gentrification plans of Barrio Amón: commercial permits in this district are notoriously difficult to obtain, and they are even harder to take away. In the case of New Fantasy, which holds permits to operate as a “pensión” (a love motel) and as a massage parlor, police raids have not succeeded in the loss of the coveted permits.

Raids on New Fantasy date back to 2004; back then, La Nación published a colorful statement by San José Mayor Johnny “Giuliani” Araya, a former presidential candidate who managed to get his mayoral seat back with a populist campaign:

“[At the New Fantasy] we found young couples that were engaged in more than just massages, and we also found condoms in the rooms.”

Since 2004, municipal officials and police officers have raided the place a few more times; the most recent being in January 2017:

“A 60-year old man was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of pimping in the massage parlor he administered. The raid was conducted by agents from the Human Trafficking Investigations division of the OIJ and by Municipal Police officers.”

The report by La Nación explained that the man received 50 percent of the proceeds derived from prostitution in the historic mansion. At the time of the raid, 15 women from Costa Rica and Nicaragua were found on the premises, wearing sexy lingerie in the middle of a sunny afternoon. None of the women complained about being victims of human trafficking; if anything, they complained about police officers interrupting their business activity and scaring away sexual tourists. It should be noted that prostitution is not illegal in Costa Rica; however, third parties cannot pander or derive proceeds from it.

Today, the New Fantasy operates as it has for more than a decade, but it may be facing its most difficult challenge yet: powerful families who own historic buildings in Barrio Amón are pushing to rezone the district as an area of cultural interest, which means art galleries and educational centers instead of nightlife establishments.