David Gimelfarb has been MISSing in Costa Rica for a little over a year now but family members believe he is still ALIVE. WTF?
The folks at CNN, specifically, Nancy Grace's 'Cold Case' published the story of David Gimelfarb today and this blog has been getting HIT big time since I've written about David's disappearance numerous times and obviously, I coming up in GOOGLE searches for 'David Gimelfarb'.
For what I'm about to say, I mean NO disrespect, I swear. And nothing would make me happier if at the end of it all, David Gimelfarb is found ALIVE. I would love to have to apologize for being a complete A-HOLE (wouldn't be the first time). But I've been following this story and it hasn't made sense, at least to me, for quite some time. *Before you judge me and if you care, read what I had to say and WHY, in sequence, FIRST, then you can give me shit.
Here's ALL I KNOW. If I truly, TRULY believed my son was ALIVE, roaming Costa Rica dazed and CONFUSED, I would be there, scouring the country and doing whatever it TOOK... am I wrong, wouldn't you? I'd criss-cross the fuckin country 10 times over, that is, if I truly believed he was ALIVE.
The 'Help Find David Gimelfarb' Facebook page is the most telling. Just read the posts in sequence. I don't blame them for wanting answers, HELLO, who wouldn't and I understand denial. But.....
David is dead.... but damn it, I'd rather apologize for being a A-HOLE.
AM Costa Rica is NOT primarily a NEWS source, it's first and foremost a paid Costa Rica referral site.
AM Costa Rica is actually getting worse, much WORSE (maybe Jay Brodell, the editor-in-chief, is thinking about retiring soon and grabbing all the advertisement revenue he can before he goes- who knows?). Go to their front page on ANY day, advertisements everywhere, so jammed packed in fact, they're now placing ads above their own AM Costa Rica 'header'. 'One' main story pretty much surrounded in a sea of blinking lawyers, brothels and casino ads. Looks like a cheap, 'What happens in Vegas' brochure.
*I've written about AM Costa Rica before- links to the right under 'Stuff I've written'
BUT, I know the advertisers are happy, very HAPPY because AM Costa Rica gets a lot of 'clicks'- thousands, everyday. But why so many clicks if AM Costa Rica SUCKS? Seriously, if Jay Brodell started AM Costa Rica today, it would be just one MORE in the zillions of below-average, 'aggregate' blog (news) sites created for the sole purpose of making a couple bucks utilizing google adsense. He wouldn't make enough to pay his cable bill.
But he didn't. Jay Brodell started AM Costa Rica about 9 years ago... gotta give him props for that but think of it this way, AM Costa Rica is like the 'OLDEST' and 'ONLY' liquor store in a town of 50,000. Their might not be a great selection, but when the pickins are slim, believe me, any ol' beer will do- and that's AM Costa Rica.
The other reason they're popular is, well, like I said, they're a GREAT referral site... sorta like a Costa Rica yellow pages for expats and people thinking about living here. A 'Yellow Pages' wrapped in a thin veneer of "journalism" and that my friends is why the advertisers are HAPPY. If you absolutely don't know where to start your Costa Rica INFO search, they're FRONT page has most of the bases covered, in ads: residency lawyers, accountants and tax people, cosmetic surgery doctors and dentists, shipping containers businesses and of course, real estate folks etc. But here's the beauty, which Jay Brodell obviously knows. AM Costa Rica does well in 'keyword' searches, so, when you come across an AM Costa Rica 'news story', it's got all that great "How to live, move and re-locate etc" advertisements to go with it. You may not end up using any of the advertised people or businesses, but you can bet advertisers love the fact there's also a good chance you WILL.
You might want to consider the businesses or people who advertise on AM Costa Rica as well. Personally, I'd rather link to 'quality', which AM Costa Rica clearly isn't. If I were a potential advertiser on AM Costa Rica I would demand Jay Brodell UPDATE his pathetic excuse for a website, hire more experienced writers who can produce quality content and report the who, what, why, where and how without throwing in their not so subtle, 2 cents worth, before I even considered advertising on AM Costa Rica. I guess with AM Costa Rica and its advertisers, it's more like, 'Birds of a feather'.
I wish I had the resources to start something like, 'AM Costa Rica ALTERNATIVE, the REAL news source Monday thru Friday.' Hey, I'm not stupid, those are good 'keywords'... gotta give Mr. Brodell is due but I sure wish I could use them against him.
The following song is dedicated to Jay Brodell:
TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!
For many, ONE trip to Costa Rica just isn't enough.
Believe me, it's NOT just hype- Costa Rica really is ALL that... and MORE. It's why D'Angelo and I live here and why many people return to Costa Rica time and time again. Like Elaine.
We met Elaine through TWITTER. She's been coming to Costa Rica for the last 10 years or so and loves the country as much as D'Angelo and I do. She's traveled all around Costa Rica by herself... pretty impressive if you ask me. Now, she brings people down to Costa Rica but I'll get back to that in a minute. I had a chance to sit down and talk to Elaine about her experiences in Costa Rica and what she felt about the whole, "Crime is running rampant in Costa Rica..." bullshit. Here's what she had to say:
*Again, we're not saying crime isn't somewhat of a problem, we're just saying about 98% can be AVOIDED with common sense.
Like I mentioned above, Elaine has taken her passion for Costa Rica and turned it into a little side business by bringing people here and showing them around, kinda like a personal travel companion/guide. After spending quite a bit of time with Elaine it was evident that she's not in it for the money, she just wants to spread the LOVE for Costa Rica to others... I like that. Reminds me of me.
Elaine gave me permission to pass along her website, so if you have any questions about traveling in Costa Rica, by all means: Costa Rica in Nature
Just in case you missed it, what I had to say about crime in Costa Rica:
TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!
For what I'm about to say, I mean NO disrespect, I swear. And nothing would make me happier if at the end of it all, David Gimelfarb is found ALIVE. I would love to have to apologize for being a complete A-HOLE (wouldn't be the first time). But I've been following this story and it hasn't made sense, at least to me, for quite some time. *Before you judge me and if you care, read what I had to say and WHY, in sequence, FIRST, then you can give me shit.
Here's ALL I KNOW. If I truly, TRULY believed my son was ALIVE, roaming Costa Rica dazed and CONFUSED, I would be there, scouring the country and doing whatever it TOOK... am I wrong, wouldn't you? I'd criss-cross the fuckin country 10 times over, that is, if I truly believed he was ALIVE. 
