Costa Rica Tainted Alcohol–Setting the Record Straight
The recent reports about Costa Rica tainted alcohol make me think of the Guns N’ Roses song “Night Train”. Every time I hear Guns N’ Roses, I get fired up. They wrote some incredible songs that will last forever. One of the most popular drinking songs was called Night Train, named after the cheap wine Night Train Express. “Loaded like a Freight Train; Flyin’ like an Aeroplane”; Classic Rock N Roll about rotgut booze. Unfortunately, Costa Rica had its own version of this recently, and it did not end well.
Two weeks ago, 19 people died drinking Costa Rica tainted alcohol that was contaminated with the chemical methanol. With the recent deaths of USA citizens in the Dominican Republic, as well as Mexico, the media was quick to jump all over this story, and capitalize on the fear. As happens a lot in the media, they got it wrong. They said that tourists had died, and one news outlet even went on record and called Costa Rica “A Caribbean Island.” Anyone who has access to Google Maps, knows that we are not an island and we are not in the Caribbean. We are a Central American country, and not one tourist died. I am here to set the record straight.
