Camera gear stolen in Costa Rica

Hey guys, I'm posting this for a very good friend of mine, who also shoots photos for me. I know this is somewhat off topic, being in the wakesurfing section, but it is surfing related. I have also posted this in the photo section. He was shooting surf pics down in Costa for about two months and returned right before Christmas. On his last night there he had almost all of his gear stolen, over $20k in cameras and lenses and other equipment. So if anyone surfs down there at all or plans on visiting anytime soon, keep an eye out for some nice gear for sale cheap or anyone trying to sell gear. Most likely from what his local friends told him, its already gone, and they think they narrowed it down to a local thief and his son, but have no proof. But he is offering a decent reward for the return of his gear in hopes it may show up. He had been fighting with his insurance company about coverage for months and still had nothing finalized when he went on this trip. So if anybody here does happen to surf in Costa or venture that way, please keep your eyes open, just in case. Thanks guys

Man, that sucks. We never travel down there with gear. Or when we did go one of us would stay on the beach and shoot pics. Whenever we went to wherever, we left the car windows wide open and the doors unlocked with NOTHING inside the car at all. I hope your buddy gets that back. It's definitely bad karma.

That is a bummer I doubt you will find that gear for sale there's a good chance that it will be used at the beach you were shooting at in the 1st place . There is always risk shooting in some places not only in south america but anywhere you shoot. Sometimes the locals don't want to shoot their break stay low key & don't flash your gear as some people would rather steal what you worked hard to buy I'm sorry you got ripped off karma will be paid back to those people JL

Where did it happen? Jaco, perhaps? Hope he gets it all back, though chances are ...nihil.