I've never heard of this here pls give me info.

In 2011 my wife and I went on a month-long semester-at-sea voyage that stopped for two days in Panama and three days in Costa Rica both on the Atlantic side. Some of the trips we took in those countries were arranged by the ship's field office, some we arranged ourselves, and one trip was a part of the class my wife was teaching on the ship -- a field trip to the locks of the Panama Canal. Our ship was docked in Colon, Panama but we were warned not to go any further into the city then the one block area around the cruise port. One day we took a trip to visit an "Embera Indian Village" which was colorful and fun, but it felt a little staged. The next day we took the "field trip to the locks of the Panama Canal" for my wife's class, and took a side trip to the city of Portobello about 30 miles "south" of Colon. In Costa Rica we were docked in the city of Limon, which seemed much friendlier and inviting than Colon. The first day I had arranged a trip through a local company named "WIllie's Costa Rica Tours", he picked us up, drove us to Cahuita about 30 km south, where we were taken out to reefs off the shore of Cahuita National Park for two snorkeling stops, after which we landed on the point of the national park, and hiked along the beach back to the town of Cahuita, with the owner of the tour company along as a guide, pointing out various plants and animals along the way. He also bought us to a restaurant named "Restaurante Le Fe Bumbata" right in Cahuita which didn't look like much, but was one of the best meals of our month-long trip. The next day we went on a horseback riding trip that was arranged by the ship, which was near Cahuita, but further inland in the rain forest. It was fun especially since my wife is an avid rider, but easy enough that a novice like me still had a good time. On the way back to the ship, we separated from our group and got off the minibus at a Sloth Sanctuary. We planned to take a public bus back to the ship, but ended up catching a ride from a local. The third day we took a ship-arranged trip along the Canals of Tortuguero just north of Limon. It a short nature cruise along the intercoastal waterways along that part of Costa Rica. After that we went to a popular beach in Limon named Playa Bonito. Several groups went to the Puerto Viejo area which sounds like it is a relaxing beach-y spot. Since those were groups of college students they talked about staying in a cheap "hotel" where you just get a hammock in a large open, thatched roof structure on the beach, or the great prices on the drinks in the bars, so I don't know how useful my second-hand info would be. I've included links above to the relevant entries in the blog I was writing during our voyage on the ship, which contains more specifics, and many pictures. I'd say the Cahuita snorkel trip/hike and the visit to the Panama Canal were the best/most memorable, with the horseback riding trip being a close third. However what made the Panama Canal visit memorable was that we got to walk across the top of a lock to tour the control house for the Gatun Locks, which just about no one gets to do. Sorry for rambling on, I hope my information is helpful. This post was edited by bob_cville on Mon, Sep 1, 14 at 22:49

Update on my advice above to actually visit the country(ies) you are thinking of moving to, and our friends' advice that establishing foreign bank accounts BEFORE moving was something they should have done to avoid six months' worth of delays: The IRS is cracking down hard on ALL foreign investments, whether real estate, investment accounts, checking/savings. The penalties are huge, and although you can try to wrangle them down, it is a fact that taxpayers with smaller balance accounts are proportionately paying LARGER penalty fees than multi-millionaires who are deliberately hiding assets. The WSJournal had an article on this issue June 2014, but as it's subscriber only, I'll just post some excerpts: Expatriate Americans Break Up With Uncle Sam to Escape Tax Rules Record Numbers Living Abroad Renounce U.S. Citizenship over IRS Reporting Requirements WSJournal June 2014 U.S. offices abroad reported that 1,001 U.S. citizens and green-card holders had renounced their allegiance in the first three months of the year, according to Andrew Mitchel, a lawyer in Centerbrook, Conn., who analyzes Treasury Department data. That figure puts 2014 on track to top last year's total of 2,999 renunciations, he said, which was the most since the government began disclosing the data. Helping boost the exodus, experts say, is a five-year-old U.S. campaign to hunt for undeclared accounts held by Americans abroad….The tax dragnet has also swept up many middle-income Americans living abroad, prompting some to give up their U.S. citizenship. While people who renounce are NOT freed of taxes due for past years, they don't want to risk sizable taxes and penalties for them and their children in the years ahead, experts say. Nearly 8,000 taxpayers have renounced U.S. citizenship in the past five years, Mr. Mitchel found, compared with fewer than 5,000 in the preceding decade. ….U.S. officials launched their campaign after Swiss banking giant UBS AG admitted in 2009 that it helped wealthy American taxpayers hide money overseas. To avoid criminal charges, the bank paid $780 million to the U.S. and turned over information on more than 4,400 accounts, ending decades of Swiss bank secrecy. In May, Credit Suisse Group pleaded guilty to similar charges and agreed to pay $2.6 billion. Dozens of other Swiss banks are currently negotiating penalties with the U.S. Department of Justice, officials said. Following the UBS revelations, U.S. officials announced they would begin vigorously enforcing both new and long-dormant tax rules. Unlike other developed nations, the U.S. government taxes citizens on income they earn anywhere in the world. … The most common mistakes usually involved Americans failing to submit a form called the Foreign Bank Account Report, or Fbar. Since 1970, U.S. taxpayers have been required to file if they held one or more foreign accounts totaling more than $10,000 over the course of a year. Until the enforcement push, many Americans never filed an Fbar. The law is more than 40 years old, but "no one ever heard of it" before the crackdown, said Edward Kleinbard, a former chief of staff on Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, and an expert in international tax law at the University of Southern California. Fbar penalties are as steep as 50% of the highest value of the account for each year no report was filed. The IRS fined one taxpayer for Fbar violations in four separate years, and a settlement reached this month in the case yielded $1.7 million in penalties, which was more than the account held at the time. …The typical taxpayer with less than $45,000 in undeclared accounts paid nearly six times the back taxes owed, while the typical taxpayer with more than $7 million in such accounts paid closer to three times their back taxes, Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, an IRS ombudsman, found. … Scrutiny of Americans abroad will intensify, however, under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, which Congress passed in 2010. The law's main provisions, which take effect in July, will require foreign financial institutions to report income of their U.S. customers to the IRS, much as U.S. banks and brokers file 1099 forms. Middle-class Americans "face overwhelming problems when they try to engage in standard financial practices, such as having a small business, saving for retirement, investing, buying life insurance, and making wills and trusts," because of the laws governing assets abroad, said David Kuenzi, a financial planner with Thun Financial Advisors in Madison, Wis., who works with expatriates. The U.S. tax code, for example, doesn't recognize Australia's version of an individual retirement account, Mr. Kuenzi said. American taxpayers with these accounts must file at least two forms a year declaring the account a "foreign trust," and paying taxes on annual appreciation. The penalty for failing to file can be as much as 35% of both contributions and withdrawals each year, plus 5% of the assets, said Mr. Hodgen, the Pasadena tax lawyer. *********** Hope this info is of use to others.

Yeah, I did that. Have yet to see what's eating the leaves, though; must be something at night. The older pads are developing "kikis", and there's finally a new leaf forming, so hopefully I'm back I track. So much for attempting to conserve water!!