Photos: With a lite (cheaper) version of Adobe Photoshop you can shrink the pics. If you enjoy your pics, this software is indispensable. It will greatly improve your results by adjusting contrast, dodging and burning, cropping, and lots of other adjustments. Thanks for the posts because I should try to make the trip myself. David Fourer

I went to CR four years ago and had a spectacular time. Flew to San Jose, went to Arenal / La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Quepos / Miguel Antonio Park. In 9 days, I saw a volcano, hiked around the volcano and through the jungle and the rain forest, rode zip lines across the rain forest canopy, swam under a waterfall, went to the mountains, went to the beach, heard and saw monkeys, lizards, sloths, and many other animals, rode horseback through the mountains and across a river, took a three hour sailboat ride, went to the famous hot springs, got a reflexology massage in a grass hut, toured a coffee plantation, rode a bus with locals and their chickens, had great food, did a little shopping, went to a couple cool art galleries and musuems, wore a t-neck and jacket and 2 days later a swimsuit, learned a little Spanish, learned a lot about the country, people, and environment, and always felt safe and comfortable. I went on a guided tour with Gap Adventures (gapadventures.com) on the 9-day tour. I think it was called the Quest adventure. They have dozens of differenet tours in CR, guided and independent. THe one I did was great, because they arranged everything from hotels to transportation to entrance fees to reservations. They got you to an area, told you what cool things there were to do, and then arranged for you to do whatever you were interested in. It was not a tour where everyone does the same thing at the same time and you are kinda trapped and on someone else's time table. You get the same guide for the whole tour and she knew the areas well and knew everyone in the areas we went, so she could always point us to the right people and places for what we wanted to experience. I frankly do not think I would want to try to navigate and drive through the country without a knowledgeable guide-- it's not like AAA will come get you if there is a problem and there is no mechanic or tire store around the corner. The roads are VERY rough and not well marked-- it would make a heck of an adventure, but just think about if that is the adventure you want, or if that would detract from the adventure you really want. I thought the loosely-guided tour was perfect and would highly receommend Gap, although there may be others that are just as good (I am not connected with them in any way, just a happy customer.) OH! One word of advice for San Jose-- If a man pinches you on the arm downtown, just say "No!" firmly and move on. That is the customary way that a man tells a uh, shall we say "lady of the evening" that he is interested. Some men just pinch anyone they think is cute, hoping she's a "lady of the evening"! You'll only experience it right in the center of downtown by the square, though, and if you say no then they apologize and leave you alone. Frankly, you likely won't want to hang out much in San Jose. One day for a musuem or two and the flea market is plenty. It is literally hard to breathe in the city because of all the pollution. Hope this helps. I'd be happy to answer any specific quetions if I can. --A.

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

"what I object to is trying to convert people from their "home" religion to something else..." I understand this view, though fundamentally that's what missionaries do. In Central America, I'm not sure what you pick as the starting point. The indigenous people didn't have a Western religion until the Spanish conquistadors came, at which point the padres introduced Catholicism. The Protestant missionaries came later. What do you call the "home religion" under such circumstances? What I find a bit more puzzling - if the desire of the congregation in accumulating donations and doing fund raising, etc, is to help impoverished people (which is of course a most noble cause), why waste the funds on airfare and travel? Send down the money instead and make sure it's spent honestly and wisely. Allow a few people to go to supervise and let the others go on another trip. Apply as much money as possible to spend locally on whatever projects are identified. That would do a lot more good, wouldn't it?