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

We love Costa Rica! We stayed at the (Marriott) Hotel Los Suenos which is right on the beach on the Pacific side and is a very good hotel surrounded by a network of pools. It is very pretty and has good food. We went on a zip line canopy tour and on a kayak trip that included snorkeling off some rocks. The fish were incredibly colorful! One of our best memories was a visit to Villa Caletas which is one of the most romantic and beautiful places you can imagine. They have a Roman style amphitheater built into the hillside where you can sit, enjoy a drink and watch the most fabulous sunsets over the Pacific 1000 feet below, while listening to stirring music. The restaurant is good too. We intend to return to Costa Rica and would love to stay at Villa Caletas! Please check out the photos on the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Villa Caletas Costa Rica

"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?

I know parts of the Caribbean pretty well, and my main question is what kind of vacation do you want? What type of accommodation do you like? What kind of activities do you enjoy? If you want to relax on a white sand beach at a big resort with plenty of familiar food options try the big resorts in Cuba or the Mayan coast. Or Aruba. If you like shopping, casinos, nice beaches try St. Maarten, St. Bart's. If you like like to explore and get off the beach I *don't*recommend islands like Turks and Caicos, Grand Cayman, etc., they are just too small. If you want exclusive, high end, away from crowds, exquisite food try Mustique or some of the other small resorts in the Grenadines. If you like to sail , go snorkelling off catamarans in incredible blue water, visit hidden bays on seemingly undiscovered tiny islets, away from the main stream tourist routes, go to the Grenadines. Rent a small house/villa on Bequia and explore all the small islands of the Grenadines. If you love French culture go to Martinique or Guadeloupe. You asked about St. Lucia, I admit bias, I lived in St Lucia as a child and visit it regularly now. My favourite place on earth is a small resort on the west coast called Anse Chastanet (and neighbouring Jade Mountain). St. Lucia is a great choice if you want to explore the island and do all sorts of activities, if you want a verdant mountainous rain forested island dotted with coves of dark volcanic sand. As St Lucia is heavily mountainous there are not miles and miles of white sand beaches like in Cuba or Mexico. Go to St Lucia to see (arguably) the most beautiful island in the Caribbean, to snorkel or dive, to zip line over the rain forest, to hike up the famous Gros Piton, to moutain bike, or to just relax on the beach, swim and eat great food. There are big resorts in the north of the island (which is flatter and has better beaches) but I don't recommend them or that part of the island. Head to the south west, around Soufriere, for the beauty and the smaller hotels and a more uniquely old style West Indian experience. Can't resist, here is a pic of my favourite spot in St. Lucia: This post was edited by sochi on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 23:32