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Message: [QUOTE="8893, post: 2179478, member: 93"] Well, for starters, Costa Rica and Mexico aren't islands. As for Costa Rica, I chose it precisely because I wasn't looking for a generic tropical island experience. I liked the hiking and variety of different climates and options in one country, especially having both a Caribbean and Pacific coast (I preferred the Pacific, fwiw). Volcanoes, cloud forests, rain forests, coffee plantations. People are different, too. Like all of these places, Costa Rica has its share of crime and poverty, but it also has the highest literacy rate of any country in the world (including ours); it is famously neutral politically, in a part of the world where its neighbors are far less stable; and its former President, Oscar Arias, won a Nobel Peace Prize. There is a reason there are a lot of ex-pats living there. [/QUOTE]