这几天爬梯上这个话题讲了几遍，想想索性写出来。

去年的这个时候这两个国家的区别还没搞清楚呢，更没想到在一年内都跑过一遍。都去过之后感觉他们都有拉丁国家的特点，也略有不同，简单说说。

共同点：都说西班牙语，街道建筑，城市风格，人民面孔都看着很像。岛国，热带气候，旅游的好去处。

不同点：大面上看波多黎各借着美国的光，比较富，道路比较好，更方便一点。

从旅游角度讲：

波多黎各：近，从屯儿里就飞三小时四十分钟。沙滩好，有世界级的冲浪沙滩，潜水潜浮都有好去处。更适合玩水，晒太阳类的消遣性度假。可看的地方有San Juan老区，其他的没有特别绝的。加勒比海岛屿估计都是这个性质的。

哥斯达黎加：更靠近赤道一点，好看的东西多：野生动物，热带植物，活火山，原始热带雨林等等，玩的东西有森林轮滑，吊桥等。 玩水的地方也有，但比较分散。 哥斯达黎加比较大，加上道路不好，每次大家就驻扎在一两个地方。

一下是一位网友gx123的input, 关于中美各国：

ZT

..以免重复飞往同一地区。（打字实在太慢) here is a brief list of the sites covered by my trip to the area of Central America (between Mexico and Colombia):

- Panama: Canal - Miraflores Locks (15km away) and Gatun Locks (70km away); Castillo San Lorenzo - very hard to get to but excellent - i did by rental car (standard costs about $25/day); Panama Viejo - ruins by Henry Morgan - in the capital itself.

- El Salvardo: San Salvardo the capital - full of policemen - quite safe; Joya de Ceren - 30km away ($25 by taxi) - a special Mayan site, but check to see if it is open.

- Guatemala: the capital is a kind of hectic - only good for day time walking - central parque surrounded by beautiful buildings; Antigua - the old capital of the whole Central America (till 1724) - a mecca for the self guided tourists, from where one gets the $7 hiking package to Volcan Pacaya - one of the few places in the world to step on the rolling lava (the only other such place was found in Hawaii Big Island, but much farther away from the volcano lips); Tikal - 500km from the capital - a unique Mayan site with 44-63 meter tall temples.

- Belize: only 4-5 hr bus ride from Flores (gateway to Tikal), where one should skip the city - one of the worst i have ever seen - but still having chinese restaurants, and hop onto a fast ferry to one of its Cayes (Caulker, e.g. where there are not only chinese restaurants but also hotels) to see the world 2nd largest coral reef (for that reason i skipped Roatan Isl of Hongduras, and Bocas of Panama).

- Hongduras: takes a long day to bus back from Flores to its west end - Copan, one of the 4 major Mayan sites featuring fine sculptures (the other 3: Chichen, Palenque - in Mexico, and Tikal); Tegu - the capital - a chaotic city, with its chinese restaurants guarded by the gun man and iron bars.

- Nicaragua: with two well preserved colonial cities - Leon, which is less touristy but more charming, and Granada - claimed to be the earliest in the America Continent (1524) - do not miss the tour to Isleta on the shoreline of Lago Nicaragua; in between one finds the capital - Managua - which could be toured by an hour taxi when switching mini buses.

- Costa Rica: its beaches on the Pacific side were somewhat disappointing; Fortuna - the gateway to Volcan Arenal and hot spring - is somewhat attractive, especially the Fortuna Water Falls; Monteverde is a kind of joke - trivial ziplines burried in the trees are much more expensive than the ones i took across the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe; San Jose is safe but much less appealing - only the hotel i stayed (Casa Morazan) owned by banana baron was a kind of interesting...

the 7 countries are well connected by luxury buses, which are much cheaper than airflights... i would definitely chose Guatemala if only 1 country out of the 7, which could actually be grouped into a visit to Cancun- Merida (Mexico), connected by Belize. If extra i would pick up Nicaragua or Honduras,... and leaving Costa Rica the last in the region, although it is filled with western tourists.