Let's see. Some of my favorite places. Hmmm. I loved Rancho DiAndrew down near Uvita south of Dominical.

Rancho DiAndrew (Uvita, Costa Rica) - Lodging Reviews - TripAdvisor

Up a valley overlooking the jungle out to the Pacific. Jumping off waterfalls into mountain pools. I stayed there for a week last time I was through. That place was heaven.

Riding to the top of Mt Irazu volcano and Poas Volcano. Heck every mountain road was great. Definitely check out the cloud forest up in Monteverde. And riding around Lago Arenal and checking out that area, up through the waterfall garden area. Up to the Canoa Negro wildlife reserve. Nicoya penninsula away from the tourist spots is nice but probably the coastal rivers will be too high to ford in December on the fun Pacific side. Definitely the Osa penninsula. And the road going straight up behind Ciudad Niely zig zagging up into the clouds towards San Vito. You'll just scratch the surface in two weeks.

As far as Panama, my favorite area was in the highlands around Volcan and Boquete near Costa Rica. Riding down to Yaviza is something you do once to see what's there. A lot of straight line riding through mowed down teak forests for several hundred miles down and back. Like riding to Prudhoe Bay, do it if you must. Although I may have to go down that way to catch a boat down the Pacific side in a couple months.

There's a lot to see in Costa Rica though. You'll have fun!

Best,
John Downs

__________________
South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=831076