2Newts

Hi geobeekeeper, You'll be pleased to know that Garmin works great as does the iPhone app from Geocaching.com. I have a great map of Costa Rica loaded on the SD card, but I do have to manually load the cache query results to the GPS. On the other hand the iPhone app requires no manual download. It just downloads the number of nearby caches on the fly. We use the iPhone to get us in the general area of a cache site and then use the Garmin to hone in. The Garmin is much more accurate than the iPhone. Also there are remote areas of Costa Rica where you can't get a signal on a phone, but you can always get a signal on the Garmin. The model that we use is the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color. Hope this helps and if you're ever in Costa Rica, be sure and come by and visit our TB Hotel. Futbol by 2Newts

Thanks for the response, but ammo boxes don't enter into the equation here. Costa Rica abolished it's military back in 1949 and consequently does not stockpile ammunition like other nations. Unlike in the States, I've never seen an ammo box here. So far we are using plastic containers, waterproof matchboxes, bison tubes and dummy electrical plates. The dummy electrical plate is the only one that has remained in place over the years. All the rest tend to vanish on a regular bases, despite our best efforts in concealing the hide. We want to focus on tourist areas because there are very few active geocachers in this country. Unfortunately, tourist areas are also the places were we find most of the muggles. Tourism is Costa Rica's largest industry and the probability of attracting more geocaching tourist is higher than attracting new members from the local population. If you come up with any other ideas, please let me know. Thanks, Pat

We permanently retired to Costa Rica in July, 2011. We were active geocachers in our previous home in Texas, and now we want to get back into it in Costa Rica. If you have been geocaching in Costa Rica, you know there are probably less than 200 geocache hides in entire country and there is a major problem with muggles. Folks here are naturally curious and if found, simply take the cache container with all the swag. We have hidden several geocaches here and have including notes in Spanish asking folks to leave it in place when found, but it doesn't seem to do any good. We do own one geocache at a nearby dam, and it has been in place for almost 4 years now. Fellow geocachers have been great about replacing or repairing muggled caches in the country. But we would love some feedback from other on the type and placement of caches that work for Costa Rica. It is so discouraging to always have our cache's muggled or destroyed. Our goal is to start populating Costa Rica with numerous geocache hides in all over the country and we can use all the help we can get. If any of you have some ideas on muggle-proof geocaches, please share.