Mexico or Costa Rica?

I have been to Mexico (Playa del Carmen - Tulum area) 3 times.  I have been to CR once and spent 10 days there in 4 cities.  I feel like it depends on your needs and wants,  I love Mexico for the beaches.  The water is crystal clear and there is a lot to do.  In CR, at least when I was there, the water wasnt much different than in Florida...kind of murky.  (If I'm going to get eaten by a shark, I at least want to see it coming.)    Honestly I love to snorkel and you just cant snorkel if the water isnt clear.

CR however has the jungles, sloths, monkeys, exotic birds, etc.  They also have the Fer de Lance.  My favorite city that I went to in CR was Pureto Veijo.  It was a small rasta town with one payed road, 20 miles north of the Panama border on the Caribbean side.  Not sure about the housing situation there but I did meet a few expats.  An expat masseuse offered a 5 minute chair massage for $5 at the "market".  I also met a former personal chef who had worked for rich people, cooking on their yachts and had cooked with Gordon Ramsey who bout a tiny shack on the beach and turned it into his dream, a small kitchen cooking gourmet food with fish fresh off the boat.  His wife served patrons at tables on the beach, under a cover and you got a meal for about $12 that would have easily went for $30 here in the states. 

Of course, I am comparing a tourist area in Mexico to a small, out of the way place in CR, but hopefully, you get the idea.

Rob