so im heading to costa rica for 3 weeks and obviously bringing the mini 3. ive been doing a ton of research on the rules there and honestly its kind of a mess to figure out. from what i can tell you need to register with DGAC but half the posts i find are from like 2019 and who knows if any of that is still accurate. national parks are a hard no which is gutting because i was really hoping to get some shots around arenal. anyone actually flown there recently and can tell me if they got hassled at all or what the process was like registering

went last february with my air 2s. honestly the registration thing i just never did and had zero issues the whole time. flew near la fortuna, manuel antonio beach area, a couple spots on the osa peninsula. nobody said a word. that said i was pretty sensible about it, early mornings, away from crowds, not hovering over resorts or whatever. the national park thing is real though, there were signs at arenal and i didnt push it. missed some shots id have loved to get but not worth the gear being confiscated

cant help with costa rica specifically but just back from colombia and the rules situation there is the same kind of confusing mess. i spent like two days trying to figure out if i needed a permit and in the end just downloaded the aerocivil app and it sort of worked. i feel like most of central and south america is the same deal where technically there are rules but enforcement is really inconsistent. just dont fly over people or airports and use common sense is basically the advice i got from everyone