I have been to Costa Rica and after travelling to 25 other countries it is definety geared for intense growth. I do know a couple people who purchased properties, only to find that they were already owned by someone else. They had to walk away from the deal. Saying this, if you are purchasing in a development, rather than raw land, your risk is decreased. They do have some unique "squatters" laws in Costa Rica so one must be careful.
Also, there are many books out that are specifically written about purchasing liesure investment real estate in Costa Rica. During my under-grad thesis work (Tourism Managment), i was very close to writing about this exact topic but changed half way through writing due to the lack of concrete data.