Based on the reasoning you have shared I would agree the Portugal’s ARI looks like the best bet for EU/citizenship.
However, we also know how painfully slow and unpredictable the ARI process has been at least for the past 4-5 years.
So if you have unlimited resources of time and money 
I would suggest pursuing a few other options in parallel to PT, such as (based on your preferences):
- Turkey CBI, not EU but very close and culturally not very far removed, the process is super fast with transparent costs, and yes you get your second citizenship in like 6-8 months;
- EU-candidate countries, some of them have a residence permit option with no physical stay, and path to citizenship via permanent residency. By the time you may get your citizenship it might as well be in the EU already. And no investment required as such, as it is not an RBI. You’d only incur some admin costs.
- You mentioned yourself already LATAM, there are more options there than just Costa Rica, cultural feel is similar to EU (some may even argue it feels more truly European than some parts of EU these days…), and again no investment needed at all. Some countries there have a fairly short path to citizenship. Weather selection also available
