Anyone ever traveled in Central America?
 

I was just curious to see if anyone knows any great spots to see in or around Honduras. Any good diving? Or great "hidden" spots to see?
I'd love to hear some of your stories, too.

Never been to Honduras. Spent a couple of weeks in Costa Rica two or three years back. It was fun, but have no particular hot tips to impart, except that Costa Rica made me into a coffee drinker. God their coffee is good.

Was fortunate enough to see Arenal while it was erupting. We stayed in a motel facing the mountain from a few miles away, and at night you could see (and hear) vast gobs of laving racing down the mountain like semi-trucks on fire.

No, but there is a little place juuuuust north of you. you might have heard of it :) Belize?
I believe it used to be called the British Honduras. i'm going there in January or February and plan on making some great stories.

Isn't that the place everyone says to stay away from? Maybe it's a lot of hype but I thought Central America was the place to go if you want to lose weight (and a couple of fingers) while you sit in a rebel camp and wait for the ransom to be paid.

I'm planning Costa Rica for November 2004. Currently still in planning mode.

Well, Nicaragua's dirt poor, El Salvador is on nobody's vacation itinerary that I know of, and Honduras can be really bad news. But Belize is supposed to be a fairly safe watersports mecca, Costa Rica is a low-rent but acceptably well run country with a very long history of democracy and a lot of American expatriates (been there), and Panama is pretty much a former colony of ours where Americans are still _quite_ welcome, thank you, as long as they fulfill their traditional obligations by brining money (this is from friends of mine who've been there). I'm leaving out Guatemala, but I have no opinion there.

I lived in Guat for a coupla years. There are some really cool places there. Panajachel, Antigua, Santiago Atitlan, Peten, and Puerto Barrios are worth taking a look at.

If you want more info I'll be glad to help out.

LSD

I really think Belize is the place to go for diving anyway. There's nothing else to do there, but it's safe. My dad has been there for the world bank and came back saying that the president of the coutnry was also the head of the fire fighters, so you can imagine how small it is.

We spent a week on Roatan at Cocoview. We were able to do an incredible number of dives in a day, as there is excellent diving just off shore. Highly recommended if you want a single spot dive vacation.

However, we have seen more interesting underwater stuff in Cozumel.

If anyone needs any assistance or info regarding Costa Rica,feel free to email me at hallgeo@yahoo.com or just write your questions down in this thread. Im Costa Rican and live here so feel free...