Despite their modest dimensions, each of the seven countries of
Central America is distinctively different, and one of the
pleasures of a trip through the region is to experience such a
diverse range of peoples and culture within a relatively small
area. Costa Rica draws nature-lovers by the plane-load to
its unsurpassed system of national parks and reserves, while
English-speaking Belize , for much of its history a
forgotten fragment of the British Empire, has reinvented itself as
a prime diving and snorkelling destination thanks to its offshore
national treasury: the second-longest barrier reef in the world.
The best place to experience the region's pre-conquest culture is
Guatemala , which has the strongest indigenous traditions,
not to mention a stunning landscape of soaring volcanoes and
amethyst lakes, while Panamá and Honduras are just
waking up to the tourist potential of their rainforests, rugged
mountain cloudforests, mangroves and beaches. Tourists still tend
to avoid Nicaragua and El Salvador - a misguided manoeuvre, as
neither is more dangerous for visitors than its neighbours, and
despite considerable poverty, the people are welcoming and the
basic tourist infrastructure good; plus, they too have the
volcanoes, beaches and rainforests that draw travellers to their
more popular neighbours.
The archetypal image of Central America is of the grey-white
pyramids of the ruined Maya city of Tikal rising smokily
above the rainforest canopy. Almost everyone who comes to Central
America makes tracks for these haunting ruins: Tikal is the best
known, but there are other popular sites at Copán in Honduras, San
Andrés in El Salvador and Lamanai in Belize. Even if you don't
visit the ruins, everywhere in the isthmus you can appreciate the
craftsmanship of the Maya peoples, in their technicolour textiles
(not just decorative, but a visually encoded social history),
exquisite wood carvings and jewellery made from local or imported
jade, turquoise and silver.
For wildlife enthusiasts, Guatemala's Biotopo del Quetzal
and the Monteverde Reserve in Costa Rica will be high on the
itinerary. In the pristine forests of Nicaragua's Matagalpa region,
the shimmering quetzal, the sacred bird of the Maya, is still
abundant; while in Costa Rica's Tortuguero region you can take
steamy boat journeys along mirror-still canals, and watch sea
turtles nest by night. Commentators struggle to represent this
staggering biodiversity in spiralling numbers: 3000 species of moth
in Costa Rica's Guanacaste province alone, 850 species of bird
(more than in the whole of North America) and literally millions of
plants, some as yet uncatalogued.
Life on the Caribbean coast of Central America is a shock
for those who are used to the formal code of good manners and
appearance that are so dear to the highland ladino culture.
The atmosphere in these slightly rancid coastal towns - Lívingston,
Bluefields, Limón and Colón, to name a few - can be raffish;
certainly the machete-feuds and drug-running are real. On the
Caribbean coast it's Marley, not marimba, you'll hear; English,
cricket and herbal teas make an appearance, too. Immigration from
Jamaica and Barbados to work on banana plantations and railroads in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth century transformed this
coast into an area which is more Caribbean than Latin American,
dominated by West Indian accents, subsistence agriculture, and a
quaint allegiance to the Queen (even if they don't always know
which Queen is in at the moment).
For most travellers the cities of Central America are
not much of a draw in themselves, with their potholed,
traffic-choked streets, cheap skyscrapers and gutters full of soapy
water and rotting fruits. Yet in each of them, if you can get
beyond the initial ugliness you'll find a vibrant, if hectic, urban
life with enough cafés, bars, galleries and museums to keep you
busy for at least a few days. True city-lovers will want to indulge
in spates of salsa dancing, join ice-cream-eating teenagers lolling
on the benches of the local park, or improve their Spanish by
watching the latest subtitled blockbuster American movie in a
theatre filled with sighing matrons and buzzing boys.