Lost cities, stunning scenery: Why ‘Forgotten America’ is unforgettable

Marvellous Mayan history, stunning Spanish colonial architecture, a global biodiversity hotspot of pristine national parks teeming with wildlife, glorious coastlines, vibrant indigenous cultures and a fabulously friendly populace … what’s not to love about the forgotten America?

Well, yes, Central America has certainly had its problems over the years, and continues to suffer from them, as evidenced by the daily headlines.

However, Central America’s reputation as a dangerous destination, something not particularly helped by Donald Trump’s legal battles to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador, is unfair.

While the region was once riddled with strife, it’s now mostly peaceful. In six months of travelling alone around Central America, I only ever had one incident, in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, when a man touched my breast as I walked past him.

Of course, tourists should still be aware of routine dangers like petty theft, avoid political demonstrations and beware walking alone at night through poor neighbourhoods.

Life in full colour – the historic Casco Viejo district of Panama City.Credit: iStock

But anyone who has visited this region, officially classified as the southernmost region of North America, almost invariably rhapsodises about its tourism riches, the ease of travel, the innovative cuisine, the lively arts scene, great music and its love of a good party.

All set on that narrow, compact strip of land that keeps both North and South America anchored, the seven countries that make up Central America – Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – are each fascinating kaleidoscopes of colour, culture and stunning scenery.

Strike out into the Guatemalan jungle until you suddenly come upon one of the world’s most spectacular sights: the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, with temples and pyramids that lay hidden by greenery from human view for nearly 1000 years. Stay in an eco lodge in Costa Rica, just where the clouds caress the forest canopy at Monteverde.

Credit: Traveller

Go diving in Belize at the barrier reef’s Great Blue Hole, listed by the Discovery Channel as No.1 on its list of The Ten Most Amazing Places on Earth. Swim with whale sharks in Honduras. Surf some of the planet’s best waves in El Salvador.

Feast on local lobster and steak in a fine dining restaurant in Nicaragua’s Managua. Go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific with a tour of one of the globe’s great engineering marvels, the Panama Canal.

Then relax in the shade of palm trees on a white sand beach on the Caribbean shore of virtually anywhere in Central America, with a locally made cachaca, pisco, rum, tequila or mezcal.

Tikal, the ancient Mayan centre in Guatemala.Credit: Adobe

Of course, as in any region that’s considered part of the Global South, there are some challenges, but with a bit of homework, accounting for any travel warnings, and using good sense, the risks can be managed and reduced (for more, see “The Details” panel at the end of this story).

The rewards? In one word, highlighted by Traveller’s following guide to the 10 most compelling reasons to embrace Central America as a destination: extraordinary.

Natural wonders: of cloud forests and active volcanoes

A striking crater lake at the centre of Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador.Credit: Adobe Stock

This is a region of tropical jungles, mountains, rivers, lakes, lush green farmland and coffee plantations, dotted with about 70 volcanoes, offering up to 12 per cent of the world’s biodiversity and endless encounters with magical nature.

Not to be missed is Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest, about four hours north-west of the capital, San Jose.

As well as the luxuriant greenery touching the clouds, it’s also known for its incredible mix of flora and fauna with over 500 genera of orchids alone, 425 species of birds and 120 different types of mammals.

There are plenty of ways to see them, too, with thrilling canopy ziplines, hanging bridges for strolling through the treetops, and guided walks. The country’s other highlight parks include Corcovado with its sloths, monkeys and tapirs, and the turtle haven, Tortuguero (see “Wildlife”, below).

Peering into the crater of an active volcano is an exhilarating experience, and one of the best places to do that is at the Masaya Volcano near Granada, Nicaragua. It’s an easy hike to the top, and the smoke and sulphur gases create a spine-tingling atmosphere.

El Salvador’s Cinquera Forest, close to its Santa Ana Volcano, is another jewel to explore – and you can even do so with a guide who knows it intimately, after hiding out there with his fellow guerillas during the 12-year civil war. The view of both wildlife and wild lives is exhilarating.

Wildlife: from jaguar realm to sloth central

Welcome to sloth central.Credit: Adobe

Central America offers a host of wildlife encounters, from sleepy sloths – one actually fell off its branch onto my outdoor breakfast table once in a village just outside San Jose in “sloth central” Costa Rica – to quetzals, anteaters, all manner of monkeys and … jaguars.

The best place to spot jaguars is in a new reserve in the Belize part of the Selva Maya which is said to host more per square kilometre than anywhere else, as well as four other big cats, 350 species of birds and iridescent butterflies.

The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary has up to 1000 jaguars, and a determined conservation effort to protect them. Belize also has Caye Caulker with some of the most fabulous diving and snorkelling off the reef to see turtles, manatees, rays, nurse sharks and more than 160 species of fish.

Honduras’ old pirate island, Utila, also offers close encounters with whale sharks, along with a huge array of sea life, including dolphins, porcupine fish and seahorses.

Heritage: Conquistadors, canals and lost cities

An ancient Mayan Temple in Tikal.Credit: Adobe

The original population of Central America was made up of a number of indigenous groups, the most powerful of which were the Mayan civilisation, circa 2000 BC to AD 1524, with their advanced astronomical and mathematical knowledge, hieroglyphic writing and incredible architecture.

But the Spanish who arrived in the 16th century searching for gold and silver destroyed most of their cities and the human population.

One of the most complete set of Mayan buildings that remain are at Tikal in northern Guatemala, the largest and possibly the oldest of the Mayan cities.

Dating to 400 BC, it was saved from ruin by its remote location in a tropical rainforest which enveloped it in secrecy for many years. Eventually, it was rediscovered in 1848 and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.

The relics of other great Mayan cities can be found in El Salvador at Tazumal, Honduras at Copan and Belize’s Caracol, while museums across the cities showcase gold Mayan artefacts, jade art and weaving.

For much more modern history, dating from just 1914, the 82-kilometre Panama Canal is a stunning sight, and a project of vital worldwide importance in shortening shipping times around the world.

Architecture: white-washed squares to brightly coloured churches

Early morning in Antigua with its old houses, Santa Catalina Arch and volcano beyond.Credit: Adobe

The Spanish may have destroyed so much awe-inspiring ancient architecture, but they did replace it with some beautiful early modern buildings.

Antigua in Guatemala is a prime example and one of the world’s most beautiful Baroque-influenced cities, as well as another UNESCO World Heritage Site, set against a horizon dominated by three large volcanoes.

Along the cobblestone streets, and in the dazzling whitewashed squares, there are homes painted in bright colours, stores, arches, churches and monasteries, all carefully preserved for the future.

Leon in Nicaragua also has stunning Spanish colonial architecture, including the Leon Cathedral, the largest in Central America.

Built between 1747 and 1814, it’s a mix of styles, but somehow still fits in with the churches and homes around it.

Historically, Leon always fought with Central America’s oldest city, the equally beautiful Granada in the lowlands, to be the capital until Managua took line honours, between the two.

Culture: where folk and salsa flourish

Chichicastenango Market and the Church of Saint Tomas, Guatemala.Credit: Adobe

Scratch the surface of any country in Central America, and you’ll find a proud passion for local culture, with Indigenous languages, beliefs, traditions and arts still regularly practised.

Dress modestly when visiting churches and cathedrals as a sign of respect, and try to learn a few phrases of Spanish before you go to help with communication. But often, the easiest way to access that culture is through music and dance.

Take a stroll through any major town or city at night, and you’re bound to find a town square, church hall or community room with musicians playing a lively set of folk, salsa, cumbia or reggaeton music, and locals dancing. Bopping along with them is a sure-fire route to their hearts.

Provincial markets, especially in Guatemala, like the lively Chichicastenango Market with its brightly coloured textiles and handicrafts, the Guamilito Market in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, as well as the Boquete Market in Panama, offer a variety of lovely – and authentic – hand-made souvenirs. And check dates before you go for any festivals (see below) that are scheduled.

Festivals: good times, bad times

Dancing in the streets – Las Tablas, Panama.Credit: iStock

Of course, festivals in Central America are on nothing like the scale and level of organisation of Brazil’s Rio Carnival or the Inti Raymi in Cusco, Peru.

But participants have just as much fervour, and a haphazard spontaneity that can be quite unnerving.

I remember nearly jumping out of my skin in Antigua just as the Semana Santa procession for Easter was about to set off on Palm Sunday and dozens of firecrackers were set off and thrown everywhere.

As the smoke cleared, you could see the massive floats holding statues of Christ and Mary being carried by groups of up to 100 barefoot men, walking over thick carpets of woven palm fronds and flower petals.

The Garifuna Festival in Honduras feels much more subdued in comparison, a celebration around April 12 of the exiled African-Carib population of Garifuna’s arrival in Roatan, with parades, drumming and partying.

Costa Rica has its Festival de la Luz on the second Saturday of December when San Jose is filled with lanterns, light displays and parades, while Belize has a mid-May chocolate festival in Punta Gorda, celebrating all things cacao beans, once used as currency and medicine by the Mayans.

Food + drink: beyond rice and beans

Tortillas in Nicaragua.Credit: Adobe

When I first visited Central America in the early 1980s, rice, beans and corn were ubiquitous. Today, there’s a much richer variety of food and, thanks to the demand from a growing middle class and well-heeled visitors, a startling growth in the number of good restaurants.

Beans are still a staple, of course, whether in the corn tortillas or pupusas of El Salvador, the gallo pinto of Costa Rica, the flour tortillas or baleadas of Honduras, or as a side with the Guatemalan chicken or pork subanick. And those traditional dishes still deserve to be savoured.

But at the same time, it’s also wonderful to be able to visit the kind of restaurants that would survive and thrive in any self-respecting city.

Check out the ceviche specialist, Cantina del Tigre, in Panama City; the sumptuous seafood at Elvi’s Kitchen in Belize’s San Pedro, and the waterfront Maya Beach Hotel and Bistro in the south of the country; the steakhouse Don Candido, in Managua, Nicaragua, and Diaca Restaurante in Guatemala City, with its tasting menu showcasing produce from all the country’s farmers.

As for drinks, you find guarapo everywhere. It’s made of sugarcane which is pressed in devices that look like simplified juicers.

There’s also agua de sapo which is loads of sugar and ginger. There’s also palm juice which is fermented so it’s a bit fizzy and alcoholic. Finally, horchata is made from seeds and mixed with milk, water, cloves and cinnamon.

Active: from island hopping to sandboarding volcanoes

Turquoise pools at Semuc Champey in Cascades National Park, Guatemala.Credit: iStock

The natural beauty of much of Central America makes hiking a popular activity in the national parks and up and around the rims of volcanoes. Swimming is another favourite pursuit, whether in the Pacific Ocean – but beware of the rips – or off the Caribbean coast.

One favourite swim spot is in the cascading natural pools of Semuc Champey in Guatemala, an easy ride from Guatemala City or Antigua, while its massive Lake Atitlan, inside a volcanic crater, is a great place to swim or kayak, fringed by mountains and Mayan villages.

Island hopping is a popular pursuit, too, particularly among the 365 islands and cays of the San Blas Islands off Panama. A speedboat is always on hand for visitors.

For more vigorous sports-lovers, there’s surfing around El Salvador, with two world-class spots on the Pacific coast, La Libertad and the Wild East. There’s also sandboarding down the side of a volcano at Nicaragua’s Cerro Negro, near Leon, with the gritty volcanic soil the perfect launching pad.

Of course, there’s always football everywhere. Please keep in mind, El Salvador and Honduras even once went to war over a FIFA World Cup qualifier soccer match in 1969. It’s a passion throughout Central America.

Eco-tourism: natural highs

Beachfront in Honduras.Credit: Adobe

Costa Rica has become a recognised global pioneer in ecotourism, with so many protected national parks, rainforests, beaches and volcanoes, and eco-lodges and resorts using renewable energy, conserving water, and reducing waste. Origins Lodge in the north of the country is a great example.

Guatemala also offers an increasing number of environmentally friendly stays, with Lush Atitlan, a luxury lodge on the lake, another suitable option.

Honduras is now getting in on the act. It has the renowned Coco Cabanas in Tela, a holiday hotel built with recycled plastic bottles, while El Salvador has an increasing number with La Cocotera on the beach in Barra de Santiago designed out of palm fronds, sustainable teak wood, plant vines, natural stone and hand-woven fabrics.

With the region such a rich source of biodiversity, it’s only to be expected that sustainability is front of mind. As well as a way of preserving precious nature, it supports local communities, with more involved in the ecotourism industry as well as environmentally friendly agricultural practices.

Magnificent seven: Nations that make up Central America

South Water Caye marine protected area in Belize.Credit: Adobe Stock

Belize
Belize is the only country in Central America where Spanish isn’t the official language; it’s English. That’s a legacy from the country being colonised by the British in the 1600s and later becoming British Honduras before winning full independence in 1981. Most of the population are actually trilingual, speaking English, Spanish and Creole.

Costa Rica
Since 1948, Costa Rica has had no army and uses those funds for education and social security programs instead. Peace is now a central tenet of its constitution, and it ranks 14th in the world (the US ranks 65th) on the percentage of GDP it spends on education. Experts say the population is among the most easy-going in the world, with a favourite phrase, pura vida, which means “all good” or, closer to home, “no worries”.

Guatemala
On November 1 every year, Guatemala holds an All Saints’ Day kite festival. People in a town called Sumpango fly giant circular paper kites – up to 18 metres in diameter – above the gravesites of family members to honour those dead ancestors. Children join in with smaller kites. One year, there were 90,000 kite-flyers, more than double the population of the town.

Honduras
Australians are quite fond of the term “banana republic” after being warned by then-prime minister Paul Keating in 1986 that we were in danger of becoming one. But Honduras was actually the world’s very first country to attract the term, back in 1904, when American writer O. Henry sounded the alarm about what he said was the country’s over-reliance on exports of bananas. Twenty years later, it became the world’s biggest exporter of the fruit.

Nicaragua
The country’s Lake Nicaragua, the largest freshwater lake in Central America, is the world’s only non-saltwater lake to contain ocean animals, including the most aggressive shark known, the bull shark. On their discovery, scientists believed the sharks were a new species, but later they were discovered to be swimming into the lake via the San Juan River which flows from the Caribbean Sea. It’s also home to a number of other seawater fish.

Panama
Because of its position between two oceans, Panama is the only place in the world where you can see the sun rise over the Pacific, and set over the Atlantic. Famed for its now-controversial 82-kilometre canal, connecting the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean, it’s the country where you can also swim in each ocean on the same day.

El Salvador
In 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as an official currency, as well as the US dollar and, with the price of bitcoin soaring, the value of the nation’s cryptocurrency holdings more than doubled. But now, as a condition of a recent $US1.4 billion ($2.3 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund, it has agreed to stop using bitcoin because of its volatility.

The details

Tour
You can tour independently, or with an organised group. Among the leading and trusted companies running tours of various parts of Central America are Bunnik Tours (bunniktours.com.au), Intrepid Travel (intrepidtravel.com) and G Adventures (gadventures.com).

Fly
The majority of flights to Central America are via the United States with American carriers from cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami or Houston, potentially with another stop in Central America to then fly onto your destination of choice.

Stay
There are some wonderful eco-lodges and eco-resorts worth considering. Try Costa Rica’s Origins Lodge (originslodge.com), Guatemala’s Lush Atitlan (luhatitlan.com), Honduras’s Coco Cabaaas Tela (hotelcabanastela.com), and El Salvador’s La Cocotera (lacocoteraresort.com).

When
Temperatures can range from 10 degrees in the highlands to 32 degrees in the jungle. The dry season is December to April and the wet from June to October.

Safety
Be sure to consult the Australian government’s Smart Traveller (smartraveller.com.au) website for any new or updated advisories on political, social and natural events and upheavals that may affect your travels. At the time of writing, all the Central American nations highlighted in this story were rated “exercise a high degree of caution” by Smart Traveller.

Health
As with travel in any part of the developing world, make sure your vaccinations are up-to-date, and you have all those you need. Consult your doctor or a travel health clinic, such as the Travel Doctor-TMVC. See traveldoctor.com.au

More
visitcentroamerica.com

The writer travelled at her own expense on her visits to Central America.