Pico Bonito National Park La Ceiba’s crown jewel is the 100,000-hectare (247,105-acre) Parque Nacional Pico Bonito ^ [map] . Ranging in altitude from sea level to more than 2,000m (6,500ft), there’s more biodiversity here than in any other natural reserve in Honduras. Seven different ecosystems can be found within the park, which contain large tracts…
LA RUTA LENCA A string of Lenca villages outside of the highland town of Gracias, each with an impressive colonial era church, have banded together to market themselves as La Ruta Lenca. Surrounding Celaque National Park, a circuit pieced together by mostly rough, unpaved roads connects the mountain villages of La Campa, Belén Gualcho, San…
Tip Around 24km (15 miles) from Copán over rough mountain roads is the Luna Jaguar Spa Resort (www.lunajaguarspa.com), a lovely hot springs facility with a dozen or so pools and bubbling streams amidst thick rainforest. Their massage rooms are found in the Acropolis, a thatched-roof building overlooking a waterfall. Near the main entrance is the…
Fact The Lenca are the ancestors of Chibcha-speaking Indigenous Americans who came from Colombia and Venezuela more than 3,000 years ago. Today they number around 100,000 in Honduras and about 40,000 in El Salvador. The country’s busiest airport is well outside of town and therefore many don’t even get a glimpse of the rather laid-back…
Tegucigalpa and around Founded on September 29, 1578, Tegucigalpa 1 [map] , sitting in a valley surrounded by mineral-rich hills, lingered in obscurity until 1880 when then president Marco Aurelio Soto moved the capital here from Comayagua. While the commercial center of the country has moved to San Pedro Sula, ‘Te-goose,’ as it’s sometimes called,…
HONDURAS Rainforests, cloud forests, beaches, jungles, lakes, islands, Mayan ruins, colonial cities, and buzzing metropolises come together in Central America’s least discovered country. Main Attractions The Bay Islands Pico Bonito National Park Comayagua Cayos Cochinos Tela Lago Yojoa Gracias Copán Despite its large size – its 111,369 sq km (42,999 sq miles) make it second…
MONSEÑOR ROMERO Born August 15, 1917, in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador, the Roman Catholic priest Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez has become a symbol of the struggle for human rights in Central America. After witnessing various abuses of power against the poor at the hands of the military as an archbishop, Romero began speaking out…
Montecristo National Park Northeast of the country town of Metapán is the cloud forest-covered national park of Montecristo ) [map] , which straddles the border with Honduras (where it is known as Montecristo-Trifinio National Park). Within the humid park are giant ferns, lichens and mosses that provide cover for spider monkeys and anteaters. Cypresses, oaks,…
El Imposible National Park The 3,800-hectare (9,400-acre) El Imposible National Park 7 [map] , the largest in El Salvador, was named for a dangerous gorge that often claimed the life of farmers transporting coffee to the Pacific. The birthplace of eight rivers and home to extensive rare tropical dry forest, the park ranges in altitude…
LA BORN, SALVADOR RAISED While the criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, originated in Los Angeles, California, the majority of its members are ethnic Salvadorans. National Geographic went as far as to call them the World’s Most Dangerous Gang in a 2005 documentary. They have expanded across urban areas of North America and their reach…