Beautiful Islands and Cayes in Belize

If you ever travel Central America, I strongly suggest someday you take the time to visit Belize, a paradisiac country with spectacular beaches. Belize is located east of Guatemala, and just south of the Yucatan peninsula. A lot of beautiful beaches en Belize, a paradise for adventurers, especially people who love scuba diving and similar hobbies and sports, Belize is a "must travel" place.

I've been to Belize a few times myself. I remember that once I visited a group of islands or cayes, it's incredibly beautiful. There are a lot of islands and cayes in Belize. The one I remember is Ambergris Caye . In order to get there, you have many alternatives. One of them is flying from Belize city to a town named San Pedro. Once you get to San Pedro you can go to several cayes nearby. The one I visited I had to take a boat and sail about 30-45 minutes. I remember there was a hotel in a caye, the only thing in that caye was the Hotel and it's facilities. Beaches with white sand, coral reef, espectacular weather. All you can imagine as a paradise you can find here.

In Central America there are many places very similar to the cayes in Belize, they are surrounded by a coral reef that goes from the Yucatan peninsula all the way down to Honduras caribbean coast, and goes on and on. They say that this coral reef is the second largest in the world, I guess the largest one is located in Australia.

Going back to the adventures you can find in Belize cayes, it's an interesting travel experience. If you're not afraid of sailing 30 - 45 minutes in a little boat in the ocean, go ahead and do it someday if you have the opportunity.

One day I was at the caye, and I had the opportunity to go out for dinner in San Pedro, that means you have to take the boat and sail 30 minutes, get to San Pedro and have dinner, visit the town for a while. At midnight I had to go back to the caye, and guess what, there was no option but to take the boat again at midnight. Going into the ocean and have a 30-45 minutes sailing experience into the sea, looking at the moon and the stars, what an incredible experience. It was a shame I was traveling alone, next time I will take my wife, so we can share togheter this beautiful experience.

Costa Rica, a first class travel destination

When you think about tourism and travel in Central America, probably the first country name or place that comes to your mind is Costa Rica. This is definitely a very good tourism and travel destination, no question about it. Why is that?. There must be many good reasons for this. It's interesting to know that Costa Rica is not the largest country in Central America, and it also is one of the less populated. As for natural places to visit (beaches, mountains, rain forest, etc), Costa Rica is not very different from all other Central American countries, as for natural places without the resorts and facilities you can find many sites in Central America very similar to the ones you can visit in Costa Rica. But they certainly know how to invest in tourism, travel and promotion.

A lot of options in Costa Rica for travelers from all over the world. The tourism industry in Costa Rica is first class. The type of resorts you can find in Costa Rica compete with the very best resorts in the World, there is no doubt about it.

If you ever travel to Costa Rica you will notice how tourism is every day activity, since you get to the airport in San Jose you notice right away. You find people from all over the world, people from Europe, Japan, USA, Canada, etc, you name it!

Did you know that many showbiz celebrities have chosen Costa Rica as their destination for traveling?. Celebrities like Madonna, Britney Spears and many others have chosen resorts like the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica just for naming one. Places and facilities like this one you can find all over Costa Rica, beatuful beaches, surrounding mountains, golf courses, horse riding, etc.

Costa Rica is very famous for its natural rain forest, very beautiful. I once had the opportunity to travel Costa Rica by car, I crossed the whole country from north to south, going from Nicaragua to Panama, it was a 2 days trip, the main road from San Jose to the south (going to Panama) goes through rain forest places, you can see nature at its best just looking out from your car windows, right there!

Good for Costa Rica, they certainly know how to work around tourism, first class.

Chiriqui, a beautiful province in Panama

I would like to talk a little bit about a beautiful place in Panama, that is the Province of Chiriqui, it is located in the west part of the country, near the Costa Rican border. Many people know Panama for his famous Panama Canal, which is of course the main atraction in the country, but places like Chiriqui is worth to travel if you have the opportunity some day.

Several years ago I lived in Chiriqui for almost one year, it was a wonderful experience. The capital city of the province is the city of David, a very beautiful city by the way. I remember spectacular and beautiful places near David, you can drive by car to nearby towns and regions. There are a lot of mountains, rivers, rain forest. It's interesting how diverse is the weather in Chiriqui, you have beautiful beaches less than one hour from David, and yet you also have beautiful towns with cold weather driving up into the mountains in less than two hours drive. I especially remember places like Boquete and Cerro Punta. You can see flowers all over the town of Boquete, spectacular flower gardens. The town of Cerro Punta is very cold by the way, by cold I mean the weather. If you ever go to Cerro Punta make sure to wear a good sweater.

There are many ways to go to David and Chiriqui. David is located about 500 km west of Panama city, if you go by car it would be aproximately 5 hours drive. There is an airport also, you can fly from Panama city very easily.

I also remember Chiriqui for being a very independent region, they call themselves "Chiricanos", when you somehow refer to them as Panamanians, they keep telling you that they are not panamanians, they are Chiricanos, they say it's not the same thing!. There is like a history of Chiriqui looking to be an independent country separated from Panama, people there talks about it very often.

Another atraction in Chiriqui is the Volcan Baru, I'm not sure but I think is the highest mountain in Panama, it's like a national park, very beautiful place. If you're interested in looking around and read more information on Chiriqui click here

If you ever travel to Panama and you have the chance, make time to visit Chiriqui. If you could get into a car and drive into this province, you won't regret it.

Travel Central America by Air

The easiest way to travel Central America is definitely by air. At least that's the beginning of the trip. Central America is located pretty near from USA, only a couple of hours from Miami or Houston.

Several airlines travel to Central America, there are many options to choose from. Of course those options include the most popular US airlines: American Airlines, Continental, Delta just for the purpose of naming some of them.

A pretty large airline company based in Central America is TACA , their main base is in El Salvador. That's another good option to choose, they have flights coming from US, caribbean, south america. Another one in Central America is Copa Airlines, based in Panama, with pretty good coverage in several countries.

At the end of the day, my point is that there are several options to travel Central America. All countries have international airports. The ones with the most air traffic are the airports in San Salvador (El Salvador), San Jose (Costa Rica) and Tocumen (Panama), mainly because TACA has bases in those 2 airports (San Salvador and San Jose), and Copa has it's main base in Panama city. Anyway, all other capital cities have their own international airport: Guatemala City, Tegucigalpa, Managua, Belize. Additionally, in Honduras there are additional international airports in San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba and Roatan.

As you can see, there is a wide offering in airline options, this is for international flights. As for local flights there are also local airlines who cover the local routes within Central America. The good thing to travel Central America is that countries are very near one from another, a lot of options to travel. There is a lot to see, so traveling options are not a problem.

Guatemala, the Land of Eternal Spring

I don't know if you ever heard that Guatemala is known as the "Land of Eternal Spring". Well, there is a very good reason for that definition, as you know spring is supposed to be the best time of the year considering weather, not very hot, not very cold, just nice. It happens that many areas of Guatemala are located in areas where the weather is like spring season all year long. The capital city, Guatemala city, is located in one of those areas. The weather in this city is just great most time of the year. By the way, Guatemala city is the largest city in Central America..............did you know that?. It's the largest and most populated as well. On the other hand, Guatemala as a country is also the most populated in Central America, it is not the largest in extension however. Do you know which is the largest country in Central America?. That's a homework for you to find out, I don't think it will be too complicated to investigate, but go ahead, it will be interesting to know.
Going back to Guatemala, if you ever travel to this beautiful country it would be good for you to know that you definitely will find very beautiful places. As for the city, it is a modern city, with all features of a large city. Over 3 million people live in the capital city........did you know that?. Yes, you can tell it is a big city. Weather is just great, sometimes a little hot in summer season (March, April, May) at noon, but mornings and evenings are just great. These days there are some works at the airport, it is being remodelated, so you can expect to find construction works all over the place. I understand these works will go on all year long, and will be finished next year 2007. They say that the airport will become the best and most modern in Central America after these improvements and remodelations. We'll see that.

One particular thing about Guatemala is the multicultural customs and traditions. A lot of people in Guatemala are indigenous or natives, they descend from tribes that go from centuries ago, they even speak their own dialect or language. You can see them all over the place, they have beautiful traditions, very good food, interesting customs. One of them even got to win the Nobel Peace prize many years ago, maybe you've heard about Rigoberta Menchú , she is very popular and famous, not only in Guatemala and Central America, but in many other countries and continents as well.

You can find a lot of things and different places in Guatemala, from modern cities to colonial towns, spectacular views if you travel by road to towns inside the country. In the future I will share with you some comments about these places.

Mayan ruins in Copan

For people who travel Central America to find places with ancient history, like temples and ruins, mithology, history and related things, Copan Ruins is a must, you should go there sometime if you are an admirer of these kind of things.

Copan Ruins is located in Honduras. Many centuries ago, even before Spanish colonial men came to Central America, Copan used to be like the main location with scientific and cultural traditions of the Maya culture.

You can go to Copan by ground transportation, it is located in the West part of Honduras, very near to the Guatemala border. It is about 2-1/2 hours driving from San Pedro Sula, which is the 2nd largest city in Honduras. Right next to the mayan ruins there is a beatufil colonial town, the name you can guess: Copan Ruinas. It's a little but beautiful place.

When you go to the mayan ruins in Copan, you can find tourists from all over the world, I saw many european and japanese tourists the last time I was there.

There is a lot to see in Copan, I won't talk about details of the Mayan ruins history. I just wanted to comment on how interesting place this is. Anyway, if you want to know more about Copan Ruins click here

All I can say that if you ever go to Copan Ruins looking for this kind of tourism, temples and ruins, you definitely won't regret it.

Roatan and the Bay Islands

Have you ever traveled to a Paradisiac place?. What comes to your mind when you think of a paradisiac place near the beach?. Well, what may be exactly your definition of paradise, beach, palm trees, white sands, that is exactly Roatan and the Bay Islands.

The Bay Islands are a group of islands in the north coast of Honduras, right in the caribbean sea. These islands are famous for their beautiful beaches, and that is absolutely true. All spectacular views of beaches you could see in a movie or pictures around the world, you can be sure the Bay Islands have those views and places.

The Bay Islands are an archipelago or group of many islands, but the bigger 3 of them are: Roatan, Utila, Guanaja. That is the name of these islands. The larger island and most popular touristic destination is Roatan. Did you know that there is an international airport in Roatan?. Maybe you didn't, but there is. It's pretty easy to get to Roatan by air, there are some international flights from US (and even from Europe sometimes), I guess depending on the season. However, all year long there are flights going to Roatan coming from the main cities in Honduras (Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba)

Another interesting way to get to the Bay Islands is by boat, yes, that's right. For example, there are some regular boat trips coming from La Ceiba, which is the 3rd largest city in Honduras. La Ceiba is right next to the beach, and its' coast is not very far away from the Bay Islands.

Many tourists from US and Europe also arrive to Roatan by Cruising ships, just like the ones you see in the movies, TV, magazines.

Do you like diving?. For people who love diving related activities, there are spectacular places to visit in the Bay Islands. Incredibly beautiful coral reef, you should see by yourself.........it's really beautiful.

There are many things to say when you talk about the Bay Islands, it is impossible to cover everything in one article or post. I will continue talking about it in the future.

Central America quick review & intro

Central America is a beautiful region, it has seven countries: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama. All of them are spanish speaking but Belize, which used to be a British colony several years ago, so it is an english speaking country with british customs. People talk english with british accent.

Do you know where Central America is located?. I'm sure most people know. However, in case you don't know or you're not sure, Central America is like a narrow frame of land to the south of Mexico, and it goes all the way down to Colombia. All countries are very similar in their customs, people, places. There are a lot of beautiful places to travel in Central America, it all depends on what people is looking for. As for beaches, they are incredibly beautiful, especially in the Caribbean sea. The countries in Central America that have more beaches in the Caribbean are Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama. El Salvador is the only country that doesn't have beaches in the Caribbean, only in the Pacific Ocean to the south. Guatemala also has some beaches in the caribbean, but I guess Guatemala coast in the caribbean is not very large, it is rather short.

There is also a lot of ancient and famous Mayan locations, especially in Honduras and Guatemala. Have you ever heard about Copan Ruins? .....what about Tikal?. We will talk about these mayan locations in the next few days, they are great places to visit.

Costa Rica is becoming very popular tourism country to visit. There are great rain forests places, for people who love extreme adventures they surely can find a good place to go. But not only in Costa Rica, but in Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama as well.

The diversity of places is enormous, even though the countries are not very large in extension. You can find beaches with very hot weather almost all year long, and you can also find towns with a very high altitude in the mountains, where the weather is rather cool most of the time.

I have visited myself all Central America countries, and I have seen with my own eyes the most beautiful places you can imagine. I will share with you some interesting facts and comments about this in the next few days.

Welcome to Travel Central America

Hello everybody, this is the first post of this Travel Central America Blog. I will share with you information, tips, travel experiences, comments and related news & articles about traveling in Central America, a beautiful region in the middle of the American continent, which has so many beautiful places to travel.

I have personally traveled to all Central American countries, each one of them. I have also traveled to other countries outside Central America, and I can tell you for sure that every possible tourist destination you have in mind you can find in Central America, the same or even better tourist locations compared to many other regions in the world. Beaches, mountains, rain forest, mayan ruins, colonial cities, warm and kind people, modern Hotels and resorts. The variety of tourist offerings in Central America is very wide and gets to the heart and soul of visitors, that's a sure thing.

If you've already been to Central America I'm sure you agree with me. If you haven't been, when you have the chance to go I'm sure you will agree with me.

Welcome again, and I hope we can enjoy together our traveling in this beautiful region.