A vacation south of the border doesn’t have to mean a mega-resort crammed with sedentary chaise-loungers. In Mexico, there are Pacific beach towns and mountain hideaways that you probably thought ceased to exist 20 years ago. In Costa Rica, you can hike, bike, dive, and fish in places the eco-crowds haven’t found yet; in Belize, there are new jungle lodges and reefside resorts. The least-developed is Honduras, a mountain-and-rainforest refuge for the truly adventurous. Following are our picks of the region’s best.

MEXICO


Copper Canyon/Batopilas

For decades copper canyon was one of those magnificent geological monuments that could only be viewed from a distance, usually during the 20-minute pause at the Divisadero train station on the Los Mochis- Chihuahua run of the Pac铆fico Railway line. A few backpackers would venture down into the gorges with guides, but the harsh terrain and lack of water made it a trip only for the well-prepared.
Now, thanks to fat-tired suspended mountain bikes and a mini-boom in accommodations in Batopilas, the ghost town 7,000 feet down and several climate zones deep, the Canyon is being explored as never before. It’s a seven-hour trip by thrice-weekly bus from Creel, the easiest starting point. By bike, it takes more or less time, depending on you.


Stay in Creel the first night (at Margarita’s, about $26 per person, $30 for two, including breakfast and dinner; 011-52-145-60245) and get your legs riding around this rustic logging town. The ride out to Cusarare Falls is an easy two-kilometer single-track that winds up at a 100-foot-high cascade.


There are zillions of other single-track trails all around Creel, but nothing equals the descent into Batopilas. The road down is paved now to the halfway point at La Casita, but the next 45 miles are the downhill of your dreams. The dramatic gorges are defined by twisted primeval rock formations, views to infinity, and cliff faces marked by sooty-mouthed caves—the temporary homes of wandering Tarahumara. Once you get to the bottom, you cross the river into town, past the ruins of a nineteenth-century hacienda, and curve into the main square outside the church—in the last century, it was lined with silver ingots whenever the Bishop would visit. There’s no silver now, no bishop, and fewer than 1,000 people. But there’s a fine hotel, the Riverside Lodge ($250 for two, including meals and guided hikes; 800-776-3942), a colonial-style hacienda surrounded by cliffs and mesas. From the lodge you can hike out to Satev煤 (about an hour), where a domed seventeenth-century cathedral stands, or to the tiny community of Cerro Colorado (about three hours).


For maps, bike rentals, repairs, tubes, and patch kits, or guided tours of Batopilas, contact Arturo Guti‹rrez at Expediciones Umarike (fax 145-60212).


The Pacific Coast

Like rocks exposed during the shifting of sands after a winter swell, Mexico’s central Pacific coast continues to change, revealing new outposts of laid-back rhythms, uncluttered sands, warm water, and food for the soul: fruit just off the tree, fish straight from the net, hand-made tortillas. The five-star tourist warrens of Puerto Vallarta and Careyes continue to dominate the scene, but two peninsula-anchored pueblitos—Sayulita (45 minutes north of P.V.) and La Manzanilla (a half-hour south of Careyes)—are proof that life is good when you’re well off the tour-bus radar screen.


Sayulita is Surf City circa 1962, with long- and short-boarders working the waves together in uncrowded camaraderie. Throw in horseback-riding trips into the jungle, great snorkeling off the rocks, kayaking, mountain biking, and superb fishing, and you wonder why anyone would pass this up for over-priced faux-Thai food in Puerto Vallarta. You can get the full athletic treatment at Costa Azul 国产吃瓜黑料 Resort (doubles, $65-$98; 800-365-7613), a five-acre jungle-beach compound with only 28 rooms in the neighboring village of San Francisco. You can plot your own adventure, or sign on for one of their all-inclusive package deals ($76-$98 per person per night for surfing, kid’s adventure camp, honeymoon, or adventure packages).


Or, for the ultimate insider’s experience, there’s Casa Parad铆so (call Margaret Gillham at Lones Travel, 800-458-2878), a spacious, terraced home clinging to a pristine section of coast about 15 minutes south of the village. It’s not cheap—packages run $1,500 to $4,500 a week—e higher price includes three separated terraced villas, all food and non-alcoholic drinks, full-time service (maid, houseboy, cook, chauffeur), and a huge open-air palapa living-dining room that feels like a jungle tree house. There’s a pool just a dozen steps above the private sandy beach, where there’s excellent snorkeling (manta rays, turtles, rockfish) and surfing. In winter the open ocean out front is full of porpoises and migrating orcas, breaching and spouting.


The minuscule village of La Manzanilla sits in the heart of the Costa Alegre, the “happy coast” of Jalisco. Dwarfed by the giant resorts of Careyes (Club Med, Bel-Air, etc.) to the north and the small-but-growing-fast Barra de Navidad to the south, it’s the best place to explore the still-virgin coves and reefs of Tenacatita Bay. There are some great waves for surfers, but also a long stretch of soft sand where bodyboarding and bodysurfing are superb. Around the rocks at either end of the bay are dozens of safe, close-in snorkeling and spear-fishing spots. You can stay in a beach-side bungalow in the heart of town (look for the “bungalows/restaurant” sign at the beach in town; $15-$30 a night, no phone) or, if you’re lucky, unpack at El Mar, the front villa at Casa Maguey ($50 a night; phone/fax 335-15012), perched like a cormorant’s nest on the cliff above the village’s main playa. The decor is tasteful, and the views are as close as the hovering pelicans just off the terrace, as distant as the green flash of the sun as it drops behind the curve of the Pacific.


Casa Maguey has kayaks, snorkeling gear, a water-ski boat, and wake-surfing boards for guests, and can put you in contact with locals for horseback rides into the jungle or informal tours of the nearby lagoon to see crocodiles, flamingos, spoonbills, and herons.


Backroads: El Baj铆oPozos-Cieneguitas

In Mexico’s colonial heartland, the El Baj铆o region of Guanajuato state is pretty much defined by its capital city, Guanajuato, and the much smaller artists’ colony of San Miguel de Allende. But for those who can do without espresso and CNN on demand, there are alternatives.


Pozos is a unique window on Mexico’s past, a ghost town littered with scores of dramatic fallen-in haciendas, abandoned gold mines, and cobblestone streets empty of cars or people. Which is why the Casa Mexicana ($45 per person, including meals; 468-83030) is such a surprise. It’s a tiny boutique hotel with great service, wonderful decor (Picasso lithographs!), and a fantastic blend of nouvelle and traditional Mexican cuisine. People come from San Miguel (an hour by car, the last 20 minutes on a dirt road) simply for lunch. Wiser folk come for long weekends, renting bikes in San Miguel (from Bici Burros, $20 per day; 415-21526) to check out the countryside and the ruins. The ride up to La Iglesia de Santa Cruz, the local patron saint’s church situated 1,200 feet above town, is a grinding two-hour climb that pays off with 50-mile views and a screamer of a downhill back. The nearby Cinco Se帽ores, a 100-plus-acre walled compound, has multiple ruins dating from the mid-nineteenth century, including a Presidio where gold miners and merchants would make their last stop before venturing into the unprotected countryside. There’s hiking up to a pure-water spring (about four miles), horseback riding to Chichimecan villages within about ten miles of the compound, and mountain-bike trails in every direction.


Close to San Miguel is El Viejo Balneario Cieneguitas, known to locals simply as Lucky’s (sleeps four-six; $60 per couple, two-day minimum stay, includes all meals; 415-21687 or 21599; lucky@unisono.ciateq.mx). Built around four natural mineral baths, two outdoors and two enclosed, the half-acre compound is shaded by towering mesquite trees flanked by grassy walkways. Although San Miguel is only 20 minutes away (10 by regular bus service), the mood here is defined by the nearby RŒo Laja and its Audubon-designated nature site. Northern harriers, vermillion flycatchers, white-faced ibis, stilts, and avocets cluster along the banks of the river, only vanishing when the village women come to do their laundry. There’s also a sweat lodge, and four good mountain bikes available. Be sure to take advantage of the trails around Cieneguitas; most mountain bikers coming out of San Miguel make it only this far, so starting from here gives you much greater freedom. Just a 40-minute ride away is the baroque church of Atotonilco, recently designated a “World Treasure” by the U.N. and a major pilgrimage site for self-flagellating devotees. Across the river, trails through the fields lead to Cruz del Palmar and the remains of a Chichimecan pyramid. After a day of biking or horseback riding (good horses are available from ZayŒn; 2.5- to 3.5-hour tour, $30; overnight, $75-$100; call 415-23620), the warm waters of Lucky’s baths are the perfect complement


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Costa Rica

Costa Rica has long been familiar to those who measure success by the number of birds on their life list. Or who are annoyingly persistent about referring to the golden toad as Bufo periglenes. Or who won’t let it rest until they can explain to you the difference between two-toed and three-toed sloths. (Yeah, we thought it was one toe, too.) But for gringos who are mainly on the run from Frosty the Snowperson, this pocket-sized edition of nature-gone-to-the-carnival also offers just about any sporting vacation you could think of that doesn’t involve the risk of frostbite or having to pick up the tab aprŠs-ski.


Rough terrain can make getting around difficult, so for visits of under two weeks, most people use a tour company to put together an itinerary. In the U.S. two of the more knowledgeable companies are Costa Rica Experts (800-827-9046) and Costa Rica Connection (800-345-7422). In Costa Rica, talk to Horizontes (011-506-222-2022) and Costa Rica Expeditions (257-0766).
Whitewater Rafting

Even in the dry season, whitewater rafting in Costa Rica is a world-class thrill sport, with levels of difficulty ranging up to Class V. Go with R铆os Tropicales, the king of Costa Rican paddle sports (233-6455). If you do only one river it should be the Pacuare (Class III-IV). It’s only a day trip from San Jos‹ ($90, including transportation and lunch), but it traverses some of the prettiest jungle in Costa Rica. Blue morpho butterflies will flutter ahead of you in the narrow gorges. You’ll shoot in and out of waterfalls that drop into the river from high above. And you’ll ride rapids that will make what the screaming people do on the roller coaster at Space Mountain seem like whispering at the library.


Boardsailing One of Costa Rica’s newest sports, but gaining an international reputation, is boardsailing on 24-mile-long Lake Arenal, about 85 miles northwest of San Jos茅. The three-foot waves that can develop keep Arenal from ranking with Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge, but not by much. High-wind season is November to March, when the breeze often funnels across the lake with such velocity that you don’t want to go out without first double-checking the drawstring on your bathing suit. Base yourself at the Hotel Tilawa (doubles, $65 per day; board rental, $45 per day; 695-5050), a windsurfing resort at the opposite end of the lake from the Arenal Volcano that, yes, was intentionally built to look like the ancient Palace of Knossos, on the island of Crete.


Surfing

Surfers have been making use of Costa Rica’s 735 miles of coastline for so long that it’s almost surprising to hear that the first visitor of record, Christopher Columbus, didn’t have a board with him. Most of the classic breaks are on the Pacific side, with the area around Playa Tamarindo, in the north, being a favorite. Tamarindo village itself has too many places to stay and eat and party that cost more than they should, so after grabbing a killer burger at the Junglebus, head south 12 miles to isolated Playa Junquillal. The Iguanazul Hotel (doubles, $60; 232-1423) sits on a bluff high above the beach and gets you into the morning surf long before the party-hearty folks coming out from Tamarindo. For more wide-ranging surf trips, call Surf Express (407-779-2124). They’re based in Florida, but know Costa Rica and surfing so well that you can comfortably begin your conversation with “Buenos d茅as, dude.”


Hiking

Some of the best hiking in Costa Rica is 100 miles southeast of San Jos‹ in Corcovado National Park on the wild Osa Peninsula, whose biologically diverse population includes big cats and illegal gold miners. A good base for day hikes or multi-day trips throughout the park is Costa Rica Expeditions’ Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp (doubles, $68 per person, including all meals; 257-0766), so remote that, after being deposited at the nearest jungle airstrip, you still have a 45-minute walk. A favorite trip is the overnight hike from the tent camp north to the ranger station at Sirena. Most of the hike is along a surf-pounded Pacific beach beneath a canopy alive with monkeys and scarlet macaws. The ranger station provides meals—anything you want, as long as it’s rice and beans and fish—for $16 per day for three meals. Reservations are required (735-5036).


Horseback Riding

Most of the horseback riding in Costa Rica is on jungle trails, and the only skill needed is the ability to accept that the horse is smarter than you, and has no intention of sliding down the side of a mountain. The best riding, and the best horses, are in the “Wild West” ranching country of Guanacaste in the northwest. Los Inocentes Lodge (doubles, $112, including meals; 265-5484), at the northern edge of Guanacaste National Park, offers rides ($15 per day, $25 with lunch) that include a view of the cloud-capped Oros茅 Volcano and a chance to spot rare spider monkeys. The lodge is a classic, built in 1890 of local hardwoods as the main house for a large cattle ranch. Beautifully renovated, its best feature is still the wide veranda, where, if you’re whiling away a pleasant afternoon in one of the rocking chairs and the talk turns to politics, it’s best to keep in mind that the lodge was built by the grandfather of Nicaragua’s current president.


Scuba Diving

The best place to scuba dive in Costa Rica—in fact, one of the best in the world if you like to swim with sharks that have attitude—is Isla de Cocos, 300 miles off the Pacific Coast. But if you’ve only got a week or two, stick to the mainland. Most of the diving is done along the northern Pacific coast, but in the winter you’ll find clearer water at Isla de Cano, near Drake Bay, in the south. As with most Costa Rica diving, there’s not much coral but plenty of sea life, including schools of big manta rays. Stay at the 脠guila de Osa Inn (doubles, $100 per person, meals included; two-tank dive, $110; 232-7722), in Drake Bay, where Cookie the chef serves up fish almost as fresh as those you’ll see on your dive.


Fishing

There’s tarpon and snook on the Caribbean side around Tortuguero. And some anglers are so single-mindedly focused on Lake Arenal’s rainbow bass that they have been known not to notice that the volcano is erupting. But what really hooks fishermen in Costa Rica are the Pacific ocean billfish, especially sailfish, which they’re willing to spend $400-$800 a day to pursue. Flamingo and Tamarindo are becoming the centers of activity, but in winter, when the sea kicks up a bit, many boats move down to the more sheltered Quepos, where the 36-foot Dorado IV (253-6713) hooked and released 100 sailfish in three days last season.


The Cloud Forest

Even if your attitude is that one nature preserve has the same dumb plants and bugs as another, a Costa Rican experience not to be missed is a trip to a cloud forest, where dampness is a virtue. The most famous is Monteverde, about 110 miles northwest of San Jos‹, still a misty wonderland even if the iridescently green resplendent quetzal and other wildlife have largely fled before the hordes who have come to admire them. A good alternative is the nearby Santa Elena Forest Reserve, three miles farther up the rough mountain road, where you have a better chance of seeing not only quetzals and 400 other species of birds, but also sloth, deer, ocelots, and monkeys. You can go without a guide, but that would be the cloud-forest equivalent of experiencing Times Square blindfolded.


Take one of the guided tours that start at the visitor’s center (645-5238), where you would also be wise to rent a pair of rubber boots. Stay at the Monteverde Lodge (doubles, $93; 257-0766). It’s just 15 minutes from the Santa Elena Reserve, and has an atrium Jacuzzi where you can sit and recount the day’s events with up to 14 of your newest friends.



Volcano-Watching

Even more than quetzals and blue morpho butterflies, the visual stunner in Costa Rica is the almost continuously active Arenal Volcano. Nighttime is the best time to observe it, when flowing lava often puts on an action-flick-quality sound and light show. Unless you want to become tourist on toast, don’t even think about trying to climb the volcano’s slopes. But you’ll feel like you’re practically on them from some of the rooms at the Arenal Observatory Lodge (doubles, $55-$110; 257-9489), which was originally built for volcano watchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Costa Rica. The lodge, accessible only by four-wheel-drive from the village of Fortuna, is so close to the volcano that on occasion the rooms allow you, finally, to feel the earth move while you’re in bed.

Belize

During a single day in Belize, you can dive the world’s second-longest barrier reef and hike through luxuriant rainforest and lofty Mayan ruins. But why rush? No one else does in this tiny country, where most inland roads are rocky jungle trails, and local “traffic” is more likely to be a sprinting Jesus Christ lizard than another car. Belize, formerly British Honduras, is wild and rugged, a wedge of subtropical Eden with Guatemala at its back, the Caribbean Sea spread before it, and some 200 tiny islands, many of them uninhabited, just offshore. As more travelers venture to Belize’s reefs and rainforests, a surprising number of new lodges are opening to welcome them.


The Western Jungle

Western Belize, a far-flung wilderness of broadleaf jungle, slash pine woods, and cool, forest-clad mountains, is where you’ll find the most jungle lodges. Newest of the luxury digs is Jaguar Paw Jungle Resort (doubles, $155, breakfast included; 800-335-8645), opened in January 1996 on 215 acres of rainforest about an hour’s drive from Belize City. Its 17 rooms are outfitted with air-conditioning and down pillows, and its grounds are complete with satellite TV and swimming pool—rare in these wilds. Head for Caves Branch River, an easy walk from the lodge, where you can swim in see-through waters and cruise in a small boat through a honeycomb of caves. There are eight miles of nature trails, guided river tubing ($60 per person), and all-day hikes into numerous underground caverns near the lodge.
New this year at Chaa Creek Lodge (doubles, $115; 011-501-92-2037), two hours from Belize City, is the Macal River Camp ($45 per person, including breakfast and dinner), a ten-tent camp buried in jungle high above the river along a bluff, half a mile from the main lodge. It’s plenty private here and not too rough: Tents are spacious, the cots comfy, the kitchen fashioned with an open hearth. Activities include river rafting, canoeing, swimming, horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking, day trips to the Mayan ruins at Caracol (about two and a half hours away via a dirt road; $260 for one to four people), and exploring the Rainforest Medicine Trail next door to Chaa Creek. Or check out Chaa Creek’s new (since 1995) Natural History Centre and Blue Morpho Butterfly Breeding Centre. There’s also a Butterfly House, built for the scientist who started the breeding center but now open to guests, with solar electricity and kitchen ($115, double occupancy).


In western Belize’s Mountain Pine Ridge area, a two-hour trip from Belize City down a marle-and-dirt road off the Western Highway, are two luxury lodges. More established is the Hidden Valley Inn (doubles, $122 through mid-December, including breakfast; $181 after mid-December, including breakfast and dinner; 800-334-7942), with handsome stucco cottages and a main house set beneath a mantle of mountain pines. Other exclusive digs can be found at Francis Ford Coppola’s Blancaneaux Lodge (doubles, $115 through mid-December, $160 mid-December through mid-May; 92-3878), which has its own airstrip and hydroelectric plant, and a pizza oven flown in specially from Italy.


Northern Outposts

New this year in northern Belize is Pretty See Jungle Ranch ($125-$150 for two, $35 per person for meals; 31-2005), an easy 45-minute drive from Belize City. Spidery rivers run through the 1,360-acre spread, and a crocodile pond swarms with toothy creatures and colonies of boat-billed herons, keeled-billed toucans, and thousands of parrots. Accommodations consist of three large cabins, all with four-poster beds and two with Jacuzzis, surrounded by plush green pasture and high bush. You can take a canoe trip along the five miles of rivers that lace the property, a guided jungle hike ($15 per hour) or horseback ride (half-day, $50; full day, $75), or island-hop via Mexican skiff ($60 per person) over to Ambergris Caye, barely 20 miles away.


Lamanai Outpost Lodge (doubles, $105; 23-3578) in northern Belize is more remote. You can get there by road, but it’s usually reached by a one-hour pontoon boat ride (included in package prices, otherwise it’s $75) along the New River from the Mennonite village of Shipyard, past long-nosed bats dozing in hollow tree trunks and women scrubbing their clothes along the riverbank. (A newly carved airstrip at Lamanai brings chartered flights from Belize City, but the arrival is not nearly as atmospheric.) The outpost’s simple wood and palm-thatch cabanas are next door to 3,500-year-old Lamanai, a Mayan maze of wildly adorned temples and hundreds of other structures. Explore the ruins (guided tours, $22 per person), then take a guided orchid, birding, or medicinal plant tour (about $17). After dark, don’t miss the Spotlight River Safari ($29), during which the guide trains his big light on all the crocodile eyes.


Reefs, Cayes, and Cloud Forests

Down in the cloud forests of southern Belize, newly revamped Fallen Stones Butterfly Ranch and Jungle Lodge (doubles, $105, breakfast included; 72-2167) is set on a mountaintop, its simple screened cabins overlooking a broad expanse of emerald valleys. Hiking here is exceptional; sign up for the three-hour guided hike through thick bush to the R铆o Grande river, where canoes await to take you to the primitive Mayan village of San Pedro, Colombia (full-day trip; $15 per person). There’s an edge-of-the-world feel at Fallen Stones, possibly because the closest town, Punta Gorda, is 45 minutes away (“town” being a loose term—it’s little more than an outpost).


Other accommodations in Southern Belize: Jaguar Reef Lodge (doubles, $75 through October; $120 November through mid-May; 92-3452), a stylish eco-retreat of beachfront duplexes fashioned from Belizean hardwood. Opened in late 1995, it’s one of the few places in Belize with instant access to both reef and rainforest. Join a dive (two-tank dive, $70) or kayak trip, or a guided hike to Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary ($42), following logging trails through the dense glade past waterfalls, red-eyed tree frogs, and glistening fungi resembling seashells. Back at Jaguar Reef Lodge, take a mountain-bike ride (bikes provided at no charge) to the nearby Garifuna village of Hopkins, watching for the jaguars that prowl the forests.


New lodges seem to open every month on Ambergris Caye, largest and most developed of the Belize cayes—and the fastest-growing place in the country. Among the new expatriate-run digs on Ambergris: Coconuts Caribbean Hotel (doubles, $75 through mid-November, $105 mid-November through April, continental breakfast included; 800-324-6974) with 12 comfortable rooms facing sea and sand; and Belizean Reef Suites (one-bedroom suites for up to four guests, $100 through mid-November, $125 mid-November through April; 26-2582). In the works for future lodgers: a $250 million resort and casino, sure to change the low-key Ambergris lifestyle— in other words, get there fast.


Snorkelers will love Ambergris Caye and its clear, shallow waters. The best snorkel stops: Hol Chan Marine Reserve, where channel walls are layered with moray eels; Mexican Rocks, a galaxy of flamboyant coral formations; and Shark-Ray Alley sandbar, whose eight-foot-deep waters are thronged by docile stingrays and nurse sharks.


Scuba divers should head out to Lighthouse Reef Resort (one-week minimum stay; weekly packages from $1,350 per person, double occupancy, including meals, dives, and round-trip flight from Belize City; 800-423-3114). This is the only lodge within the seriously remote Lighthouse Reef atoll, known for its wonderful walls, wrecks, and the Blue Hole, whose dim, eerie recesses harbor albino sharks and other strange sinkhole sealife. Roomy beachfront cabanas are strewn along a powdery stretch of sand.

Honduras

Honduras’s natural beauty—the magnificent temperate rainforests of La Mosquitia, cool pine forests blanketing the center of the country, and dense patches of cloud forest crowning its highest peaks—has been difficult to get to until recently. Over the past two years, the government has opened up the country’s more remote regions to visitors, offering new access to virgin jungle and mountain forest, along with expert local guide services.


La Mosquitia

Tucked away in the northeast corner of Honduras and crossing over into Nicaragua, La Mosquitia is one of the wildest and least-explored areas in the hemisphere—a huge swath of jungle, swamp, grass savannah, and mountains populated mainly by Miskito, Garifuna, Pech, and Tawahka Indians.
Last spring, residents of Las Mar铆as, a Pech and Miskito village on the R铆o Pl谩tano, began organizing a rotation of forest and river guides to help independent travelers visit the R铆o Pl谩tanoBiosphere Reserve, an 800,000-hectare section of virgin jungle in the heart of La Mosquitia that stretches from the Olancho Mountains all the way to the Caribbean coast. To get to Las Mar铆as, hop a short flight ($60 round-trip on Isle帽a or Rollins Airlines) from the coastal city of Palacios at the western edge of La Mosquitia near the RŒo Pl陇tano. In Palacios, speak to Don Felix M谩rmol at the Isle帽a office; he can help you find a boat to take you across a lagoon and upriver to Las Mar铆as(five to eight hours round trip; $90-$120, depending on your negotiating skills).


In Las Mar铆as—a large group of thatched huts cut out of the jungle on the edge of the river—look for Mart铆n Herrera, who can show you where to find food, a bed, and guides. Two recommended trips are a three- to four-day hike up Pico Dama, the 2,755-foot mountain looming over the jungle south of Las Mar铆as, with fantastic views in all directions (guides, $6 per day); or a one- to two-day canoe ride upriver to the petroglyphs at Wal’pulban’sirpi and Wal’pulban’tara, and into the jungle beyond ($25 per day for two).


Another way to explore the region is an epic two-week journey from Dulce Nombre de Culm铆 in the Olancho Mountains in north-central Honduras, and down the R铆o Pl谩tano by a combination of rafting and hiking with Mosquitia wildman Jorge Zalavery. You’ll see monkeys, tapirs, birds of all colors, and, if you’re lucky, one of the many jungle cats of the region—and then raft the white-water stretches of the river cutting through the jungle.


After leaving the last settlement in Olancho, the only signs of humanity before reaching Las Mar铆as are several mysterious pre-Columbian ruins, thought to be of Mayan origin. The two-week trip costs $1,116 per person for groups of four to six; contact La Moskitia EcoAventuras, 21-040444; fax 21-0408.


Monta帽as de Celaque

Honduras is home to some of the best-preserved cloud forests in the Americas, and none is more impressive than the Monta帽as de Celaque in far-western Honduras, the highest mountain range in the country. A huge stretch of primary cloud forest remains intact on the top of Celaque, with tall, thick trees covered with moss, vines, and bromeliads forming the forest canopy, quetzals and other rare birds flitting among the branches, and jaguar, ocelots, and deer roaming below.


Just last year, the Honduran Forestry Service finished marking a five-mile trail into the forest from the colonial town of Gracias, making Celaque easily accessible to hikers. Go to the Gracias forestry office to get a topo map of the trails and campsites, then walk or drive the five and a half miles to the visitors’ center at the base of the mountain (beds available; $2 park entry fee; rides from Gracias for $4 per person can be arranged at Restaurante Guancasco on the town square). From the visitors’ center it’s six to eight hours of steep and slippery hiking to the top of Cerro de las Minas, the highest point in the country at 9,345 feet. Round trip could be done in two days, but it’s better to spend a couple of nights at one of the two campsites on the mountain. After returning to Gracias and soaking your stiff bones in the local hot spring, you can spend a couple of days touring the nearby colonial mountain villages of La Campa, San Manuel Colohuete, and Bel贸n Gualcho.


Lenca Land Trails, a tour operator in Santa Rosa de Cop陇n, offers excellent five-day hiking tours from Bel‹n Gualcho across the entire Celaque range, coming out again at Gracias (about $200, everything included; contact Max Elvir at the Hotel Elvir in Santa Rosa de Cop陇n; 62-0103 or 62-0805). It rains frequently in this area, so be sure to bring along some rain gear.

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Rugged and mostly unpopulated, the eastern reaches of Honduras are not for everyone. They're best savored by the traveler who prefers a vacation with a side order of bushwacking. The type who doesn't mind ditching the beach chair's quiescence for a vicissitudinous itinerary of activities like sitting hunched in a dugout canoe that barely clears water level with two guides poling you upriver through the jungle, trying not to jostle the boat as you eye the gator eyeing you. Or shooting the breeze in broken Spanish with a few cowboys in the back of a pickup bouncing its way up a remote mountain track.

Central America's second-largest country, Honduras attracts only about a third as many tourists as nearby Costa Rica. And most of those who do come stick to the country's fringes: the Mayan ruins at Copan, just south of the Guatemala border, or the Bay Islands, a diving mecca in the Caribbean. Both are nice places, but they're not what you'd call the real Honduras. No, the only way to discover the more secluded, arcadian charms of the original banana republic鈥攊ts wild rivers, remote peaks, and the biggest swaths of all-but-untouched cloud forest and tropical jungle to be found in Central America鈥攊s to load up a backpack and head east, into the empty half of the map, where the roads first turn from pavement to dirt and then dwindle away altogether into an unbound patch of empty green space.

Out here, you won't find many people at all, apart from a few cowboys, frontier farmers, Pech and Miskito Indians, and the occasional shovel-equipped and wild-eyed foreigner who babbles madly about discovering rich gold deposits or the ruins of a mythical pre-Hispanic city. Four-star service, you may have guessed, is not a widely prevalent local attribute. Cuisine is heavily heavily oriented toward beef and beans, and hotels are basic and inconceivably cheap鈥攚hen they exist at all. But as seasoned bushwhackers know well, a few hardships are worth the chance to venture into one of the least-traveled frontiers between the Yukon and Tierra del Fuego.

Parque Nacional La Muralla

From the nearby town of La Uni贸n, La Muralla's steep, pine-covered slopes can look something like Montana; it's just that the white, fluffy stuff covering the summits isn't snow, but low-lying clouds. The near-constant misting action on high has bestowed upon this 42,000-acre park some of the thickest cloud forest in the Americas: mossy, high-altitude tropical woodlands that shelter such creatures as the shy quetzal鈥攚orshiped by the ancient Maya and modern birders alike鈥攁nd even a few tapir and jaguars. Tucked in the northwestern corner of the state of Olancho, La Muralla was officially designated a national park in 1992, serving as the model for a system that now includes 18 such preserves nationwide. It's still eastern Honduras's most accessible and best-developed park, with latrine-outfitted campsites, well-marked trails, and a state-of-the-art visitor center that wouldn't be out of place in Yellowstone (but feels a little so here).
To get to La Muralla from La Uni贸n, hitch an eight-mile ride on the pickup that leaves daily around 8:00 a.m. from the office of the Parks and Forestry Department (abbreviated as Cohdefor) a few blocks east of the town square. (You can also hire a guide here for about five dollars a day.) Or walk for three hours up the dirt road marked El D铆ctamo/La Muralla. Pitch a tent on the visitor center lawn and share supper with one of the three rangers who live here on rotation and always seem ready for company. Or hike up to one of two campsites off the 2.3-mile El Pizote trail, which loops behind the visitor center; you'll find the best site beside the river on the nearby Monte Escondido trail. Either way, make sure to venture out early the next morning to maximize your wildlife-spotting opportunities.

Flocks of squawking parrots and emerald toucans hang out near El Pizote's benches. But for a full-day tromp through nearly untouched cloud forest, try the six-mile, four-hour climb up the Monte Escondido, which splits off to the east, descends steeply to cross the river, and then heads up to a ridgetop. Towering oak, mahogany, and aguacatillo (wild avocado) trees form a canopy overhead, their branches draped with ferns, flowering vines, and bromeliads. Getting wet鈥攁 combination of sweat and mist鈥攊s unavoidable. Step off the trail onto forest floor so spongy with saturated organic matter that you almost bounce. Disturb one of the ubiquitous spider monkeys in the area, though, and he's likely to chase you, ripping off seeds, leaves, and branches as he runs across the canopy, pelting you with uncannily good aim.
At the summit of Montana La Muralla (6,516 feet), you'll enter a stand dominated by giant palms. Lofty redwoods these eight-footers are not, but they have survived unchanged since prehistoric times. Rest awhile beneath their venerable fronds and contemplate how this mountaintop has escaped alteration by any but natural forces. And gather your strength: There are many projectiles to dodge before you sleep.

El Carb贸n

A hundred miles farther east, El Carb贸n is a traditional Pech village that's a microcosm of the region's divergent cultural and topographical elements: an outpost for one of Central America's smallest indigenous groups, surrounded by mestizo cattle ranchers and set in a landscape that's a mix of savanna, pine-forested mountains, and tropical rainforest. The 900 or so Pech villagers are now working to have this area designated an anthropology and ecotourism preserve, and indeed El Carb贸n makes a convenient base from which to hike out both to mysterious pre-Hispanic ruins and to La Cascada, a 260-foot waterfall that plunges spectacularly into Lago de la Sirena.
Just north of the pueblo's hundred or so thatch-roof adobe huts, along the road to the Caribbean coast, ask the bus driver to drop you off at the colegio. Behind this cement-block building are two newly built hostels with clean, comfortable beds for three dollars a night. Ask here for Linton Escobar, the indefatigable, 32-year-old leader of the local ecotourism cooperative, who'll set you up with a Pech guide for five dollars a day. Escobar can also arrange a botany hike with Natividad Garc铆a鈥攁 wiry, thoughtful curandero of about the same age who can explain the medicinal uses of even the most innocuous-looking plants鈥攁s well as a day trip to an unexcavated ruin near the village of Agua Amarilla. Thought to have been built by the ancestors of the modern-day Pech, only the outlines of walls, stairways, and what may have been a ball court are visible under the dense jungle growth.

Better yet, take the overnight trip out to La Cascada. You'll hike for three and a half hours, much of it along a trail that winds 70 feet above the R铆o Ojo de Agua. The sound of fast-flowing water echoes up from the narrow gorge, but dense surrounding forest often blocks your view. Then the gorge opens up and you see the falls: a 100-foot-wide sheet of water that breaks into scores of rivulets as it tumbles over vine-covered boulders, finally dumping into a pool of water the size of two football fields. Jump in and swim out to the group of rocks in the middle of the lake, which is about as close as you can get to the mist-churning blast: Its sheer force will take your breath away, literally if not figuratively.

Parque Nacional Sierra de Agalta

Isolated in eastern Olancho, Honduras's second-highest mountain range and its accompanying 148,000-acre national park keep away all but the most determined hikers鈥攖he sort who instinctively know that the four-day, 12-mile trek up La Picucha, Agalta's highest peak at 7,723 feet, is worth taking both for what you won't see (other hikers) and what you will: an honest-to-God dwarf forest atop the summit.
Though Grupo Ecologico de Olancho can arrange guides鈥攃ontact Conrado Martinez at the Cohdefor office in Catacamas (011-504-885-2873)鈥攁 good sense of direction will get you there solo. From Gualaco, head north toward San Esteban, turning east after three miles onto a marked dirt road, which you'll follow until it dead-ends at the trail. You'll then climb for about four hours along a sweet-gum-forested ridgetop and then zigzag across the R铆o del Sol until you reach a two-pronged waterfall at La Chorrera, the base camp where you'll sleep the first night. From here, the sometimes faint trail rises steeply for five hours. If you get thrown off while circumnavigating one of several hurricane-felled trees, just look for machete marks and backtrack to the trail. Pitch your tent when you reach a tiny clearing with fire pits.

During the two-hour ascent the third morning, the world around you changes form: The trail is masked by a dense, slippery mass of aboveground roots; the air becomes wetter, intermittently opaque; and the forest shrinks, its gnarled, stunted pines covered in moss and lichen鈥攁 rare ecosystem cooked up by the altitude, high winds, and near-constant moisture. If the gods are smiling and the skies are clear, you'll command 360-degree views over the treetops, from 8,010-foot Pico Bonito on the northern coast to the parrot-green Mosquitian jungle off to the east.
Back down at the foot of La Picucha, head east to the nearby town of Catacamas and then embark on a day trip to check out eastern Honduras's newest tourist attraction: the Cave of the Glowing Skulls. Discovered by amateur spelunkers in 1994, this 3,000-year-old burial chamber holds nearly 200 skeletons that sparkle cinematically in the light, thanks to aeons of calcite dripping from the roof. The remains, which long predate the Maya, may have belonged to ancestors of the Pech. The tourist-courting Honduran government has been busily building facilities鈥攊ncluding ladders, platforms, and electric lighting鈥攕o that visitors can safely peer into the chamber, which is located on a ledge 30 feet above the cavern floor. The newly revamped cave is slated to open this fall, but you'll want to check with the Cohdefor office in Catacamas before heading out.

R铆o Pl谩tano Biosphere Reserve

Look closely at a map of Honduras and you'll notice the entire province of Gracias a Dios has not a single road leading to the rest of the country. This is La Mosquitia, the legendary Mosquito Coast, of which nearly two million acres of rainforest, savanna, mangrove swamps, and lagoons have been protected since 1980 as the R铆o Pl谩tano Biosphere Reserve.
The best way in is to catch a short flight from the north-coast towns of La Ceiba or Trujillo out to Palacios, a small village at the mouth of the R铆o Sico. Circling Palacios in one of Aerol铆neas Islena's weathered, 19-passenger turbo-props, you might begin to wonder where the landing strip is. Fear not鈥攊t's the grassy field in the center of town, right next to that wreck of an earlier flight.

After your plane bumps to a halt, head for the docks just past the Islena office to catch a water taxi ($3) to the Butterfly Farm in Raist谩, a small village on a narrow strip of sand between lagoon and ocean. The farm鈥攚hich sells larvae to U.S. zoos and research institutes鈥攁nd the adjacent guesthouse are run by a lanky, amiable Miskito named Eddie Bodden. His place is much quieter than the two hotels in Palacios and has the added bonus of a deserted Caribbean beach a couple hundred yards away. Manatees frequent the shallow, calm lagoon.
Bodden can help arrange for a boat up the R铆o Pl谩tano to Las Mar铆as, a small Miskito and Pech village in the heart of the reserve. Gas is expensive out here, so don't be surprised at the price: around $80 round-trip, plus $10 for each night the captain spends in Las Mar铆as waiting to ferry you back. If you're not already with a group, try to hook up with a few other travelers to split the cost. The tuk-tuks (so called for the unhurried chugging sound of the ancient outboards) take six to eight hours to reach Las Mar铆as, so bring a towel for the hard seat and a hat for the sun鈥攁nd ask your captain to brake for especially swim-worthy eddies. Along the river's winding route you'll pass Miskito families in slender, mahogany dugout pipantes: women and children huddled in the middle, men standing up in back to impart leverage to the long poles they use for propulsion.
By the time you've secured a two-dollar bed in one of Las Mar铆as's five unmarked “hotels”鈥攕tilted wooden buildings set high on a bluff above the river鈥擬artin Herrera will no doubt have made himself known to you. Leader of the local guiding cooperative, Herrera arranges all trips, at fixed prices and led by a rotating crew of 80-odd guides. The best outing is the four-day journey south along the unpopulated upper reaches of the river, where you'll see otters, packs of howler monkeys, and even six-foot-wingspan king vultures. Overnight trips cost $22 per pipante per day, which includes the three guides needed to pole the boat upriver. Each dugout holds two tourists plus supplies.
A few hours south of Las Mar铆as is the mysterious petroglyph of Walp'ulban'sirpi (the Miskito word means “small carved stone”), a two-headed serpent etched into a river boulder. If you camp nearby, the next morning you'll reach the Class II Brokwell rapids, named for an American gold miner who lost all his gear here in the '50s. To avoid Brokwell's fate, the guides will portage if the river is high. A bit farther upstream is Walp'ulban'tara (“big carved stone”), more extensive petroglyphs depicting monkeys, birds, and human figures.
If you make it this far, it's worth traveling at least one more day upriver into the rainforest near the confluence with the R铆o Cuyamel, where you'll have a good chance of seeing rare tapir and wildcats long since hunted down closer to Las Mar铆as. Unfortunately, many guides see these trips as a great opportunity to go on a backwoods hunting binge, occasionally even spearing a monkey and offering to share bites of the highly coveted brain. If you'd rather avoid such gourmet morsels, insist that you don't want them to hunt for you and do your best to discourage hunting for themselves. Though you may have trouble understanding them unless your Spanish is good, the guides are immensely knowledgeable about the surrounding jungle. One of their favorite stunts is to reach up and grab a thick bejuco de uva vine, slash it open with a machete, and quench your party's thirst with the water stored inside.
With the current at your boat's stern, you'll be back in Palacios in no time, availing yourself not of vine juice but of the aptly named Salvavida (Lifesaver) beer. Damn tasty, both beverages. But as you pack up and get ready to brave the flight home, odds are that the flavor of the quietly gathered raindrops is the one that's trickled deeper into your imagination.

Into the Interior: How to Cut Your Own Path in the Hundran Hinterlands

In the verdant mountains of Honduras, pleasant weather is all but guaranteed during the cool, dry months鈥擮ctober through April鈥攚hereas rain will pound you, regardless of the season, along the Caribbean coast. So though the shore does have its between-downpour consolations (diving, sea kayaking, etc.), it's best to hop a plane, bus, or rental car and head straight for the hills.
Getting There: Taca Airlines (800-831-6422) runs direct flights to La Ceiba鈥攇ateway city to La Muralla National Park as well as to the sybaritic Bay Islands of Roat谩n, Guanaja, and Utila鈥攆rom Houston ($625 round-trip) or from JFK through San Pedro Sula ($750).

Getting Around: Honduran “highways” have a habit of deteriorating as you stray from major cities, so if you're renting, snag the sturdiest-looking model on the lot鈥攁nd best not to tell the attendant exactly how far you're headed. You can hire a car in San Pedro Sula for about $45 per day from Hertz (800-654-3001) or Avis (800-331-1084), which also has a La Ceiba branch. Or travel as the locals do: by bus. Fares are negligible and schedules somewhat negotiable, though you'll need to brush up on your frantic double-arm overhead wave, as formal bus stops are ignored nationwide. To get to La Mosquitia, however, you'll have to travel by air. Islena Airlines (011-504-233-9813) flies to Palacios from Trujillo (a beach town 50 miles north of El Carb贸n) for $35 one-way, and from La Ceiba for $43.
Outfitters: For guided trips in La Mosquitia, call legendary local guide Jorge Salaverri, who grew up on the R铆o Coco and explored this region on his own for two decades before founding La Ceiba-based La Moskitia Ecoaventuras (011-504-442-0104) four years ago. Ecoaventuras runs everything from three-day tuk-tuk cruises along the lagoons near Palacios to rigorous, 14-day raft trips down the most remote sections of the R铆o Platano; prices range from $414 to $1,729.

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