BELIZE
"If the world had any ends," wrote Aldous Huxley, "British Honduras would be one of them."
Huxley was writing well before British Honduras was renamed Belize and well before there was a tourism industry in the country...


COSTA RICA
Christopher Columbus discovered Costa Rica, in 1502 on his fourth and final voyage. He was Costa Rica's first tourist, landing on the Atlantic Shore near Puerto Limón. Believing or perhaps hoping that the area was rich in gold, he christened it Costa Rica, which means "rich coast"...

EL SALVADOR
El Salvador is a picturesque nation with mountains in the north, valleys and plateaus in the center (where most people live) and a plains region along the Pacific Ocean. With five million people, El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Central America (Belize, by contrast, has 250,000).


GUATEMALA
Whether traveling independently or with a reputable tour company, you'll find one attraction in Guatemala that ranks among the finest in the world: Tikal


HONDURAS
Travelers willing to put up with lower levels of accommodations and services than are typical in the better resort areas of Central America and the Caribbean will be rewarded by impressive Mayan ruins at Copan, some of the best dive sites in the world in the Bay Islands and pretty mountain scenery planted with corn and-that's right-bananas.


PANAMA
We think Panama's a fascinating country that more travelers should consider. Where else can you enjoy tropical forests with some of the best bird-watching in the world-within 45 minutes of a modern, cosmopolitan city? (Panama's tropical forests are home to more species of birds and other animals than neighboring Costa Rica's,