Travel

Central America's Road Less Travelled

The few tourists were mostly Hondurans and from neighbouring El Salvador. But the handful of Americans and European backpackers congregated at Twisted Tanya's: a relatively pricey ($22 for three courses) but unexpectedly gourmet roof-top restaurant run by Tanya, a charismatic expat from Suffolk.

By Jennifer Cox
Slender green tendrils reach out from the tropical rainforest like the fingers of a trusting child. But behind these delicate creepers squats the vast animal presence of a dense, steaming jungle: a thick, musky 1,073 sq km pelt of mahogany and cocoa, broad-leafed banana palms, extravagant orchids and vast shivering ferns that stretches in all directions to the horizon. Here it rises, morphing into ghostly cloud-forest as it climbs, and then thick pine, before finally emerging as the glorious, mist-crowned summit of Pico Bonito, Honduras's third-highest peak, and part of the sweeping cordillera Nombre de Dios (name of God) mountain range. (7/27/10) (photo of Twisted Tanya's restaurant courtesy Internet)

Honduras: Central America's Road Less Travelled

The few tourists were mostly Hondurans and from neighbouring El Salvador. But the handful of Americans and European backpackers congregated at Twisted Tanya's): a relatively pricey ($22 for three courses) but unexpectedly gourmet roof-top restaurant run by Tanya, a charismatic expat from Suffolk.

By Jennifer Cox
HSlender green tendrils reach out from the tropical rainforest like the fingers of a trusting child. But behind these delicate creepers squats the vast animal presence of a dense, steaming jungle: a thick, musky 1,073sq km pelt of mahogany and cocoa, broad-leafed banana palms, extravagant orchids and vast shivering ferns that stretches in all directions to the horizon. Here it rises, morphing into ghostly cloud-forest as it climbs, and then thick pine, before finally emerging as the glorious, mist-crowned summit of Pico Bonito, Honduras's third-highest peak, and part of the sweeping cordillera Nombre de Dios (name of God) mountain range. (7/27/10) (photo of Twisted Tanya's restaurant courtesy Internet)

Honduras: Central America's Road Less Travelled

The few tourists were mostly Hondurans and from neighbouring El Salvador. But the handful of Americans and European backpackers congregated at Twisted Tanya's): a relatively pricey ($22 for three courses) but unexpectedly gourmet roof-top restaurant run by Tanya, a charismatic expat from Suffolk.

By Jennifer Cox
HSlender green tendrils reach out from the tropical rainforest like the fingers of a trusting child. But behind these delicate creepers squats the vast animal presence of a dense, steaming jungle: a thick, musky 1,073sq km pelt of mahogany and cocoa, broad-leafed banana palms, extravagant orchids and vast shivering ferns that stretches in all directions to the horizon. Here it rises, morphing into ghostly cloud-forest as it climbs, and then thick pine, before finally emerging as the glorious, mist-crowned summit of Pico Bonito, Honduras's third-highest peak, and part of the sweeping cordillera Nombre de Dios (name of God) mountain range. (7/27/10) (photo of Twisted Tanya's restaurant courtesy Internet)

Please Don't Walk on the Coral

By Genny Ross-Barons
SGrowing up in Ontario, Canada, I knew next to nothing about the Caribbean Sea, and even less about the second longest coral reef in the world. Waterloo, the community I hail from, is surrounded on three sides by Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario -- all part of the chain of five lakes known as The Great Lakes, the source of the largest fresh water system on Earth. Wow! That’s pretty impressive... but I never gave it much thought. For me, as a kid, it just meant there was a beach within an easy driving distance. Then again... as a kid, I never hesitated to ask, “Are we there yet?” The Canadian National Exposition (CNE) every year marked the end of the summer holidays, but also meant I could watch the Air Show my heart pounding with excitement as planes soared, dipped, and performed amazing acrobatic feats above Lake Ontario. Lake Huron, more specifically, Tobermory—the Scuba Diving Capital of Canada, is where I almost learned how to scuba dive. (6/14/10)

Paradise: A Nice Place to Visit... Maybe

By W. E. Gutman
TThe late prime minister of a small Carribean nation once told me off the record: “Come now, you can’t expect us to survive on sugar cane, rum, nutmeg and an occasional goodwill visit by the Queen Mum, can you? “We have no choice but to invite the world. And the world invades us by the planeload. And with every cruise ship full of chic bleached blondes and white-shoed tycoons coming down the gangplank, we put on our affable, soft-spoken, happy native faces. They all head for gated, ‘all-inclusive’ resorts. They see neither the grinding poverty nor hear the unremitting murmurs of discontent. Word gets around that the natives are smiling. Seduced, they keep coming back. We just can’t do without these part-time interlopers. Our very existence belongs to them. If this goes on, we may never learn what it is we can do without them.” (6/10/10)

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Roatán and About: Stories of the Caracoles

By Don Pearly
There are of course many people born and raised on the island of Roatán, and they are proudly referred to as Caracoles by themselves and by others in the know. They can tell you story after story about how the water has changed. What water? ... the water in the ocean, the water in the wells, the water falling from the sky, all changing from the good old days. They can tell you how a traffic jam was when two horse drawn carts met at a hairpin curve near Anthony’s Caye and they can compare it to the constant stream of Hummers and Toyotas and motorcycles flying past the same resort. They can rave about how they never had to lock their car doors or their house doors and they can tell you now they are now forced to add safety chains and in many cases alarm systems and fences, some with Concertina wire up top. (5/21/10)

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Honduras Tourism Poised for Recovery in 2010

By Howard Rosenzweig
According to statistics from the Central American Tourism Board, El Consejo Centroamericano de Turismo, approximately 10.6 million tourists visited Central America in 2009, or a decline of 5 percent over the previous year's total of 11.1 million. The downturn in the world economy had much to do with this drop. Poorly performing economies in the United States, Canada, and Europe led to fewer visitors. Central Americans traveled less as well, as export-based economies in the region also underperformed. (5/7/10)

Europe's Debt Crisis and Honduran Tourism

... Honduras' Institute of Tourism would be well advised to become proactive for once, rather than reactive, to international political and financial events that are likely to have an effect on trends in markets that are vital to Honduras.

By Marco Cáceres
It would behoove Honduras' new Minister of Tourism, Nelly Jerez, to closely track the evolving debt crisis in Europe and begin analyzing its potential impact on tourism in Honduras. Following a double whammy of the world financial crisis which began in 2008 and the political crisis in Honduras sparked by the overthrow of Manuel Zelaya as president last summer, the Honduran tourism industry has been slowly recovering during the past few months. But the situation in Europe, triggered by Greece's impending national debt default and the danger of it infecting other countries such as Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and even Spain poses a distinct threat to this recovery... which Mrs. Jerez must anticipate. (4/30/10)

Roatán and About: Opting on the Right Paradise

By Don Pearly
After 35-plus years of island living that took us to Hawaii, Belize and Honduras, we finally chose our particular paradise. Enjoying all that the islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Lanai in Hawaii and Ambergris Caye, Guanaja and Roatan in Central America had to offer gives us a pretty good data base. Taking into careful consideration the climate, the beaches, the mountains, the flora, the fauna, the locals, the tourists, the food, entertainment, medical, dental, crime, schools and business opportunities, we chose Roatán, the gem of the Honduras' Bay Islands. (4/12/10)

Bikini Pageants and Sawdust Carpets

By Howard Rosenzweig
Easter Week 2010 has come and gone, leaving in its wake a country maxed out on vacationing and spiritual pursuits. For those out of the loop, Easter Week in Honduras and the rest of Central America is akin to Christmas, New Year's and summer vacation all wrapped up in one. The country shuts down. Nearly all businesses and all employees of local and national government take off for the entire week. According to government statistics, during this period more than two million Hondurans ambled about the country in search of R&R opportunities. The vast majority of Hondurans typically headed for the beach or some other nearby body of water. Such mass tourism injects a healthy dose of cash into the economy, as Hondurans who have the means dip into savings and opt to forego consumer purchases in order to vacation with their families. (4/13/10)