..以免重複飛往同一地區。（打字實在太慢) here is a brief list of the sites covered by my trip to the area of Central America (between Mexico and Colombia):
- Panama: Canal - Miraflores Locks (15km away) and Gatun Locks (70km away); Castillo San Lorenzo - very hard to get to but excellent - i did by rental car (standard costs about $25/day); Panama Viejo - ruins by Henry Morgan - in the capital itself.
- El Salvardo: San Salvardo the capital - full of policemen - quite safe; Joya de Ceren - 30km away ($25 by taxi) - a special Mayan site, but check to see if it is open.
- Guatemala: the capital is a kind of hectic - only good for day time walking - central parque surrounded by beautiful buildings; Antigua - the old capital of the whole Central America (till 1724) - a mecca for the self guided tourists, from where one gets the $7 hiking package to Volcan Pacaya - one of the few places in the world to step on the rolling lava (the only other such place was found in Hawaii Big Island, but much farther away from the volcano lips); Tikal - 500km from the capital - a unique Mayan site with 44-63 meter tall temples.
- Belize: only 4-5 hr bus ride from Flores (gateway to Tikal), where one should skip the city - one of the worst i have ever seen - but still having chinese restaurants, and hop onto a fast ferry to one of its Cayes (Caulker, e.g. where there are not only chinese restaurants but also hotels) to see the world 2nd largest coral reef (for that reason i skipped Roatan Isl of Hongduras, and Bocas of Panama).
- Hongduras: takes a long day to bus back from Flores to its west end - Copan, one of the 4 major Mayan sites featuring fine sculptures (the other 3: Chichen, Palenque - in Mexico, and Tikal); Tegu - the capital - a chaotic city, with its chinese restaurants guarded by the gun man and iron bars.
- Nicaragua: with two well preserved colonial cities - Leon, which is less touristy but more charming, and Granada - claimed to be the earliest in the America Continent (1524) - do not miss the tour to Isleta on the shoreline of Lago Nicaragua; in between one finds the capital - Managua - which could be toured by an hour taxi when switching mini buses.
- Costa Rica: its beaches on the Pacific side were somewhat disappointing; Fortuna - the gateway to Volcan Arenal and hot spring - is somewhat attractive, especially the Fortuna Water Falls; Monteverde is a kind of joke - trivial ziplines burried in the trees are much more expensive than the ones i took across the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe; San Jose is safe but much less appealing - only the hotel i stayed (Casa Morazan) owned by banana baron was a kind of interesting...
the 7 countries are well connected by luxury buses, which are much cheaper than airflights... i would definitely chose Guatemala if only 1 country out of the 7, which could actually be grouped into a visit to Cancun- Merida (Mexico), connected by Belize. If extra i would pick up Nicaragua or Honduras,... and leaving Costa Rica the last in the region, although it is filled with western tourists.
- Panama: Canal - Miraflores Locks (15km away) and Gatun Locks (70km away); Castillo San Lorenzo - very hard to get to but excellent - i did by rental car (standard costs about $25/day); Panama Viejo - ruins by Henry Morgan - in the capital itself.
- El Salvardo: San Salvardo the capital - full of policemen - quite safe; Joya de Ceren - 30km away ($25 by taxi) - a special Mayan site, but check to see if it is open.
- Guatemala: the capital is a kind of hectic - only good for day time walking - central parque surrounded by beautiful buildings; Antigua - the old capital of the whole Central America (till 1724) - a mecca for the self guided tourists, from where one gets the $7 hiking package to Volcan Pacaya - one of the few places in the world to step on the rolling lava (the only other such place was found in Hawaii Big Island, but much farther away from the volcano lips); Tikal - 500km from the capital - a unique Mayan site with 44-63 meter tall temples.
- Belize: only 4-5 hr bus ride from Flores (gateway to Tikal), where one should skip the city - one of the worst i have ever seen - but still having chinese restaurants, and hop onto a fast ferry to one of its Cayes (Caulker, e.g. where there are not only chinese restaurants but also hotels) to see the world 2nd largest coral reef (for that reason i skipped Roatan Isl of Hongduras, and Bocas of Panama).
- Hongduras: takes a long day to bus back from Flores to its west end - Copan, one of the 4 major Mayan sites featuring fine sculptures (the other 3: Chichen, Palenque - in Mexico, and Tikal); Tegu - the capital - a chaotic city, with its chinese restaurants guarded by the gun man and iron bars.
- Nicaragua: with two well preserved colonial cities - Leon, which is less touristy but more charming, and Granada - claimed to be the earliest in the America Continent (1524) - do not miss the tour to Isleta on the shoreline of Lago Nicaragua; in between one finds the capital - Managua - which could be toured by an hour taxi when switching mini buses.
- Costa Rica: its beaches on the Pacific side were somewhat disappointing; Fortuna - the gateway to Volcan Arenal and hot spring - is somewhat attractive, especially the Fortuna Water Falls; Monteverde is a kind of joke - trivial ziplines burried in the trees are much more expensive than the ones i took across the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe; San Jose is safe but much less appealing - only the hotel i stayed (Casa Morazan) owned by banana baron was a kind of interesting...
the 7 countries are well connected by luxury buses, which are much cheaper than airflights... i would definitely chose Guatemala if only 1 country out of the 7, which could actually be grouped into a visit to Cancun- Merida (Mexico), connected by Belize. If extra i would pick up Nicaragua or Honduras,... and leaving Costa Rica the last in the region, although it is filled with western tourists.
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