Central America

[Giraffe]

Do any of you guys go to Central America? Like Belize or Honduras? I'm curious if they're cheap and /or dangerous to travel in. I know a guy at work who goes to Costa Rica often and says it's great.

[Lifeisgreat]

... in response to Central America, posted by Giraffe on Apr 16, 2005


Hi...Listen, you should read lonely planet guide books before heading off anywhere new. Make sure you get the updated version. Yes, I have been to Costa Rica-very safe and lots of ladies. Many of them work on thier backs for a living so be careful. I set up some appointments with a latin website that featured Costa Rican woman only. It was a poor site so I will not mention them. Regarding Honduras. I found several ladies via a website called Latin Euro. The ladies I met were real and I had a good time. You can find very traditional ladies there for marriage or of course ladies who need money and will do anything.I went to a city called La Cieba(my best guess on the spelling) it was about 3 years ago. The city had a lot of night life along with having some english speaking islands close by. I felt very safe and did run into some older retired Americans living there on the cheap. You can also learn Spainsh there at several small schools.

My daughter who was 22 at the time says that Guatamala is top drawer with peaceful people and lots of art and stuff. She lived there for six months and really met a lot of people. I would say that it is much better than Honduras from the sounds of it. Hope that helps..

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[utopiacowboy]

... in response to Central America, posted by Giraffe on Apr 16, 2005

I would familiarize myself with the various countries before I went there. It's not one size fits all. Costa Rica is a very safe, stable and prosperous country but Honduras is engulfed in gang crime wars along with El Salvador. Honduras makes Colombia look like a walk in the park. I've been to Colombia many times but I would not set foot in either El Salvador or Honduras.

[Michael B]

... in response to Re: Central America, posted by utopiacowboy on Apr 17, 2005

I just heard a report on the radio tonight about the gangs in El Salvador...sounded pretty bad (but then, don't they all, or the radio station wouldn't have anything to talk about). One interesting police technique they mentioned.....the cops like to round up a bunch of gang members (easy to tell because of their tatoos)...do they take them to jail? Nawww. Do the charge them with a crime? Nawww. Do they beat them up? Only enough as it takes to capture them...so what DO they do to them? They load them up in a stake bed truck, drive across town and throw them out in the middle of the OTHER gang's turf.....sounds like the plan to me.

[valleydude]

... in response to Re: Central America, posted by utopiacowboy on Apr 17, 2005

I work with a couple of people from El Salvador and they go down for a couple of weeks/month a year. About 4 of them have just went in the last month and we were actually talking about this on Friday.

One guy was telling me that it used to be really bad a few years ago, but it has really changed. He said that like most places that there are good and bad. He said that years ago, you could bribe the Police, but now it is taken very seriously and corruption is there, but it is much more low key.

He was also telling me that they have really begun to respect Americans and the tourism. He said that in many of the areas even criminals respect the tourists and they are like "off limits", but the locals are fair game.

Of course this is all "He said, she said" and I am not trying to challenge UC's post, but thought I would add this since we were just talking about it.

V-Dude

[utopiacowboy]

... in response to Re: Re: Central America, posted by valleydude on Apr 17, 2005

It's good to hear other opinions and encouraging to think that maybe they are getting their act together. I am only basing what I said from some conversations with Hondurans not too long ago.

[valleydude]

... in response to Re: Re: Central America, posted by valleydude on Apr 17, 2005

I reread your post...

He said it was cool before because even if you made 50 cents an hour the prices were cheap. Now he says the wages are still the same, but everything is becoming priced like here, so they are really hurting. I was told that dollars are accepted too.

V-Dude