Central America

The Maya lowlands of Guatemala's Petén, Belize and western Honduras held dozens of city-states between about 250 and 900 AD. Tikal and Calakmul fought a long rivalry; Copán produced the finest carved stelae; Caracol in Belize was larger than today's Belize City. Most lowland cities were abandoned by 1000 AD after drought, war and overuse of land, and the jungle closed over them.

The Maya did not disappear. About half of Guatemala's population is Indigenous, speaking more than 20 Maya languages; highland markets such as Chichicastenango and the weaving villages around Lake Atitlán keep dress, calendar rituals and crafts alive. Ask before photographing people, and buy textiles directly from weavers' cooperatives.

Spain governed the isthmus from Santiago de los Caballeros — today's Antigua Guatemala — until earthquakes moved the capital in 1776. The region declared independence in 1821, joined Mexico briefly, then formed the Federal Republic of Central America, which broke into Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica by 1840.

Belize grew from British logging camps into British Honduras and became independent in 1981; Guatemala long claimed it, and the dispute is before the International Court of Justice. Panama was part of Colombia until 1903, when it broke away with US backing to let the canal be built; the US handed the canal over in 1999.

The 20th century brought banana-company power, dictatorships and civil wars in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua that ended in the 1990s. Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948 and put the money into schools and parks, which is part of why it is the easiest country to travel in today.

The isthmus sits where the Cocos plate dives under the Caribbean plate, and the result is a chain of more than 100 volcanoes from Guatemala to Panama. Fuego near Antigua erupts almost continuously and is watched from the overnight camp on neighbouring Acatenango; Masaya in Nicaragua has an open lava lake; Arenal in Costa Rica shaped a whole tourism region.

Earthquakes are part of history: Antigua was ruined in 1773, Managua in 1972. Volcanic soils grow the coffee that the highlands export — Antigua, Tarrazú and Boquete Geisha are among the priciest beans in the world. Check the national volcano agencies before any summit hike.

The Pacific side is Spanish-speaking, mestizo and Catholic, with the capitals and colonial towns. The Caribbean side was settled by English-speaking Afro-Caribbean workers, the Garifuna (descendants of West Africans and Carib-Arawak people exiled from St Vincent in 1797) and Miskito communities. Belize, Honduras's Bay Islands, Bluefields in Nicaragua, Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro in Panama all feel closer to Jamaica than to their own capitals.

The two coasts also have opposite weather: the Pacific is dry from December to April, while the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and Panama is often driest in September and October. Choose the coast by the month.

Three transport layers exist side by side. Chicken buses — retired US school buses — are cheap and colourful but slow, crowded and a target for theft. First-class international buses (Tica Bus and others) link capitals with border formalities handled on board. Tourist shuttles run door to door between the circuit towns and are the practical choice with luggage.

Short flights save whole days: Guatemala City – Flores, San José – the beaches, Panama City – Bocas del Toro, Belize City – the cayes. There is no road to South America: the Darién Gap is roadless jungle, and the only safe ways on are by plane or by a licensed sailing trip via San Blas to Colombia.