NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER

"While eco-tourism thrives in Costa Rica and Belize, Honduras has remained off the beaten path. Though only a two-hour flight from Miami and two and a half hour flight from Houston, Central America's second-largest but least-populated country has never caught on with North Americans. If you're at least somewhat adventurous, however, now's a great time to go. Nature reveals its raw glory in Honduras, and with so few visitors, it feels like a private show."

"For an awesome weekend escape, fly to La Ceiba, population 130,000, a city in the north on a coastal shelf between the Caribbean and the Madre de Dios mountain range. Stay at the Lodge at Pico Bonito, just ten minutes from the airport, dramatically situated below the bright green face of the 8,000-foot Pico Bonito and its plumes of high white waterfalls."

"The lodge, staffed almost exclusively by Hondurans, is appointed with indigenous weavings, pottery, and artwork and has floors of hard pine harvested from hurricane-felled trees. The decked cabins are cooled by breezy fans among the toucans and iridescent hummingbirds out back. Lodge cuisine is Mesoamerican, prepared by a chef from an adjacent village, with fresh Honduran beef, vegetables, spices, and a dozen tropical fruits, many of which flourish on the grounds."