Central America

2 essays filed from Central America.

Mist clings to moss-draped trees in the Monteverde cloud forest.

Santa Elena, Costa Rica

Monteverde: the cloud forest in the Costa Rican highlands

Monteverde's cloud forest hangs in the mist along the Costa Rican Continental Divide. The air is wet. The trees are draped in mosses and bromeliads. The biodiversity, per hectare, is among the highest on earth. The cloud forest is the reason to come.

January 8, 2024

The yellow Santa Catalina arch frames a smoking volcano in Antigua.

Central America

Antigua, Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala: the colonial-Spanish city under three volcanoes

Antigua Guatemala was the colonial capital of Central America from 1543 until earthquakes destroyed much of it in 1773. The surviving stone façades, the ruined convents, and the cobblestone streets are some of the most architecturally complete colonial set pieces in the Americas.

August 25, 2023