Partners in Central America

Central America is the thin section of land that links the North American continent with the South American continent. Geographically part of North America, it is made up of seven small, mostly tropical countries that have more in common with South America than the more affluent north. Mexico is occasionally considered part of Central America due to the language and Mayan/Spanish cultural heritage it shares with several of the countries in the region. Most of Central America is considered to be part of the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot.
Until the 1990s the area, apart from Belize and Costa Rica, was subject to brutal repression(Guatemala), civil wars (El Salvador and Nicaragua), and proxy fights between opposite parties supported either by the US or the Soviet Union.
This dark political and social situation changed with the end of the Cold War and after the peace agreements at the beginning of the 1990s. Now the region is living a process of changes and reforms that will hopefully allow travelers to discover an interesting and relatively cheap travel destination. Generally, the people of Central America are kind and warm, and welcoming to foreigners. There is a diversity of culture from one end of Central America to the other, and indigenous culture plays an important role in the region, specially in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Due to the extensive Spanish colonial presence in the region, American dialects of Spanish are the primary language, especially of the government and in the cities. (Belize, a former UK colony, is the officially-English-speaking exception.) Native languages are still spoken in many rural areas. However, English is co-official in Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, along with indigenous languages. English speaking people can be found on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama.
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