The Moskito Coast - Venturing up the Rio Plantano

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An odyssey into Rmo Plantano Preserve starts at La Ceiba, the quaint coastal city just a short hop from the diver-friendly Bay Islands. Take a 45-minute plane flight to Palacios, the crossroads of Garafuna (Afro-Caribbean) and Moskito culture at the mouth of the sleepy Rmo Tinto, and afterwards, aboard the crowded tuk-tuk (a motor-powered dug-out canoe) to Cocobilla, you'll get a first glimpse of the region's abundant waterfowl plying lily-choked canals. A two-hour hike along deserted beach will bring you to Neuva Jerusalem, near the mouth of the Plantano River, where local fishermen will arrange travel up-stream and the Hospedaje Yosira will offer a bed and hearty meals for about $1.

From the mouth of the Plantano, travel about six hours by tuk-tuk up the turbid, shallow river to the Moskito/Pech settlement of Las Marias. Along the way you'll encounter regular canoe traffic, indigenous families waving from thatched homes, squawking bursts of color as parrot flocks traverse the river, turtle, stork and kingfisher perched conspicuously still on riverside logs, and, always, the towering overhang of encroaching jungle.

Las Marias will serve as base camp for jungle hikes and trips farther upstream. Home will be a stilted hut, bed a straw tick, and meals generous but simple combinations of rice, beans, banana, yucca, and coffee. The Moskito are social, gathering in circles to chat and greeting strangers with a smile, and between them and their riotous livestock there is seldom daytime peace within the village. Numerous trails radiate from Las Marias along the river and into the surrounding jungle. Following them through the hilly terrain hikers will discover toucan, scarlet taningier, yellow-headed parrots, squirrel, thrush, and, farther out, chattering spider monkeys and macaws (both considered delicacies in town).