Honduras's Caribbean Soul — the northern coast city between the Sierra de Nombre de Dios mountains and the Caribbean Sea where the biggest carnival in Central America erupts each May, the Cangrejal River offers Class IV white water, and ferry connections reach the Bay Islands' coral reefs
La Ceiba is Honduras's third city and the liveliest Caribbean coast destination on the mainland — a city with a distinctly different energy from the highland cities, shaped by the Caribbean coast's Garifuna culture (the Afro-indigenous people descended from West African and Arawak ancestors who were exiled to the Central American coast by the British in 1797) and the residual energy of the banana era. The Carnaval Internacional de La Ceiba (held in May) is the largest carnival in Central America — drawing 500,000+ visitors over two weeks with a Grand Parade on the third Saturday of May that s…
La Ceiba's origins are tied directly to the banana industry. The area was a sparsely populated coast with small Garifuna communities when the Vaccaro Brothers (later to become Standard Fruit Company, and eventually Dole Food Company) established their banana plantation headquarters here in 1899. Standard Fruit chose the location for its excellent natural harbour and coastal lowland terrain suited to banana cultivation; the company built the city's infrastructure, railways, and worker housing. Named for a large ceiba tree (the sacred tree of the Maya, now the national tree of Honduras) that on…