Puerto Lempira, Honduras

Capital of the department of Gracias a Dios, PUERTO LEMPIRA is the largest town in La Mosquitia, with a population of eleven thousand. Set on the southeastern edge of the biggest of the coastal lagoons, Laguna de Caratasca, some 110km east of Brus Laguna, the town survives on government administration and small-scale fishing and shrimping. Like Brus Laguna, Puerto Lempira is mostly used by travellers as a transit hub – flights connect it with the rest of Honduras, and it's close to the border with Nicaragua. The best of the available accommodation is at the Gran Hotel Flores (Tel:433 6421; US$11-15) in the centre of town, where the small rooms all have a/c and bath; the Hospedaje Santa Teresita, opposite (Tel:433 6008; US$11-15), is clean but basic. Banco Atlántida, next to Hotel Flores, will change traveller's cheques and gives Visa cash advances. Mopawi (Tel:433 8659, Emopawi@optinet.hn), the Mosquitia development organization, has its headquarters in the town, three blocks south of the main dock.