Paradise, serves up fresh seafood in its outdoor garden and mosquito-proof screened dining room. Try the whole grilled catch-of-the-day for about US$5.

Nearby is the (22) I & I Restaurant upstairs in a frame building with a dining deck overlooking the street. The reggae, playing constantly, sets the proper island mood. The food is a bit fancier than normal, and moderate in price.

The restaurant at the (12) Tropical Paradise Hotel is busy all day because it serves the island's most consistently good food in big portions at decent prices. In the light, cheerful dining room, breakfast is served from 8 am to noon, lunch from 11.30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 6 to 10 p.m. You can order curried shrimp or lobster for US$10, many other things for less.

Entertainment

After one evening on the island, you'll know what there is to do in the evening. The Reef Bar, by the Reef Hotel, has a sand floor and tables holding clusters of bottles (mostly beer) as semi-permanent centerpieces. This is the gathering, sipping and talking place for the locals.

Getting There & Away

Although there is now a landing strip at Caulker, with commuter service by Tropic Air (tel. 24-5671) and Island Air (tel. 26-2435) from Belize City's international and municipal airports, many travelers still arrive by boat. Fast motor launches zoom between Belize City and Caye Caulker frequently every day.

Preparations: This boat trip is usually fast, windy and bumpy; it is not particularly comfortable. You will be in an open boat with no shade for at least 45 minutes, so provide yourself with sunscreen, a hat and/or clothing to protect yourself from the sun and sea spray.

If you sit in the bow there's less spray, but you bang down harder when you come over a wave. Sitting in the stern gives a smoother ride, but you may get dampened by spray. Choosing a Boat: Launches tie up by the service station on North Front Street in Belize City, two blocks north-west of the Swing Bridge. Most boats leave Belize City between 8 and 10 a.m., and stop at Caye Chapel on the way to Caye Caulker; a few go on to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. After 10 a.m., outbound boats are more difficult to find. It is preferable to take a morning boat, as these are the ones in better condition. The few boats which wait around for passengers in the afternoon are usually in worse condition.

I have heard from several readers who have left on afternoon boats and have been stranded on sand bars or in open water as night fell, after inexperienced captains lost their way or unseaworthy boats lost power.

As you walk toward the boats, hawkers will approach to lead you to this or that boat, swearing that it is leaving right away, and that it's the fastest. Don't listen to them. Look the boats over and choose only a strong, seaworthy boat in good condition with a big motor (preferably two). I always look for one with a two-way radio as well. This may be important as these boats carry neither emergency equipment nor life jackets. The best boats may charge a bit more, but it's worth it for the peace of mind. Above all, refuse to sail in an overloaded craft.

The fare for the voyage to Caye Caulker is usually US$8 to US$10 one way, but may be a bit higher depending upon the craft, the season, the number of people, or any of a dozen other factors. The trip against the wind takes from 40 minutes to one hour, depending upon the speed of the boat. Ask the price before you board the boat, and don't pay until you're safely off the boat at your destination; legitimate boat owners won't ask you to pay before then. Across Haulover Creek, just west of the Swing Bridge on Regent Street West, is the dock for the Thunderbolt Express and Libra Express boats (tel. in San Pedro 26-2217, 2159) which make the run between San Pedro on Ambergris Caye and Belize City, stopping at Caye Caulker and Caye Chapel along the way. Thunderbolt leaves San Pedro each morning at 7 a.m., reaches Belize City by 9 a.m., and departs from Belize City for the voyage back to San Pedro at 4 p.m. (1 p.m. on Saturday). Libra leaves San Pedro at 7.30 a.m. and returns from Belize City at 1 p.m. Fares are US$9.50 from Belize City to Caye Caulker, US$14 to San Pedro. In San Pedro, the Express ticket office is on Almond Street. Triple J ties up right at the north-eastern end of the Swing Bridge. It departs Belize City at 9 a.m. for the trip to San Pedro (Ambergris), and departs San Pedro for Belize City at 3 p.m.

Andrea I and Andrea II (tel. 27-4988) departs from Belize City from Southern Foreshore by the Bellevue Hotel for San Pedro, Ambergris Caye (tel. 26-2578), Monday to Friday at 4 p.m.(1 p.m. on Saturday, no boat on Sunday); the return trip to Belize City leaves San Pedro at 7 a.m. Fare is US$14 one way, US$20 round trip, and the voyage takes 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours.

^^^ Excerpted and adapted, with permission, from Guatemala, Belize & Yucatan: La Ruta Maya (2nd edition) by Tom Brosnahan, published in October 1994 by Lonely Planet; copyright © 1994 by Lonely Planet Publications. Tom Brosnahan is the author of more than two dozen travel guides including, besides La Ruta Maya, the Belize section of Lonely Planet's Central America and the Lonely Planet guide to Turkey.

HONDURAS' UTILA ISLAND: BARE BONES PARADISE

By JANE PRENDERGAST

The nine-passenger antique airplane rose hesitantly above La Ceiba, Honduras, to begin what may be, at $9, the cheapest flight in the world. Nine minutes later it landed gently at the beachfront airport of Utila Island, my home for the next six weeks.

The Bay Islands of Honduras - Utila, Guanaja and Roatan - are only a few miles from each other. The big jets from Miami stop at Roatan, which is already a well-developed diving and resort destination.

Utila and Guanaja, however, are accessible only by the small planes flown by Sosa and Isle–a from La Ceiba or Tegucigalpa; or else by freight boat, water taxi and dugout canoe. This has put an effective limit on the number of tourists. Not everyone can afford to be marooned for a day or two by storms that can ground the planes and keep the boats tied in the harbor.

A truck that serves as a taxi for luggage-laden passengers is available for the ride into town, less than a quarter mile away. It's best to walk. If you're shopping for a dive school, you will find the first of eight only a few steps from the runway. Most people come here to dive. PADI certification is offered at all schools in levels ranging from Open Water through Divemaster. Prices are probably the lowest in the hemisphere. Open Water, for example, costs $139, and this includes four 'fun' dives - non-instructional plunges along the reef taken just to see the enormous vase sponges, the flourishing corals and the jewel-colored fish.

Also included at many schools is four nights' accommodation. Some offer specialities in underwater biology or photography. Tuition at one school includes a video tape of your dive. Recommended are Cross Creek, Sea Eye, Utila Watersports, Utila Dive Center, Gunther's and Underwater Vision. All schools are within a 15-minute walk, so it is possible to shop in person for the one that best fits your own needs and interests.

If you aren't diving, or don't wish to stay at the school, lodging is available in Utila Town on every level from the posh Utila Lodge ($50 per night), to the spare room at Norma and Will's on Blueberry Hill ($2). Beware of roosters. Island boys raise game cocks to fight at a festival held each September, and the crowing begins well before dawn. My favorite hotel was the Blue Bayou, a 20- minute walk from town along Sandy Beach. The rooms are basic, as is the plumbing, but you might choose to sleep in hammocks on the porch or under the coconut palms at the water's edge. Dugout canoes can be rented here for paddling along the shore or down the island waterways. In town, the Bayview Inn and Trudy's are very popular.

Most of the island's beaches are narrow enough to dictate the direction of your beach towel, but since 90 percent of Utila Island is uninhabited your towel will probably be the only one on the sand. Snorkeling is excellent from Pumpkin Hill Beach and along the Airport Reef.

Besides diving, snorkeling and tanning, Utila offers good bird watching. There are no poisonous snakes on the island, so it is perfectly safe to set off on the trails that cross the island through the thick tropical forest. You will see enormous ceiba trees with air roots like flying buttresses, parrots, egrets and herons or many varieties, pelicans and sandpipers. Lizards of all sizes and colors scamper everywhere. My favorite was an iridescent blue and green.

You can make an excursion to the island's caves, off the Pumpkin Hill Road. They have explorable passage and the usual stories of hidden treasure.

Many commercial fishermen from Alaska and British Columbia come to Utila in order to charter a boat and fish, what else? They catch snook, giant barracuda (up to 100 pounds), and nurse shark. Boats and water taxis can also be hired for trips to the Cays, little islands off the island with pretty beaches and hammock camping.

You can eat Honduran street food: tamales, burros, or pasteles de yuca for a few cents per meal. If you want to sit down and dine at a table, try one of the restaurants in town. They will cook you a dinner of lobster, shrimp, or fish with fresh vegetables (when these are available on the island) for three or four dollars. One of the best is the Island Cafe, where dinner is served on the balcony of an old Victorian house. The Mermaid's Table makes good pizza, spaghetti with meat or meatless sauces and vegetable lasagna. Residents and tourists party Friday and Saturday nights at the island 'nightclubs,' the Casino and Bucket of Blood.

Breakfast at the Seaside Inn on the west side of town near Gunther's Dive School is a great start to a day of diving. Less than two dollars provides a generous combination of warm tortillas, coffee, eggs, cheese, refried beans and sausage. The divemasters gather at six for breakfast at the Bakery, run by five generations of the Thompson family whose accents range from British to Utilan. The Thompsons also operate a lending library of paperbacks at the Bakery, and show videos in the afternoons, a good thing to know on rainy days. Other activities at the bakery include aerobics classes, bicycle rental, and arranging picnic trips to the Cays.

Honduras is not yet as clean as Costa Rica. There is a fair amount of garbage littering the streets of town, otherwise charming with ornate woodwork in pastel colors. There is a problem with sand-flies, especially during the rainy season in late fall. If you go, bring repellent and no-see-um netting.

Despite those two negatives, the Bat Islands and the port city of La Ceiba have become the focus of a small-scale feeding frenzy by American and Canadian investors who hope to duplicate the success of Costa Rican ventures. The paperwork can be formidable. One developer is planning a tract of 50 houses on the mainland beach, aimed at the American retirement market. He told me he had more than 40 trips from California to Honduras before getting all of the green lights he needed. Land and labor prices are rock- bottom, however, and he anticipates a profit worth the wait. Whether as investment or vacation, Utila Island has much to offer the adventurous.

^^^ Jane Prendergast is a free-lance writer who lives in New Jersey.

----UTILA PRACTICALITIES

Geography: Utila is a little over 8 miles long and 3 miles wide, a low-lying atoll with a mangrove swamp in the middle Population: 1,500, mostly fair-skinned islanders originally from the Cayman Islands

Language: English, with a Bay Island twist; Spanish and Spanglish also spoken

Weather: Like paradise - an average of about 81 degrees F. year-round, with August being the hottest month and January the coolest. About half the annual rainfall comes in October, November and sometimes December; the least rain is in March, April and May. Cooling breezes off the water are common (but when they go down, the no-see-ums come out.)

Getting There: TACA now has most of defunct Sahsa's international routes, including those to La Ceiba and Roat‡n. American and TACA fly to Tegucigalpa, and Continental, American, LACSA, TACA, Aero Costa Rica and other carriers go into San Pedro Sula. Commuters Isle–a and Sosa connect with the Bay Islands.

Diving: Cheapest diving in the Caribbean and Central America; excellent wall, wreck and shore diving; nearest decompression chamber is on Roatan; water clarity is best from February to September; water temps are warm, from 80 to 84 degrees F.; coral reefs are alive and well. For More Information: An excellent guide to Honduras is Honduras & Bay Islands Guide, by Glassman, Panel and Hart.

DELICIOUS MEXICO NEW CUISINES, OLD TASTES

Where Even the Corn Smut is Muy Bueno

By KIT SNEDAKER

Not so long ago the only place to get good Mexican food was in a Mexican home in Mexico or a Mexican eatery in the states. Restaurants in Mexico served Continental stuff, beef Wellington, or surf and turf, generic food.

Today Mexico has an established cuisine, indeed several of them. Chefs in big hotels and restaurants along the Caribbean Coast and all over the country not only cook what was once street food -- tamales, tacos -- they turn the spotlight on regional specialties as well. It is these specialties that subtly mark each of Mexico's different regions. Habanero chilies, for example, appear as you travel south. Poblano and seranos are found mostly in the north.

During a recent trip to Mexico City's Intercontinental Presidente Hotel, I tasted tiny tacos of shredded chicken and cheese and little potatoes stuffed with chicken and topped with tomatoes and onions as hors d'oeuvres. From Pueblo, the chef told me. Huachinango (red snapper) stuffed with mashed beans was sauced with huitlacoche or corn smut. This fungus, a universal delicacy, is found from Mexico south into Middle or Mesoamerica, wherever there's a cornfield. Huitlacoche turns corn kernels into large grayish green bubbles. It may look and sound off-putting, but in a sauce or soup, the fungus adds a deep, mushroom flavor with just a hint of after-burn, exotic and delicious.

As I left Mexico City behind and headed south, the food began to change, became more spicy. Corn soon almost completely replaced wheat, and epazote, which grows wild all over the United States, showed up in many dishes. The filling for a Mexican sandwich or torta up north, beans, tomato, avocado and onion (served up there on an unbuttered hard roll), is tucked into a soft corn tortilla here. For Mexicans, this is where Mesoamerica begins.

It is also the point where the habanero chile comes into its own. Called Scotch bonnet in the Caribbean, this small, lantern-shaped chile is one of the hottest. Should you chew one by mistake, do not reach for water to put out this fire. Instead, take a teaspoon of sugar and let it dissolve in your mouth. Bread will appease the burn, too, but much more slowly. So will rice and, some say, beer, but I can only testify to the sugar cure.

The beans mashed and stuffed into my huachinango in Mexico City were pintos. Farther south they are black. From here to Cuba black beans are eaten alone or paired with white rice. Flavorings make the difference. Some cooks add garlic, others epazote, which has the sharp flavor of cilantro. Lobster is often seasoned with epazote, garlic and chilies. In the Yucat‡n, black beans are sieved and cooked in lard with onion, epazote and a habanero chile, or done with mint, onion and the hot habanero.

Without these black beans, the national dish of Campeche, pan de cazon, would not be authentic. For this tortillas are layered with cazon, meat of the dog shark cooked and shredded, and frijoles seasoned with epazote.

This is also the region of the tamalito or little tamale. Filled with ground pumpkin seeds and rolled in a chaya leaf (which tastes like spinach), tamalitos are basted with a chiltomate sauce of tomatoes, garlic, epazote, onion and habaneros as the tamales cook.

Black beans with pork, cerdo con frijoles or frijoles con puerco, is one of those gaudy, composite regional dishes found from the Yucat‡n all the way down to Brazil. When it's all put together, the beans, meat and rice are black, brightly garnished with chopped radishes, coriander leaves and tomato sauce. Lime wedges and avocado slices accompany each serving. Pork for this dish means not only hocks and spareribs, but crunchy ears as well.

In the north dishes are seasoned with one ingredient at a time. In southern Mexico, however, cooks regularly buy blocks of seasoning called recados. Much like the garam masalas of India, recados are ground herb and spice mixtures, and are meant to be rubbed into meat before cooking.

Achiote, the most common Yucatan recado, is ground red annatto seeds mixed with other flavorings and shaped into bars.

Achiote recado seasons and colors the pit-roasted or pibil cooked meat, usually pork. First the pork or chicken is rubbed with the recado and then the meat is wrapped in banana leaves and buried in a pit which has been heated with hot stones. If you think this sounds like an Hawaiian luau, you're right. The difference is the seasoning. Pibil cooking is spicy hot; Hawaiian pit-cooking has a bad case of the blands.

Down south grilling has been a constant for thousands of years. Mayas cooked fish marinated with annatto seeds over an open fire. Seasoned with allspice, garlic, oregano, cumin, cloves and cinnamon, as tikin xic pescado, the dish is still on menus today.

So is escabeche. Once a Spanish marinade for fish, escabeche in southern Mexico has become a side dish or topping for fish or in used to pickle vegetables or onions. Fish done this way is grilled, the escabeche assembled, cooked and served as a topping. Vegetables or onions are heated in escabeche to pickle them. Then they are stored in a cool place for at least two hours before being served at room temperature.

Venison and wild turkey are both frequently pickled or served as escabeche in the south.

Native to all regions throughout Mexico are two delicate desserts, flan and rice pudding. Flan is made with condensed milk or with both condensed and evaporated milk. Eggs and sugar are added and the whole thing is poured into a mold that has been covered with sugar melted to a lovely light brown.

Rice pudding is comfortingly familiar. It's the kind mothers from India to Indiana make with rice and a custard. In Mexico the custard is canned milk, but this only gives it a new twist. Rice pudding and flan are the comfort food of many countries from Scandinavia to Greece.

Comfort or peasant food is what Mexican cooking is all about. Dishes in the south, however, carry the strong implant of Maya heritage. The cooking of this region has Spanish-Indian-French grammar with a hot, spicy Mexican vocabulary. It's some of the best eating in the Western Hemisphere.

^^^ Kit Snedaker, formerly the food/travel editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, now writes a weekly column, Healthy Gourmet, syndicated by Copley News Service, which also syndicates many of her travel stories.

NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN JUNGLE HIDEAWAYS: The Rain Forest on a Budget

By LIN SUTHERLAND

In the jungle, nature's dance of cooperation and competition is obvious everywhere. Keel-billed toucans drop crumbs of seedy breakfast from high green their perches to the paca foraging the leafy floor below. A strangler fig attaches itself to a ceiba tree and thrives by stealing its host's place in the sun.

You have to be patient and observant in the jungle. You tease its secrets out; they don't leap at you. One reason is that rain forest of the kind Belize has -- subtropical broadleaf -- is 99.9 percent biomass. It is plants and plants and plants. This makes the animals hard to see.

But it is worth it to be patient, to sit on the thatched porch of a jungle lodge and take a quiet, measured look at the mottled foliage , to see emerge an ocellated turkey, parading around in feathers of purple, blue and gold, or one of the 11 species of hummingbirds hovering over crimson hibiscus blossoms the size of dinner plates, or a tapir, the piggish national animal of Belize, rooting and snorting

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