TOUR PANAMA’S PEARL ISLAND WITH COLLECTOR MARCELLA CIACCI

Marcella Ciacci recently did a tally of the number of visitors she had to her home on Pearl Island in Panama — just a quick ferry from Panama City — and realized she’d hosted 135 friends in the past five years. This figure is all the more impressive since most of that hosting has taken place solely in the months of January, February and March, the best ones for tourism. ‘I once invited friends in August,’ she says, during the tropical rainstorms. ’Never again.’

If you’re not staying with her, she suggests Hotel La Compañia in the Casco Viejo, the old Spanish part of town, as most of her other must-see sites are walkable from there. She recommends starting the day at the Mola Museum, which celebrates the handmade textiles and women’s clothing of the indigenous Guna people from Panama and Colombia. For art more along the lines of what you find at Art Basel Miami Beach, go to DiabloRosso or Casa Santa Ana, a nonprofit residency and exhibition space. For nightlife, Villa Ana in San Felipe, a 12,000-square-foot, four-story townhouse dedicated to the jazzy speakeasy feeling of the home’s last resident, Ana Mercedes Arias, is the place to be. For food, grab a table at Fonda Lo Que Hay, whose name is taken from restaurants in the countryside that only have one dish (i.e., ‘this is what we have’). Lo Que Hay does have a menu, though. Get the ceviche.

HEAD TO EL SALVADOR WITH PHILANTHROPIST MARIO CADER-FRECH

Mario Cader-Frech is a board member at the Museum of Modern Art and the Museo Reina Sofía, but he is also one of the owners of the Miami outpost of Brooklyn’s own Hometown Bar-B-Que, so when he says El Salvador’s El Xolo serves ‘the best food in the country,’ you have to sit up and take notice. It’s dedicated to that Spanish-Indigenous mix of criollo food and forgotten strands of Mayan corn, but you should save it for the end of your trip because it’s near the airport in San Salvador.

Another pro tip: You should stay at the Sheraton Presidente the night before your flight, as northward flights tend to leave quite early in the morning, and traffic can be unreliable. He recommends starting your trip at Puro Surf in El Zonte, an affordable design hotel from husband and wife Claudia and Harry Washington, who designed everything from the hammocks to the silverware. After your surfing lesson, he says that you must swing by Bitcoin Beach, a small town nearby underwritten by an American billionaire, where none of the businesses accept fiat currency. Call it engaging with the local culture — in 2021, bitcoin became legal tender in El Salvador, which otherwise uses the U.S. dollar. From Bitcoin Beach, it’s a short trip to the studio of artist Simón Vega. No trip to El Salvador would be complete without a visit to Lake Coatepeque, a beautiful Pacific lake in a volcanic crater, where Cader-Frech offers the Brutalist Cardedeu Hotel as a nice contrast. If you have time before rushing back to San Salvador and El Xolo, make sure to visit some of the mountain region’s coffee farms, particularly those owned by Illy and Starbucks, which offer ‘spectacular views.’

DISCOVER COSTA RICA WITH COLLECTOR SAGRARIO PÉREZ-SOTO

A self-avowed homebody, Sagrario Pérez-Soto claims she is not good at advising people about where to go in Costa Rica. Still, she Googled a few other travel guides in preparation for this article. ‘I was horrified,’ she said. ‘Everything that they recommended, either I don’t know it or I didn’t like it.’ The beaches are incredible, yes — she notes Santa Teresa if you’re looking for that — but the country has much to offer by way of geology.

Pérez-Soto suggests visiting La Fortuna to take in the country’s natural hot springs, surrounded by tropical gardens. While you soak, you may even catch the orange flashes of lava from the nearby volcano Arenal. She also encourages a visit to the volcanoes Irazú and Poás, and any trip to the latter, which should include a meal at nearby Chubascos for traditional Costa Rican fare. Given the country’s natural beauty, she realizes that people may not want to spend much time in the capital of San José. Still, it is worth a visit for the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, housed in the barracks used by the army before the military regime was abolished in 1948, and the Jade Museum, which further highlights the national minerals. While visiting San José, stay in the upscale Escazú, which has a charming InterContinental hotel, or the boutique hotel Grano de Oro.

EMBRACE GUATEMALA WITH GALLERIST STEFAN BENCHOAM

Stefan Benchoam of the Proyectos Ultravioleta gallery offers first-time visitors to Guatemala a literal overview of the country with a trip to Guatemala City’s Mapa en Relieve. The result of 15 years of research, this stunning topographical map was unveiled in 1905, recreating the county’s major geological features — cities, volcanoes, plateaus and valleys — at a scale of 1-to- 10,000 kilometers. For a more recent sense of the vibe, visit the City Center, which features public art by Guatemalan Modernist masters like Carlos Mérida. The Museo Ixchel honors the local textile tradition, and the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología digs into the country’s Mayan roots. But no less important to the country’s culture, and consumable in another way, is its mind-blowing coffee from local farms. For this, Benchoam mentions El Injerto or Cafe Loco, which was started by a group of Korean coffee obsessives who ‘came here to live the coffee dream.’

At the central market, don’t miss the food stall of Doña Mela, who makes incredible pepián, a stew made from tomatoes, chiles and roasted pumpkin seeds boiled down to a thickness that resembles a savory mole. Also try Mercado 24, whose head chef, Pablo Díaz, visits the city’s 23 markets each day to create his menu. Galleries to hit besides Proyectos Ultravioleta include La Galería Rebelde and Galería EXTRA. Leaving the city can still allow you to get in touch with the country’s representation in the international art world if you visit the lovely town of San Juan Comalapa. Five artists from Guatemala who have been shown in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale have hailed from San Juan Comalapa, including this year’s Paula Nicho Cumez, whom Proyectos Ultravioleta is showing at this edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. Finally, what trip to Guatemala would be complete without a visit to Mayan ruins? For these, Benchoam recommends Yaxh and the ancient city of Tikal.