Yat B'alam Boutique Hotel Copan

... at the site, they are the most intact and some were simply stunning. The buildings as the site werent much to write home about, apart from this Grand Staircase which is carved and covered in a giant tarp to stop weathering.
After the ruins I smashed some lunch quickly, booked a horse riding trip and walked around the town to take some photos.
The horse riding tour was pretty good, but I ended up with huge blisters. Dont ride a horse wearing thongs! These ...

... was live music in the central plaza this afternoon.

It has been really interesting watching the breaking news and getting a local interpretation of the problem. The owner of our hotel, a German man who also speaks French, English, and Spanish, thinks the president would have tried to take over the country by installing a loyal military commander if democracy had failed him. However, the hotel owner was also not exactly happy (understandably so) with the military take-over ...

... in a jungle. Unfortunately, Kim has lupus which shows up as arthritis in her knees. It was really painful for her to be hiking like we were. My mom was getting worn out too. I felt really bad that it wasn't fun for everyone. There was a beautiful 10 meter waterfall where we stopped and relaxed a little.

Eventually, we made it back down. We were hoping and praying for there to be a pick-up willing to take us down ...

... other? ....


During my 5 weeks at Ventanas Abiertas, Petra and I have read many books to and with children, have seen the teachers during the daily ie we glued a lot of paper and could then rub the glue out of our hands and arms!, We have distributed scissors, pencils etc, have cut, dranw, etc.
We also played Memory, chess with children, built and rebuilt the same puzzles ...

And, what we are most proud of : we have taught English in 45 ...

... niņos. Great core strength training as well. Then we had our final GVI friday BBQ which included a farewell dance (robot of course) and speech which Rahul kindly let Ben do by himself. Queue 2 days chilling and illing, saying our goodbyes to our house mum and her crazy pets and nearly missing our 4am bus to Copan, Honduras.



After 7 hours on a minibus we arrived in Copan, famous for itīs Mayan Ruins which ...

We got up early and got a flight to San Sulla Pedro so Danielle did not have to take the ferry again, bit of a wimp if I do say so. From there we went to the bus station to try and figure out how to get to copan and then how to get to antigua. As it turned out there was a bus leaving in 2 hours and it was only 12 dollars so we booked it and we waited, this is the day that everybody was travelling lucky for us not many were going our way the bus was only really ...

... En fait, cetait un bird tour parce qu il y a 400 especes doiseaux sur le lac! On en a pas vu autant, mais cetait tres bien, peut etre une cinquantaine (perroquets, toucans, orioles et meme des perruches que j ignorais qu une bete aussi insignifiante pouvait etre sauvage!) Mention special au guide, Malcolm, un vieux hippie d une soixantaine dannees d Angleterre tres sympa!

Ok, gentlemen, letīs talk turkey.

Youīve put up with my emails about how wonderful the children are and how beautiful the scenery is, when the only thing you really want to know is "What does Latin American pussy taste like?"

Well, to answer this question you first have to know that Iīve found Jesus Christ. Seriously. Iīve started visiting the House of God. Thatīs right, the old too cynical to give a **** about eternal ...

... closer and closer with envy in his eyes to play this guitar.. The guy was sensationalfucm singing the most beautiful love songs with such passion I half expeced him to cry at the end. He didnīt and he continued. The non spanish speakers of the group enjoyed it but Rena and I were spell bound listening to his every word absolutly transfixed. What a super evening and so unexpected, hopefully Iīll have many more like these.

OK I was wrong to write off a whole country on the basis of one town. Sometimes leaving the tourist trail works and sometimes (as in the case of Santa Rosa de Copan) it doesnīt. Coming down with a cold probably didnīt improve my receptiveness. Iīm now in Copan Ruinas for the Mayan remains. Itīs Gringoland; thai green curry, happy hours, cheaper hotels and of course the ruins ...