The Mayan Ruins - whats all the fuss about?

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Trip Start Aug 26, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End May 26, 2008 Next
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  Copan, Honduras
Sunday, March 23, 2008

This is the first new entry I have made in 12 months. Its surreal being back on the trail. My backpacking skills have dimished and im running around like one of those nwebies. Its fun. The chicken busses are still here and the mainland has so many more options than that little island. There are new smells, new sites and lots of new people.

My first stop after Utila was Copan.
Luckily this place is on the way to Guatemala because i would have hated to have gone out of my way to get here just for these ruins.
The city of Copan is actually quite spectacular. Cobbled streets are lined by brightly painted houses and hotels and tiendas. There are green trees and flowers and the sound of birds everywhere. Its fairly touristy, built ontop of a small hill, the little streets get fairly steep in parts and walking along them, especially after a little rain was tricky, I dont know how the locals do it in the their slippery shoes. Its fun walking aimlessly around the grid, often ending up right back where you stated. It was cold wet and chilly in Copan when i arrived and when i found a restaurant with a 6$ backpacker special with hot soup and fresh bread, 3 course meal, i was in.
It was absolutely delicious as Sabrina and i sat and ate, there were birds flying home for the night and we remissed at our time on Utila and how absolutely rubbish everything is there. Not to mention insanely expensive. We ate our 3 course meal slowly, savoring every mouthful of the delicious soup, pasta and banana cake, washed down with an amazing Copan cafe negro.
When the sun set, the lights came on and we wandered the streets, finding a few people from utila. One left because all his stuff was stolen. He lost everything, and put a reward sign up on the main road. Offering 50 dollars for his passport a bunch of crack heads apparantly gave it to some hippies making trenzas and they in turn, sold it back to him. He was fairly disgusted by the crime on Utila. I had to say I told you so! The island is a disgrace!

So, the next day, after a late breakfast, it was time to visit the all important Ruinas de Copan.
The ruins are situated only 1km out of town. A 15 minute walk along a paved path takes you to the grand gate, where they charge in my option an extortionate fee of $15 to get in. Then if you want access to the tunnels, pay another $11, and the museuem, please fork out another $10.
I thought this was a littel extreme, but paid the minimum $15 entry fee.
Along a dirt path is the grand plaza. A great big and perfectly flat grassy field, with a decent sized pyramid in the centre. We walked to the top and admired the view of the ruins.
A few oddly placed monuments of mayan kings were scattered around the grass below. Some proteced from the elements by makeshift iron roofs.
The place was fairly quiet. I was expecting a machu picchu style crowd but there were a handfull of visitors quietly strolling around.
There were 17 kings over the time of occupancy. Each of the kings have a stone pillar with engravings representing the life and times of that king. The mayans are famous for their understanding of mathematics and astronomy and have a brilliant counting system with a series of bars and dots. And here is an interesting fact. The Mayan calendar runs out in 2012. So, maybe all those predictions will be correct. Will the end be coming for us in just a few years? The Mayans thought so. With so many volcanoes and earthquakes dominating their life, maybe the big bang will happen again, from inside our planet. And they knew about it the whole time.

As i wandered through the ruins of Copan, there were some interesting features. The staircase at the base of the main temple has the longest enscription ever found, its still being interpreted as the 70 odd steps collapsed and jumbled the puzzle. Archeologists are working to determine its meaning. More on this later as it could be quite interesting.

So, that $11 entry into the tunnels, well i didnt pay it, but of couse i got in there. A back door to the main tunnel was left open and i watched as the guard headed off to his lunch break or something and fromthe trees, i bolted across the dirt path and into the tunnel. Tiptoeing around inside the well lit and ventilated tunnel. It was was still very musky and as i crossed a few ¨please do not pass¨barriers, i could hear the archeologists digging and chipping away at the inside of the temple. The tunnel was quite expansive, and i got a little lost. Emerging from a different entrance to the one i went in, i found myself smack in the centre of the main plaza. The security gurad / ticket collector looked as baffled as i did when i emerged from the apparantly 1 way in, one way out passage. I said hola and quickly rain into the ruins before i could be yelled at.

Three hours passed and i had seen enough. After the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, nothing is going to compare. But it was fun.

I spent another night in Copan and left the next day for Antigua.

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