Copan and barbed wire
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2006
1
23
110
Trip End
Ongoing
Copan,
Honduras
Saturday, January 20, 2007
After drifting through Camayagua for a night on our way, we arrived in the little pictureesque town of Copan Ruinas in order to visit the Mayan ruins of Copan the next day.
Copan was a bit of an adventure. We had heard from a Belgian gal in our fab hostel (Manzana Verde, 2nd best hostel we`ve stayed at yet) that there was a secret entrance into Copan amongst the trees. Faced with a basic fee of 15 USd, an extra 5USd for the museum, an extra 12 USd to enter the tunnels, not to mention if we wanted a guide, we decided to seek this entrance. We wandered deep into the woods in search of this elusive entrance. We didn`t find anything that remotely looked like a secret entrance..But it was too late, the idea was stuck in our heads.
Faced with the choice of paying the whopping entry fee or finding an alternative, we decided to hop the fence that surrounded the ruins...the fence was bout 9 feet (Collins will prob say 20 feet!) with 3 types of barbed wire on top. I hopped over first, naturally being the guinea pig. I have to say that I was quite proud of myself. My old tom boyish ways came tumbling back to me in my moment of need-I managed to hop it with just a little nick on my thigh from the highest part of the barbed wire.
As good luck would have it, we had hopped the fence right in front of the ruins`main plaza. After about a half hour of cowering behind the trees in the shadow of the sun, (there were lots of security guards who might have wondered why we had just emerged from the bushes..plus it was also only 8am so there weren`t many others in the park at that time), the security guards seemed to take a communal tea break or something..we took our chance and snook onto the plaza.
Collins nearly wet himself in excitement. He went out of his way to talk to every security guard and army boy he could find that day, including having a half hour long conversation with charming security guard Freddie Garcia. After every conversation, he jumped around saying "we day-stuoyed (destroyed in a thick Offaly accent for those of you who don`t know him) them Donoghue, Army boys 0, the Irish 1"
As for me, I`m not particularly proud of the moral nature of the act but I think it was justified considering that every other Mayan ruin we were at were only charging 5USd for entry. Tikal charged more for the museum but Mexico, which has a rep for being v. expensive, was always 5 or less all inclusive. We didn`t go to Chichen Itza in the Yucatan cos it was 8,...so I`ll be damned if I was gonna pay 32 USd (Without a guide) when I could get away with not paying it.. Plus it`s not like any1 will starve because of us not paying.
The ruins themselves were not as impressive as Tikal in their structure but I can see why they`re the source of much study. The hieroglyphics are very clear and most of them tell a story bout Copan`s existence or downfall. There are many theories behind what these hieroglyphics stand for, they may as well be the Japanese alphabet for all I know, but I`d imagine that it makes for interesting work for those with the knowledge...maybe I`ll do that as a postgrad!
An enjoyable day but let`s be honest, even if Copan had been a sunken stone in the middle of a soggy, muddy footie pitch, I could still have left it, smiling contentedly in the knowledge that it was worth every penny!
