Last Mayan Ruins - tough times!
Trip Start
Mar 28, 2006
1
21
77
Trip End
Ongoing
Copan, Honduras
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Left El Salvador after a brilliant last few days having parties and drinking it up for Jose's birthday. Watched the epic last set of Wimbeldon on TV before being dropped at the bus terminal to head into Honduras. Sad to leave Jose and Valeria, they were great hosts and so friendly and kind.
It was quite funny crossing into Honduras. With the whole presidential kidnapping things it probably wasnt the smartest idea to even visit Honduras, and the border officials proceeded to tell me this! In my terrible spanish I proceeded to tell them that Australians are stupid and it wouldnt stop me! They found this pretty amusing.
Once into Honduras and on the next bus, the scenery became stunning. More mountainous and green than El Salvador. Poor old El Salvador didnt really get a good write up in my other blog, it was nice, but the scenery in Honduras was simply stunning
1
.I was heading to the last big Mayan Ruins on my trip in Copan. But due to Roddick and Federar playing for so long, I missed the last connection so got stuck in La Entrada overnight, a few hours from Copan. Lonely Planet wrote it up as a drug trafficing hotspot so I was certainly glad to read that as I got off the bus!
One thing I didnt know about, but would soon find out about when four police jumped out of a car and pointed guns at me was that there was a nationwide curfew in Honduras at 9pm until things calmed down! Jesus I crapped myself so much, but who wouldnt with shotguns being pointed at you! Once they spoke to me they actually had a laugh with me and dropped me at my hotel. So not all bad!
6th July
Up at the crack of dawn to get to Copan. Managed to find a hostel quick smart and walked the 1.5kms out of town to the ruins. These were the last major set of ruins of the Mayans left to visit. The main thing about the Copan Ruins is the condition of all the carvings and things 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
2
.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 blisters would come to haunt me in a few days when I did my scuba diving course, flippers and blisters arent a great mix.
The horse ride was pretty cool, we went up a mountain above the town, the view was quite stunning, my guide was pretty good, I made him stop in at a beautiful Hacienda restaurant and we had a few beers before heading back to town!
Copan is such a small town, so I ate tea pretty early to avoid and dramas with the army or police and the curfew and headed back to the hostel.
Right on 9pm the power in the town went off for about 40 minutes, One way to make sure all people get off the street I suppose! Bloody Honduras! Bloody Presidential Coup!
There were plenty of other things to do in the area, but I wanted to make a few days up, so decided to head to the Bay Islands to do a scuba diving course the next morning. Two Kiwi girls from the hostel were also heading off, so we teamed up to leave in the morning
