Blogs from Copán Ruinas, Western, Honduras, Central America Caribbean - page 13

We had breakfast at the Picame Cafe & walked for about 10 minutes to Copan Ruins. We hired Saul he was the funniest guide yet, he really knew his history. He related how the art work at the site was from a decadent period in Maya history. The ball court here had carved Paraquet heads instead of rings. The central plaza is the image on the 1 Lempira note. The ruling elite deformed their babies skulls by putting tight wooden bands on them, so they would look different from commoners. This probably caused brain damage & mercury poison from the red makeup they wore & in the water supply, coupled with hallucinagenic drinks & plants did not help matters. The exact reason for the Maya Civilizations collapse can only be speculated upon, deforestation, overfarming, hyperinflation & ... read more

We had a slight problem withdrawing lempiras from the atms, we eventually figured it out, the atms would only let you 2000 lempiras at a time. We had changed a small amount at the border with the money changers but used that up getting lunch & supplies. The currency is named after an native chief who fought the Spanish Conquistadors. At 4pm we hired to pick up trucks & headed off into the back country to the Jaguar Moon Hotsprings. The paved road ended 10ft outside the town & it was good fun bouncing all the way there in the back of a pickup. This dirttrack was worse than the one leading into the Serengenti in Tanzania. We saw a couple of overturned trucks in narrow ravines. The hotsprings had 2 pools , 1 hot & ... read more

Its just one thing after another down here,and my brain cannot remember it all. So, where I left off... going to copan. We had a lazy morning, and our shuttle arrived at 1pm for a 5 hr trip to copan, honduras. Well, it arrived at our house at 1, but then we drove all around town picking up what ended up being 14 other tourists-all piled in to what was basically a minivan. It was a little tight, but not too bad. After a stop for gas, i think we finally left antigua around 2 or 2:30. The beginning of the trip was relatively uneventful, minus feeling like I was at the carnival on the scrambler the whole time. Again, I was soooo car sick. We stopped about 4 hrs into the trip for a dinner ... read more

No, I didn't leave the country this month, but my church did make a 40 minute hike up the mountain to visit a new family in the church. The little "Aldea" (burg) they live in is called Tashikstal, and when they first started mentioning going to visit, I was almost sure they were talking about visiting Tajikstan. To start out, this month has been EXTREMELY busy and has flown by. Which, at the beginning of my travels I was wondering if time could go any slower and now it seems that every day goes by and I wish it would stick around a bit longer. But being busy has its advantages. The first event of the month was a beautiful wedding. The couple courted for some time before, so the wedding was extra special to me ... read more

I left via bus Thursday morning to go to the little town of Copan Ruinas. I first took a bus to the 18th street in the Zone 1 of Guatemala City. This is the place were one finds all the bus lines to take you out and away from the capital city to the tourist spots. The bus I chose was the one direct to Chiquimula. On this route, you leave Guatemala City from the east and eventually find yourself in the middle of the arid region of Zacapa. Here you see fron the roadside all sorts of cacti. It really is interesting. Zacapa and Chiquimula are cities that lie in the same Montagua river valley that continues eastward to the ruins of Copan. The bus rides were interesting. The first, being a large Greyhound type, ... read more