Who Zelaya? Mel Zelaya!

Excuse me while I dust off the old 'you couldn't make it up' cliche, but that really is the name of the (ex) President of Honduras, who was unfortunately (for him) removed by military coup a few months ago.

However, it wouldn't have felt like an authentic trip through Central America if there wasn't some kind of large scale political turmoil underway, so hats off to Honduras for stepping up to the plate and giving us a good old fashioned military backed junta-state to ride through. Apart from being stopped at army checkpoints every now and again, and having to negotiate the occasional pro or anti coup demonstration, it didn't have too much of an impact on us, and gave us plenty to talk to the locals about.

Near the border with Guatemala, we visited the ruins at Copan, which is one of the most important Mayan sites. The incredibly detailed stonework is the most remarkable feature of these buildings, which were constructed between around 400 and 800 AD.

Nicaragua has struck me in much the same way as Guatemala - a fantastic welcome from the locals, and a beautiful place, but it has been rendered fairly poor by the decades long stand off between President Daniel Ortega (hero of students and trendy lefties worldwide) and good ol' Uncle Sam.

Costa Rica border crossing tomorrow, so another day of endless waiting around in between episodes of shelling out US dollars to a stream of form-wielding officials - joy.

Nos vemos!

Postscript from Guatemala - news reaches us that the Government there is now starting to enforce its recently passed law banning the carrying of passengers on motorcycles. This is an attempt to stamp out the current method of choice of drive-by assassination, ie from the pillion of a bike. Good job we got out in time - might have been a long walk for Christine...

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