Copan...rocks, frogs and baleadas

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Bad news for ruin buffs and good news for those a bit 'ruined-out', Copan is the southernmost city of the Mayan empire. A colony has been here for 3000 years but the founder of the famous city arrived in AD 426, a powerful shaman named Great Sunlord Quetzal Macaw. Copan grew in strength through jade trade and military power but the empire mysteriously collapsed around 900 AD. One of the most memorable Kings was the 13th: Ubak K'awil or 18 Rabbit is immortalised forever on the magnificent carved stelaes. His untimely demise was brought about by his successor Smoke Monkey who decapitated him in battle.

Whilst Tikal is famous for it's pyramids and Palenque for it's progressive architecture and sheer size; Copan has it's intricate carvings. Stelae are the Mayan equivalent of totem poles and are a way of recording history and the rulers of Copan, many had sacrificial vaults beneath them. The ball-court here is the second largest in Central America and the hieroglyphic stairway is another example of the skill of the master carvers and the city's power. Unfortunately, over-eager archaeologists failed to preserve the order of this rubix cube and the full message of the blocks have been lost to time.

The city had collapsed long before the Spanish arrived, some archeaologists believed that the population advanced so rapidly that the surrounding countryside simply could not sustain them. Massive deforestation caused loss of food sources and flooding, skeletal remains of people who died in the final years show evidence of malnutrition and infectious diseases.

The quaint pueblo of Copan Ruinas is a great place to linger, on a rainy day the souvenir shops can while away a few hours and in the evenings the Belgian owned Cafe Via Via serves up Thai curry and Indonesian kebabs. Though the cheapest food in town is the baleada: a freshly made wheat tortilla smeared with refried beans, a crumbling of salty cheese and a lashing of sour cream. Really tasty and ranging from 17p to 40p depending on the class of outlet! Splurge on a super-balibaleada and you get scrambled egg, chicken, sausage and an avocado aswell...get in my belly! Time for a beer is an important occasion on any backpackers agenda and a little choice is appreciated. Honduras is blessed with some award-winning beers; Salva Vida, Imperial and Port Royal (in order of preference). For the cheap-skates, a one-pound bottle of aguadiente hits the spot and tastes of nothing but the grapefruit-flavoured fizz you mix it with. To top it, the labels are pure working-class: choose from 'Golazo' a Honduran footie player scoring a goal, a welder or a cowboy...love it.

In a cowboy mood we took to our saddles and toured the local countryside. Our guide Chavallo was hilarious - especially his demonstration of the birthing process at El Sapo. A Mayan nobleman would keep concubines in addition to his regular wife, they lived in the separate compound of Sepulturas, 2k away from the main site. The official wives would give birth at the sacred site of El Sapo, where rocks where carved in the form of a giant frog and an alligator. According to our guide, who said he had assisted a Harvard professor in excavating this site, noble women would get high on hallucinogenic mushrooms to be closer to the Gods whilst giving birth. They also used a natural anaesthetic and shamans performed ritual cesaereans using obsidian blades. The jaguar skin on which the operation was performed would be burnt with the placenta, the smoke being an offering to the Gods, returning later as fertile rain for the crops.

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Photos

King 18 Rabbit
We heard one tour guide calling him '18 bunny', not really the name of a warlord!

The hieroglyphic stairway
The 63 steps tell the history of the Royal house of Copan