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Published: December 12th 2011
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As we crossed the border into Honduras on our Hedman Alas bus trip, we were hit up for 40 Quetzales, departure tax from the Guatemalan official. We had not noticed anyone else having to pay when they handed over their passports and customs declarations, nor had we read of any fees payable to leave the country on land. But it is hard to argue with someone who is holding your passports, so despite having spent all our Quetzales (they kindly agreed to take US$) we paid up and walked across the road to Honduras and their officials. While waiting there for the rest of the bus passengers to clear customs we spotted a unique take on a no smoking sign on the window. The English translation is "
Smoking is suicidal. Please go commit suicide somewhere else."Don't you love it! Maybe that should be the new public health warnings outside offices in Australia.
Just 12 kms over the border from Guatemala is the town of
Copan Ruinas. For most of us the big draw card for this town is the Ruins of the Mayan civilisation that lived here from 400 to 800BC. But Copan Ruinas itself is a pretty cool little
town. Small enough to walk around easily but quirky enough to hold your interest.When we arrived on Saturday afternoon and got dropped to our accommodation by two tuk-tuks, the park central was pumping. Lots of families and young men and women around and about, with a very happy vibe. There are lots of small supermarkets and shops and places to eat, but it was also very different to towns we had seen in Guatemala.
The first thing that struck us was the people. In Guatemala, the people are either Mayan or not, whereas here the people are all "ladino" - mixed with Spanish or European blood - and the style of dress is much more westernised. Everyone is in jeans, and the girls are more likely to be in slinky, bright tops with high heel shoes. However, the machismo culture of the cowboy is also very evident and men of all ages hang out around town in their ubiquitos cream cowboy hats. This was particularly noticeable on Sunday morning - we observed lots of men sitting and chatting around the town square, while the women and children were absent - maybe in Church??? Then later that day, lots of
men were spotted drinking in the small bars/holes in the walls.
After a couple of days checking out the town we walked the kilometre or so out of town to the Ruins. We have been fortunate enough to see several Mayan/Incan ruins previously in Mexico and Peru and whilst these do not have the grandeur or majesty of say, Machu Picchu, they are fascinating for the stories told in the heiroglyphics and carvings. With a 400 year history, spanning the reigns of 16 kings, they provide such a wonderful insight into the lives of the people of that time.
Our favourite king - if not for any other reason but his name, was the 13th -
18 Rabbit - and he was pretty influential in the history of the place. There are many remains from his reign in place.We were also intrigued to hear of the Mayan version of football, which was a game using a rubber ball that was struck using the elbows, knees and hips. Instead of goals, the 5 players on each team had to hit one of 6 statue heads (in Copan, these were Macaw heads - which represented blood/life). And in a horrifying
twist, 3 times a year, the
winning player was sacrificed in front of everyone, after the game!
The Mayans clearly also had a good sense of humour - many of the carved figures were quite funny or grotesque and they also knew how to have a good time. There was a large arena for dancing and entertainment, with a carved dancing figure on one side.
The
heiroglyphic staircase is the showpiece and it is stunning. You do wish that you could climb it - but understand why it must be better preserved. The replica of one of the palaces - Rosalilla in the excellent Museum - also on the site - which is coated in stucco and painted in the dominant colours of red, green and yellow, gives you an insight into how amazing this place would have been in all its, original coloured glory. We opted to explore the tunnels as well -which are a work in progress due to continuing excavation - and really enjoyed seeing the layers of buildings on top of tomb sites and other palaces etc.
After a few hours at the Ruins, our minds were overloaded and couldn't take anymore in,
so walked back to Copan for some lunch and refreshments.
Aside from wandering around town, the other activity we decided to do (as we were next heading out to Finca El Cisne for horse riding, hot springs, coffee farm tour etc) was to go tubing on the Copan River. Fortunately the day we picked to go was sunny and hot, so floating down the river on a rubber tube for about three hours was actually a really nice way to cool off. The scenery was fantastic - we passed through lots of farming land and lush countryside, alongside kids and adults bathing in the river or farmers just hanging out with their cows at the waters edge. The river was very shallow and rocky in parts, so you had to work a bit to find the path through, but aside from the first very tricky rapids, which our guide did not prepare us for at all,we really enjoyed it. We emerged several kilometres away somewhat battered and bruised - but it was a fun thing to do. And the ride in the back of the pickup, with the rubber tubes, was much more enjoyable than our first pickup ride
in Guatemala. This driver actually knew where to find the brake!
After 5 days in town we were ready to move on to the Coffee farm...but were very glad we got to visit Copan.
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Sue Lewis
non-member comment
Great hats
Hey Michael, hope you bought yourself one of those cowboy hats, they look pretty cool!!