Copan Ruinas...small but fascinating

---

We pulled into Copan Ruinas somewhere around three in the afternoon. I was sick as a dog. The only way I had been able to make the trip out of Chiquimula was by pumping myself full of no-name brand Immodium, Pepto-Bismol and Gravol. I could barely move, stand the heat or keep my eyes open. In other words I was a verrry helpful travelling partner. Right.

I watched the bags, sipping what I could of a soda in a little restaurant while Chris dutifully scouted a place where I could crash. I had but one little splurge request for the night...a private bathroom! All I did was sleep for the rest of the day and night. My luck with the sicknesses hasn't exactly been A1 this time round, but I haven't gotten anything serious, so I thank what lucky stars I do have.

We spent the next day taking it easy, just kind of putzing around the town, which is adorable. The place looks as if it were built to house huge busloads of tourists, but I´m beginning to wonder if that's just the way people build their places out here. Do these places ever get full? I've never seen it. Kind of weird. The town is definitely more alive in the evening, somewhere around 7 or 8. All the gringos come back from the ruins and other tours and the locals, who are smart enough not to venture out in the oppressive midday heat, emerge from whatever shelter they've been hiding in.


After we moved into the Iguana Azul, a great little place on the outskirts of the town (I say outskirts but it's a two minute walk from the centre) we went to the butterfly museum. Definitely a little overpriced, it would be slightly more worth it if you went went the orchids were in bloom. The price gets you a guided tour with explanations of species and demonstrations of the life cycle of the butterfly with real eggs and larvae and cocoons that MOVE! I'd never seen this before so it was a trip for me.

There's an enclosed butterfly house/garden where you can watch about ten species fly around, both large and small. The new addition, which has apparently been the cause of the price increase, is the orchid house just up the path with over 100 species. Their blooming season is from May to July, however, so most of what we saw were green leaves and bulb stumps. From the photos in the orchid handbook they give you before you head in, the flowers would be beautiful if we had been there two months later.

The restaurants in this town are mostly geared to the tourists. Places like Twisted Tanyas and Llama del Bosque are out of my budget, but the menus looked pretty good. More along our lines there was a great BBQ place called Momo's Churrasqueria which had huge beautiful pinchos (shish-kebabs) which is a standard local dish. There was one other restaurant right near the park, just up from Twisted Tanya's that we thought was the best deal in town. They had a two for one rum special till 8pm (can you say Margaritas!) and an everything at 80L menu with great portions and super good grub. They even had nice wooden tables and chairs instead of patio furniture!

Feeling a little better, we journeyed out to the ruins on foot the following day. Not the biggest, most majestic ruins we've ever seen but definitely some of my favorites. The detail that's been preserved here is spectacular and I have a particular enthusiasm for the detailed engravings, hieroglyphics and artwork that went into all of their constructions. The most important piece in the entire part and possibly the most important archeological discovery in terms of the mayans is the hieroglyphic staircase which they are currently in the process of restoring. There are lots of other fantastically detailed sculptures as well. The most famous is one that looks like an old woman's head. Chris and I dubbed her Baba Yaga. There's also a stone depicting the sixteen mayan rulers in succession.

If you're really into the details of the mayan archeological ruins and not just the grandure of the buildings, this is a great spot for you. I loved it. We didn't visit Las Sepulturas and heard that the tunnels were not worth the extra $12. But you judge for yourself.

On our way back we turned off at a sign for the Maya Vista Hotel Recreation Centre. It's only about halfway down the road back to town. They've got a restaurant and, most importantly, a pool which we were in dire need of that day after we left the ruins. The waiter said that using the pool would cost us 30L each, but ended up not charging us.

On the last evening we were there the town was hosting a motorcycle display and block party. Entry was 10L and proceeds were going to one of the local clinics. The whole town had come out for the party. The band, that had travelled in all the way from Santa Rosa did a couple of Spanish tunes and even a few English cover, Nickelback, CCR and Cream. We had a fine time people watching in the street. Caught a bus on the following day on our way to San Pedro Sula, where we would go on to the north coast beach town of Tela.

A few other places to check out in Copan Ruinas. The green apple hostal looked like a good place, they had a communal kitchen and TV too, which are big plusses if you're really trying to scrimp. The Casa de Todo had great looking salads and pastas, good liquados and great coffee if you can get them to make it with the espresso machine. They also have internet upstairs and pretty much the only decent book exchange in the city.

Tela's up next.

Much love

Vanessa

---