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Published: October 25th 2006
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I missed my bus north from the border at Nuevo Ocotepeque as I didn't realise Honduras was an hour ahead of El Salvador so I went off to do Internet! The bus lady had been really grumpy initially but she started to ask me lots of questions (the usual - how many siblings, are you married, why not? don't you want to be?), the usual answers (well, it's different in London, why? I'm not sure.. it just is) and I ended up chatting to her and her daughter until the last bus came at 8pm, which she let me on without having to pay again. So she turned out to be really lovely. This meant I didn't arrive at my stopover town, Santa Rosa de Copan, until well after dark. I asked an elderly couple who were walking up into the town if they knew of any hotels since the hotel nearest the bus station was closed. They very kindly walked me down cobbled streets to a hotel, and gave me the lowdown on areas to avoid in the dark.
The hostel was as basic as it gets, complete with the odd cockroach and screaming child up way past her
bedtime, but I slept pretty well and, after wandering around a little the following morning, I headed on the bus north to Copan Ruinas, site of the best pre-Columbian remains in Honduras. The town is pretty touristy but it was fun as I hooked up with an American medic in training (Yuval) in the hostel. He had two archaeology graduate friends in town working at the site... great news for me as I could pick their brains on what they were working on, how it was going. One is studying the biological remains of the Mayans to gain insight into their lives. There was also a Harvard undergrad dig there - the girls were none too complimentary about the Harvard students. Apparently they have to work so hard they never go out.. even when on holiday in Honduras!
My one regret in Copan was not taking a motorbike tour.. a very chilled american tour guide was up for taking me out without my licence into the surrounding hills on a dirt bike and ending at the hot springs... I just didn't have the time as schedule was driving hard at that point to get to Guatemala with time to
Stelae
So intricate no copy can be made fly to Ecuador and meet my friend Robert.
However that night after a delicious but pricey (after Nicaragua) steak, when out with the archaeologists at local bar, we ran into two Honduran guides, Juan who worked at the Copan site and his cousin who takes tours all over the place. Had great night chatting to them over Cuba Libres and next day, in the beautiful early morning, met Juan at the site for a tour. Nobody was there, the macaws were just starting to wake up (they hang out at the gate entrance, colourful blogs hanging off the fence like an abstract painting) and we also saw toucans and an agouti (after all those struggles to catch a glimpse in Costa Rica!). It was great, very comprehensive with lots of larking about on his part and humorous stories, all made up for tourists' pleasure I expect but fun all the same. The site really came alive with his help... temples, the famous staircase carved with the history of the Kings over the duration of the site, the stelae. It really was impressive, in particular the intricacy of the stonework carving... I ended up spending about 4 hours on this
site and Las Sepulturas down the road which required a bit more imagination as there were more mounds of earth which were less decipherable. Got a lift back into town with two old guys in the cab of their truck, a good thing as was cutting it fine for my bus to the coast and Utila. The museum in town was also intriguing, with a priest burial which included jaguar bones and displays of skulls complete with embedded jewels in their teeth.
Headed off on a very plush bus to the coast... and met Eliza en route who is an absolute star traveller Brit. We stayed together in a hostal before getting the ferry the following morning to Utila, and we ended up having a blast the whole of the next week on our island adventure...
Memories of Honduras mainland
*More cowboys hats and cowboy boots after El Salvador
*Laid back country of hammocks, FOUR beer brands (owned by SABMiller, as is El Salvador), dusty towns, white sand beaches (puerto castillo... lovely), hot
*Healthier horses - larger and better fed (obviously a very important topic for me!)
*Don't receive too much attention so easy to cope with.. the odd 'Hello Baby' and 'Bye'... they all get their english phrases from American films and want to practice their english more than anything else
*Pupusería y Comedor Mary in Copan Ruins town - stuffed full with locals and absolutely delicious pupusas.. always the best tip I can give anyone... eat where there are lots of locals eating... good chat with local who spoke good english.. must be in the tourism business!
*Pupusas in Honduras are known as empanadas aswell and are 'mixto' not 'revuelto'. They have more choices including 'loroco', a local green veggie
*Rolling green hills between the El Salvador and Honduras border - very agricultural. However, the river is so dirty they can't swim in it - such a pity
*Lovely people - I got lots of help everywhere, although this was the only country where I actually saw Hondurans themselves leaning out of the bus to check their baggage didn't disappear at stops en route!
*Lots of children selling still.. There was a little boy singing on the bus en route to Copan Ruinas in a dusty, one-horse town. Many children asleep by their mums as the mums work on their stalls.... crying is a privilege for the middle classes... these children never seek attention and never seem to complain. They just get on with it...
*Seeing vast cauldrons of cooking corn on an enormous old range - wood fired. Corn is BIG in this part of the world
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