Copan: Ruins and Earthquakes

The ride back to Antigua from Lake Atitlan with my parents was not accompanied by motion sickness and thus the ride was infinitely more enjoyable. We enjoyed one last walk around the magnificent city together and in the morning said fair well. Even though we were sad to say goodbye, we were ready to jump back into the thick of back packing. 

Our journey to Honduras began at 4 am and continued for 8 hours across the winding countryside of Guatemala to the border. I should have taken a picture at this crossing because there was hardly anyone around save for a couple locals and one other shuttle, giving it a bit of an eerie feeling as we have become accustomed to large unorganized crossings. From the border it was a simple 20 minute drive to the safest spot in Honduras. For those that are not aware, Honduras ranks very very high in homicides and there has been no shortage of stories of such. We however, found a welcoming small town and a lovely hostel with a delightful family cafe next door, so we settled in for four days. 

Before we could settle in too much, we experienced one of the more unique things we have in our lives... an earthquake! At 4 am on our second night, we awoke to the walls and ground shaking and the sound of dogs and roosters crying out in the night. It didn't last long, but the sensation of the ground moving underneath us isn't something we will soon forget. With our curiosity piqued, we searched online to find the magnitude and location of the earthquake and discovered that the epicentre was 100 km away from us and it measured 4.5 on the Richter scale. 

Our purpose in coming to Honduras was to see the famous Mayan Ruins and we were not disappointed. We were a bit surprised by how few tourists were at the site considering its fame, wonder and grandure though. With no line up and hardly anyone around we paid our $30 and entered the historic site. At the entrance we were greeted by the amazing sight and sound of Macaws flying amoung the towering trees overhead. As the trees parted along our path the sight of the magnificent grand plaza began to take shape. Copan is famous for its well preserved and incredibly detailed Stelae, which are carved hieroglyphs of rulers with written descriptions on all sides of a very large upright stone. With our lonely planet book in hand we carefully read about each one (of which there are many) and proceeded on to the temples. It was exciting to be able to climb to the top of many of the ruins and look down at the site and imagine what it all may have looked like 1000 years ago. Copan also boasts of the longest continuous hieroglyphic inscription in the Mayan world detailing the ruling dynasty on a stairway 63 steps high and the second largest ball court. This day was truly remarkable and we were awestruck by the scope and impressive artistic abilities portrayed by the ancient Maya.

On other days we toured a couple museums holding special artifacts from the site, as well as a full size replica of one of the temples found underneath a current one (red building below). However, our time in Copan was enhanced all the more by three new friends. Our favourite memory was sitting around the hostel owners home/cafe and watching the Super Bowl on a small, old tv in Spanish. The next day was go time and two of our new friends joined us on our ride to Antigua, which turned out to be a private transfer as we were the only ones aboard!