Copan Ruinas - The Copan Ruins

Well, here I am safely in Copan after one hell of a journey. I was up at 5am yesterday to catch the ferry at 6.20, which arrived in La Ceiba at 7.30, followed by a crazy taxi ride with a driver (who had a serious death wish!) to the bus station. Just in time to catch the 8.30 bus to San Pedro Sula. I managed to stay awake this time, well most of the time. The mountains all along the north coast are simply stunning and densly forested. Then as you move inland and the mountains slink into the distance the land either side of the road is replaced with huge fruit tree and coconut palm plantations. Eventually the roads become dustier although everything is still pretty green. Finally at midday we arrived in San Pedro Sula. There was initially only a one hour wait but this stretched to two, one of which was spent slowly melting in the bus! Eventually, we are off, heading to the very western part of the country, not far from the border with Guatemala. The roads are dusty and the vegetation is getting drier, the dry season is in getting into full swing here. We pass through a river valley and wind around hills for three hours until finally arriving at the town of Copan Ruinas at about 5 pm. Only half an hour earlier than if I had taken the fancy air-conditioned buses! Lesson learnt. Trying to save time doesn't always work out! Still, it was half the price!

I headed straight to the first hotel I had read about, Lauro's Hotel. Trying to drag a bag of dive gear up a steep cobbled street is an adventure in itself! Remind me to leave it behind next time. At last, hot, sweaty and tired I collapse on a wonderfully comfortable bed in a clean, pleasant room. After a refreshingly cool shower (hot is available but seriously not needed at the moment!) I head out to eat and try the recommended Llama Del Bosque. Which should mean, if my spanish is correct, the Forest Llama! Anyway, name aside it certainly lived up to its' reputation. Desperate for some pasta I chose spag bol and it was fantastic! I know I should be adventurous and choose somewhere different tonight but they have Arroz con camarones (rice and shrimp) and I used to love this in Costa Rica so I think I will be heading back! I sat on a beautiful outdoor covered patio and read up about the Mayan Ruins whilst downing a banana milkshake.

This morning I was up early searching for breakfast before heading to the ruins. I ended up at La Casa de Todo (the house of everything!) a well-named place where you can do laundry, use the internet, and there is a cafe, shop and book exchange. I'm bound to have missed something out! So, yogurt topped with granola, honey and fruit with an iced tea set me up for the day. I set off for the ruins, 1km from the town, a nice 15 minute walk which passed several statues (called stelae) on the way. My first ever sighting of Mayan sculptures. I was so excited for what was about to come. Turning into the ruins I was welcomed by friendly guides who pointed me in the direction of the ticket office where I bought a ticket to the ruins and the museum of sculture. There are also tunnels that cost a lot more and I gave those a miss. I had planned to wander round myself. I had a little guidebook and a basic map, but after entering the main area and seeing all these incredible stelae and stepped structures I realised I would only get the most out of it if there was someone to tell me what it all meant! On the way back to the guide office to grab a guide it was whip the binoculars out time when a Montezuma's oropendula flew passed. It has the most amazing call, there is a site of bird calls from Costa Rica, when I get back home I will post a link to the call. It's seriously impressive I promise! Yes, yes I realise I am turning into a birding geek. But it is the easiest wildlife to see when travelling, relatively speaking.

Back to the ruins, my guide was wonderful. But I am turning into my grandfather and I am embarassed to say I can't remember his name! I know it began with a 'C' and no it wasn't Carlos! Anyway he was brilliant, he took me all around the sight, explained about Mayan history and the importance of Copan. I took a zillion photos, unfortunately my camera has had one of its glitches again and although the pictures look amazing on the camera when I transfered them to my usb stick it is if someone suddenly turned off the flash. I'm so annoyed. I am hoping I can repair them at home. I could go back again tomorrow and take them all again but who is to say the camera won't do exactly the same thing again. So all the cool pictures I was hoping to upload tonight will have to wait I'm afraid. If you are interested at all you could stick Copan ruins in google, I'm sure some good images would come up.

The tour took a good couple of hours, and the ruins really did blow me away. Imagining that incredibly advnaced civilisation walking, living and dying in and under those very same stones that I was looking at or standing on was quite overwhelming. Interestingly enough, they believe that it was over-population (due to the huge success of the Mayans) and consequently the over-use of resources and deforestation etc. which caused droughts and climate change amongst other things that eventually resulted in their downfall. For those of you that don't know, pretty much everything that the Mayans ever predicted has come true. They also predict that the end of the current life cycle on this planet will end on 23rd December 2012. I think that is the right date! I will check when I get back to my room. I didn't read it to mean the end of the earth, more like the death of one life cycle followed by a rebirth.

It's is a little frightening that the downfall of such an advanced culture was caused by more or less exactly the same issues that we are facing now. Maybe we should learn from their lessons before it is too late!

Ok enough preaching for now! I spent the rest of the afternoon on the nature trail, spotting wonderful birds and trying to identify trees and remember their names. When I was in Costa Rica studying the monkeys I used to be able to identify 25-30 tree species in this tropical dry forest (incidentally it is the most endangered forest type in the world, only 5% left). I know I have rabbited on long enough and you are all asleep now so I'm going to let you doze and go grab my rice and shrimp.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to the Macaw Mountain Bird Reserve. Yes, more birds! A rough idea for Wednesday is a visit to the Mariposaria (butterfly park) in the morning and possibly a trip to the hot springs in the afternoon. Not that you need hot springs here it is soooo hot now. Thursday is another very early start, 4.30 or earlier to catch a bus at 5.15am back to San Pedro Sula, then a taxi to the airport, a flight to Miami and another flight to London. I'm telling you all this now in case I don't get online again!

Take care all, and if I don't speak to you before I'll catch up as soon as I'm back home!

Adios amigos!

p.s. edit: His name was Cesar!