Copan Ruins... The City, not artifacts.

Copan the city, is a small town. While I could have walked the entire town in a morning’s hour, Jerry was not up and our agreement was I wasn’t to stray very far, to stay with in our radio distance. So with in a block of town central was my only morning playground. Thankfully market was within that area! I enjoy getting up and walking towns before the rest of the world gets up! Locals don’t expect someone on vacation to be out so early, so it works for me. I sat, listened and watched the locals greet each other, all of Central America seems to be such a friendly lot of people, you show respect, they give it back. 

I have no skills when it comes to the Spanish Language, but was lucky enough- generally I am-- to find someone who spoke English. And he just happen to be the town supplier of my favorite fruit! Laecha? I can not find this word in any dictionary to spell it correctly, but is sounds very close to leche which is milk. Walking the market here was not of my best interest, as it was small, dark and had too many hidden areas for trouble so I sat outside and waited for a large hotel to open so I could get a cappuccino. I sat with my coffee, ate my power bar, watched people clean the streets, picking up trash, sweeping, then wetting with what ever water they had. It is usually a dirty water with no other purpose left except to cut down on the daily dust from the streets.

My favorite foods of the entire trip were consumed in Copan! One more thing I didn’t expect but enjoyed. It took us an hour from the time we ordered to the time we got our food, but it was cooked in front of us on an open pit. It was not only enjoyable and relaxing to watch all the actions of the place it was frankly impressive! As our cook stoked the fire, our server served others while carrying things on her head from table to table, even up the stairs.

The restaurant was not a full block from the Hotel, it was… Nia Lolas, where no one speaks English, but they do have menu’s in both languages, so you point to one and they point to the Spanish version. We ask if their water was pura/ purified and they said yes for ice etc… we still drank out of bottles except the alcohol we ordered; this was one of our few drink splurges.

Honduras.

Everyone dreams of a different type of vacation, while some think only of the beach, others the mountains, I dream of a vacation, or better yet a lifestyle, where time is not the issue, where people do what they need to; so they can do what they want the rest of the day. Does such a place really exist? Only on vacation where others do the things you have to, so you can do what ever you want.

Jerry and I normally go to a place once and mark it off our list, not to return, only to look back at our memories, pictures and notes, this time we used one of our favorite places as a home base to do several other things on our list… go to Copan, Honduras and climb an active volcano; with no restrictions of getting as close as your own body will allow to the molten lava.

On our first trip to Guatemala we stayed in Antigua, Panza Verde Hotel and Restaurant …and to this day it is top of the list, but the need for such a romantic place with the most expensive food was not what we needed. We needed peace and quiet, time to relax, and a place to settle into. This time we choose a hotel middle of the road cost wise, Quinta de la Flores… but a favorite in my mind in that it was spacious and quiet! While each room was full, Friday night we rarely crossed paths with other guest, only to eat, or catch a cab.

While Antigua was our home base as I called it, Honduras, Copan Ruins were our main goal for the trip. We had our bags locked up in Antigua and took only what we needed for the trip, in our little back packs… got up long before the sun, and took a van into Honduras. In the van we got lucky we were the ONLY TWO people in the van, this allowed Jerry to lay in the front bench and sleep, how, I have no idea. I was having a hard time just sitting up straight. Laws are different where ever you go, but there are no laws that say a vehicle in Guatemala or Honduras have to have lights/ functional lights I should say! So on several occasions our van would be IN the ON coming traffic lane get over into the correct travel lane and suddenly a metal wall was in front of us. 18 wheelers with NO LIGHTS what so ever. Not to mention the people on bicycles, or walking, and animals of all sizes in the road, all around 3 am in the morning? What are people thinking?

We got to the boarder, and frankly I was worried, but our driver was so well known… we filled out NO paperwork, paid our fees, got our stamp!!! HE stamped our passports while the woman ate her breakfast, and he dropped us at our hotel! Don’t expect the same! There are 6 windows for paperwork… This guy has driven from Antigua to this Honduras Boarder for 2 years EVERY DAY! Everyone greeted him, arms waved, words exchanged (that I didn’t understand) and horns honked every few feet.

Living quarters appeared to be somewhat worse than most of Guatemala BUT Copan is not a major city and few tourist make it there. “We’re not in Kansas anymore” … was Jerry’s quote. To my surprise… our Hotel, Yat Belam, was FAR beyond what I expected. Air Conditioning, a fridge, cable, movies, drying rack for clothes, private balcony, enough room to sleep 4 or 6, sound proofed windows with UV protection, public outdoor living room with books, sofas etc. Nice place! And GREAT Cappuccino; best of the entire trip!

The ruins are something that will take me weeks to express! Of the Mayan ruins this one is on the top of my list. We practically had the place to our selves, we ran into less than 10 other tourist.