I suppose I should have provided a better introduction as to the purpose of this blog.
The 15th of September is Independence Day here in Honduras. As is in the United States, this national holiday is observed by all schools and public institutions. For our school, Independence Day usually provides an extended weekend for teachers and students alike. This year the 15th fell on a Wednesday. There was question as to how our time off of school would fall. After contacting his superiors in Tegucigalpa, Mr. Perdomo, the principal of our school, confirmed that Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday would all be taken off of school, thus providing us with 5 days in which to travel.
It was discussed amongst the 4 of us girls in our first weeks here in La Union that we all desired to travel as much as possible. On the long bucket list of travel destinations within Honduras was Copan Ruinas. Honduras sits on the edge of the area of ancient Mayan settlements. The ancient ruins of Copan are the most famous of the ruins in this country. We agreed early on that if we were indeed awarded an extended weekend for Independence Day that the city of Copan would be our travel destination.
Which brings us back to Posada de Bellsy.
At the hotel we split up into two rooms, each with its own private bathroom, a television, which we never used, a double bed and a single bed. Too anxious to be clean to check out the rest of our accommodations, I jumped at the opportunity to take a CLEAN shower, something that is indeed hard to come by at my current residence. Dressed, ready to go, and feeling ever so clean, we set out for town in search of a coffee shop I had spotted earlier upon our arrival. Espresso Americano, a chain, apparently, here in Honduras, is the closest thing to Starbucks I have experienced since leaving the States. My beverage of choice: a Caramel Granita, which I would compare to a Caramel Frappacino. A delicious and COLD caffeinated treat, perfect for a hot Honduras day. Not one of us could pass up the pleasure of this outing and were all in a very happy state afterwards. Anticipating our time at the ruins now only a day away, we continued through town in search of a grocery store in which to purchase the necessary ingredients for a sack lunch. While browsing the isles I happen to come across a package of cookies entitled "Amelia". Delighted in my discovery, I was sure to snap a photograph before leaving the store. While looking for one of the girls to be my photographer, I overheard a dialogue between a cashier and another gringo who was stumbling over his Spanish words. I chuckled to myself and, after Bryony took a picture of me with MY cookies,
the 4 of us left the store with all the ingredients for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Our mission complete we decided to browse the town's artisan markets and tourist shops. More gringos again, which was weird for us, but typical for this town. One of them was indeed the same guy I had seen in the grocery store not 20 minutes prior. Unable to deny the awareness of one another, our two groups of gringos emerged to inquire as to our origins as well as our happenings here in Honduras. And what do you know, they are both teachers at a bi-lingual school in the very city we stood in. We spotted them for a third time at Via Via where we girls had decided to dine and celebrate Bryony's 19th birthday which had passed only the day before. The evening provided a heavenly meal for each, accompanied by delicious drink specials, great photo opps and a very happy birthday to our English friend. A wonderful beginning to a wonderful vacation.
The next morning was planned for an early rise and hike to the ruins, but not before breakfast. Inspired by the number of restaurants in town and driven by our desires for even more variety, we agreed to spend each meal at a different eatery. Welchez, situated kiddy corner from the central park, served only us for breakfast that morning. After enjoying every bite of my French Toast, the others their dish of choice, and a shared plate of fresh fruit, we set out on our walk with only the general direction of the ruins in mind.
The walk to the ruins was beautiful. Along the way we were encouraged when we passed by a display of Mayan statues. At least we knew we were headed in the right direction. Not far up the road on the opposite side was the entrance to the park. Immediately upon entry, we were approached by tour guides who eagerly explained to us the services they offered. A guide is something we had already decided we were going to do before we got to the park, and were fortunate enough to have chosen Mauricio. A good humored, middle-aged man and might I add well traveled. After passing the tropical birds upon entering the park, he began telling us stories of his travels pausing only to fulfill his tour guide duties by pointing out and explaining the significance of this tree or that animal. Our first REAL stop however, was the Plaza Occidental. Mauricio's words were no longer audible, for my mind was elsewhere. I was in absolute awe at the site before me. To be standing here, in Copan, Honduras, in what remains of an ancient Mayan civilization, it was incredible, to say the least. To know such a place exists or to see pictures, in no way gives justice to what is. The structure, the sculpture, the landscape, the history, completely took my breath away. It took me a while to remember that I indeed had feet capable of walking and caught up to the girls who were listening intently to what Mauricio had to say. Still in wonderland, I took out my camera and started photographing everything in sight, only to be greeted with the wonderful red blinking battery icon on my camera screen. Of course. Worry not, I was able to take plenty of pictures, though not as many as I'd hoped. Anyway, while leaning over a sculpture to pose for a picture, Mauricio assured me it was ok to touch it, or sit on it, or whatever. Excuse me? In the United States, or even Europe, no such thing would be allowed. Rather, I would be stuck on a narrow walk path behind a sticky guardrail no less than 10 yards away from anything interesting. The beauty of Copan is that you can pretty much do whatever or go wherever you please with very little restriction. The further into the park we walked, the more I embraced this freedom. We spent the rest of the morning with Mauricio, who acted partly as our tour guide and partly as our photographer, exploring the ruins. He spent far longer than the allotted 1 1/2 hour time with us, and we were sure to tip him extra at the end of the tour. Still, the entire morning was not at all enough time to take it all in. We sat for our picnic lunch, peanut butter and jelly, before re-entering the park to do our own exploring. Andrea and Holly set off to do the nature trail that surrounded the park, while Bryony and I opted to retrace the steps of our morning tour. It was here that we met yet another gringo. He was trying to take a picture of the tropical birds we had passed earlier and was having little luck obtaining the action shot he desired, a bird in flight. I tried my best to help him achieve his goal and consequently made an absolute fool of myself. Laughing at my hopeless attempt, the 3 of us set off down the path engaged in the typical "Where are you from?" conversation we foreigners often find ourselves in. He was from Switzerland, in the midst of traveling all of Central and South America by himself and was set to finish in December, ambitious. Wishing him the best, we parted ways when we reached the end of the path. The nature trail hike was cut short for Holly and Andrea due to an overabundance of large spiders along the way. They found Bryony and me in the Plaza de los Jaguares. Observing the threatening weather overhead and anticipating our walk back to town, we terminated our stay at the ruins.
Was that a dream? I was still in absolute awe the entire walk back to the hotel. After freshening up we headed out for Caramel Granitas and to browse the markets. Not feeling well, I returned to the hotel to rest while the girls headed to Twisted Tania's for drinks in the evening. I met up with them for dinner a few hours later at Vamos A Ver, a quiet little eatery where, of course of all places, our Swiss friend showed up to dine. It would have been awkward, seeing how we were the only other people at the restaurant, not to have invited him to join us. Though, he may have regretted his decision to accept our invitation when Holly and Bryony struck up a 7 1/2 minute conversation with each other about anything and EVERYTHING two intoxicated British girls could think of. This included, but was not limited to, Cornas and Texwell, St. Patrick and the invention of the color green, rain, and Holly on a bridge. After that comedic highlight, I called it a night early, still not feeling 100%.
It was good to wake up feeling completely refreshed the next day. Friday was my shopping day. I had been extremely disciplined since arriving on Wednesday NOT to spend any money other than what was necessary for meals and the ruins. After breakfast though I intentionally set out to do some damage to my newly funded foreign bank account. My mission was to find goods made here in Copan. Copan Ruinas is very close to the Guatemalan border, so there are LOADS of Guatemalan goods in all the shops, their specialty being textiles. It took a lot of conversations in Spanish, which I am improving on, though still not fluent, to get a sense for what was actually made here Copan. Satisfied with the information I had gathered, I started spending. Jade is believed to have been mined in Copan by the ancient Mayans. It is still mined there, though larger mines exist just across the border as well. Anything Mayan, or displaying Mayan symbols, is obviously made in Copan, my favorite being the Mayan calendars. There are also these dolls made out of corn husks that little girls from the surrounding villages sell in the street. These dolls are only made in the villages around Copan. You will have no problem finding them, the girls are very eager to sell to you, especially if you are a gringo. I made frequent stops back to the hotel to unload my bag and record my spendings. Yikes! By the end of the day I had spent an alarming amount but decided not to worry about it, this was a once in a lifetime vacation. I opened up my daily planner and set a date the following week to write myself a budget for the year.
I spent my last morning enjoying a hot caramel latte at Espresso Americano overlooking the small city as it slowly came to life. Perhaps I gave myself too much time to sit, before I knew it I was off spending more. Hotel check out at 11 am saved me from myself. None of us wanted to leave, we had one last meal down the hill at a restaurant near the bus station. I finished eating early with the intention to run up the hill for one last Caramel Granita. Savoring every last drop of my frozen beverage, I reluctantly boarded the bus to La Entrada with the girls. Goodbye Copan…
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