Copan Ruinas

After bidding Maron and Tegus farewell, we got an early start to make it all the way to the western border of the country where we would visit the Mayan ruins of Copan. They say that Tikal is impressive because of its towering temples reaching above the jungle tree line. Copan won't wow you with any skyscraping temples, but what it lacks in height it makes up for with its intricate sculptures of kings and gods adorning its temples.

After eight or so hours on buses, we set foot in the town of Copan Ruinas. Before I could even finish pissing on parking lot wall, we were being offered a room for $4 a night. Julio kept chatting with the guy while James and I finished watering the grass. I don't like people being so aggressive and pushy, but we followed him up the cobblestone hill. On the next corner a young guy ran up shouting his offer. The two of them argued while we sat, ignoring them for a couple and enjoying space and the cool mountain air.

The newcomer, Freddy, said he had a triple room with cable TV, hot water, and free internet for $4 for the night. We followed him. He left us for two minutes to go deal some American guy pot. He came running back to us and we followed him. The hotel Marjenny dining room was filled with Hondurans munching down some typical fried chicken plates, but the rest of the hotel was empty. We followed Freddy upstairs, walking past the hanging plants, luxury sized hammocks, and well painted walls. He showed us our room and there were three spacious and comfy beds, air conditioning, TV, and a bathroom with hot water, all as promised. It seemed too good to be true. We were suspicious. We had visions of waking up gagged and bound, kidney-less, and on our way to losing more organs.

After checking out a couple of other not-so-appealing options, we went back to Marjenny. We felt better when we saw the manager's face drop that Freddy told us we could have the room for $4. It seemed like she'd be the one getting screwed and not us. After eating some baleadas(eggs, beans, cheese, and cream stuffed into a giant tortilla and then toasted), we kicked back in the hotel watching Goodfellas (Julio had never seen it in English! The Spanish dub everything.). We slept and woke up the next morning with all our organs intact and where we left them.

We took our time getting to the ruins the next day. We started in the museum and I was already blown away. In the center was a replica of the giant underground tomb that was inaccessable on Friday. Walking around and seeing the sculptures of kings, altars with stories carved into the sides, and random animal faces, I was already blown away. All was made more impressive by knowing that these sculptures were all made using rocks because the Mayans lacked metal tools.

The site itself was much more impressive than I had anticipated. My pictures will do it all much more jutsice than my words, so check them out here.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We treated ourselves to a delicious steak dinner and a few beers, but called it a relatively early night so we'd wake up on time for our 6am bus to Antigua. That didn't stop us from watching another movie and enjoying another hot shower. Old habits die hard.