Well, we set off for Honduras by shuttle bus from Guatemala. This was scheduled to take about 6 hours, and “shuttle bus” is usually code for “a small, rather cramped minibus in a dubious state of repair”. And so it was: we all piled on, and arrived in Copan Ruinas, Honduras, seven and a half hours later, feeling somewhat frazzled. We repaired to our hotel, and after a few drinks and a meal at a local bar, slept very well. The following day, we did pretty much nothing, including spending the afternoon hours in hammocks on the roof of the hotel, reading and trying to do the crossword in the local paper. After this, though, we got on the case, and went to Macaw Mountain, a local charity which rescues Macaws and other birds which were once pets. They are spectacular. These are Scarlet Macaws.
And a Toucan, a la Guinness. A lot of the birds are in huge cages because they were pets, and so cannot find food themselves. They do breed in captivity, though, and the young birds are released into the wild.
The trip was bracketed by a rather interesting tuc-tuc ride: the roads around here are pretty shocking. Anyway, next day, we walk out to the Mayan Ruins of Copan which give Copan Ruinas half it’s name (the other half being the Copan river). These are marvellous, in a better state of repair than many other Mayan ruins.
Here I am looking slightly wooden next to an estela, a large carving, depicting one of the Mayan kings (18 Rabbit, 695AD) who was a bit of a warrior but was beheaded in 738.
There’s also a large museum which contains in it’s centre a reconstruction of a tomb which is buried under one of the main temples.
The Mayans were, it is well-known, as cheerful as anything, and here’s a few carvings which show this well.
It’s pretty warm when we finish our tour, so we spend the afternoon drinking fruit smoothies (called licuados round here) and swinging in our hammocks. Another day, another trip, and we’re off to a slightly rundown butterfly project near the town. Here they’ve just had a lot of giant Owl Butterflies hatch. These pretend to be the eyes of owls to protect themselves. This one is sitting on Diane’s arm: it’s about six inches wingtip to wingtip, and about three inches long.
And this is a smaller butterfly, species unknown, feeding.
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It pretty warm when we finish, so I imagine you can guess what we did in the afternoon. Indeed, licuados and hammocks again. To end our time here, we walk to a collection of toad carvings on the other side of the river. Here’s Diane sitting on one.
Off to Nicaragua tomorrow, via San Pedro Sula, apparently the most dangerous town in Central America. Should be exciting, eh ?
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