So, on the morning of the 9th, Joe, Nat and I headed over the airport to pick up PJ. Joe and Nat joined PJ and I on our trip up to Copan in Honduras. They’re good friends and I was happy to have them along.
Anyway, back to PJ and airport. Surprisingly enough, he came in and got out of the airport really quickly. This worked to our advantage – maybe not to PJ’s. I had decided that we would drive straight to Copan when he got in. Now, in my defense, I originally thought he was getting in at 8:30am – not 11:30am. If I had that in the originally plans I would of delayed our departure for the next day, but all the reservations had been made so we were off.
I really do feel bad about this – cause he had just spent over 5 or 6 hours getting down here and I threw him in a rented car to drive another 7…oops. The car he (I could say we, but I’m fooling no one) was a KIA something or other. It perfectly fit our needs – cozy and with good gas mileage.
Before hitting the road, we stopped by Quiznos for a quick lunch. PJ was immediately taken by the fact that there was a guy with a shot gun out front directing parking. I explained that security is high down here and I actually feel better when there is a guy with a shot gun outside of these places.
After lunch we finally started our interesting journey to Copan.
Now, the problem with driving with Peace Corps volunteers is that they don’t actually know the roads – they know bus routes. We managed to get out of the capitol without too much trouble and only a hand full of U’es.
On the highway leading out to El Poy (the border crossing) we also managed to miss and exit. It was a slight sight seeing tour that lasted about 25 minutes. The rest of the way up the border went smoothly. About 1 kilometer from the border we got pulled over. I should explain that being pulled over down here is not always for offenses. They (the police) are just checking that cars aren’t stolen. These sorts of checkpoints have seriously helped to decrease car theft and kidnappings. Anyway, I chatted with the officer and gave him our documents. He was satisfied and let us go on our way. It was also around here that we filled up with gas…something we were thankful for later.
Our first border crossing took place at El Poy. It was fun since we drove up to the guard and he said we needed to go inside to pay a fee. Funny enough, the same guard came inside – love small crossing areas. I tend to believe the fee was real since he gave us receipts and it was only $3. We also talked to him about the best way to get to Copan. I had been told that you could get to Copan driving through Copan. The guard at the border told us that we could, but that would take another 6 hours to do. His suggestion was that we take a short cut through Guatemala. After talking to him, we went to the next town just to double check. He was right.
We were hesitating on going through Guatemala cause we heard cars with Salvadorian license plates were targeted since Salvos are seen as being rich in Guatemala. Thus, we saw it as being more dangerous – but we took the directions of go straight and hang a turn a Vado Hondo and went through Guatemala.
After about 20min of driving in Honduras, we passed through the Guatemalan border. We got out and registered again. Now, these is where you can tell that Guatemala receives more tourists then Honduras. The Hondurans took our passports and wrote down all the info, the Guatemalans had the computers, like in the US, to just slide the passport through. At this border crossing, someone was nice enough to give us a magazine that had a small map – this turned out to be a God send.
Thus, we started our fast visit to Guatamala. We (Joe, Nat and I) advised PJ that he should just drive straight through and avoid stopping at all costs. (This is where we were happy to have a full tank of gas). The thing that made it a little scarier was that is was getting late and starting to get dark.
We finally got to the border, paid another $3 to enter Honduras and asked how much long. To our surprise, it was only ten minutes from there.
We pulled into a small town whose road quickly turned to dirt. We thought we had the wrong place, exited and then realized it was the place. Our hotel was next to the central park and I thought quite nice. PJ went to go park the car in a separate area and we brought all our stuff up. The rest of the night was quick – just a nice little dinner and bed. PJ and I changed rooms this first night since itty bitty ants decided to form an itty bitty colony in my bed.
The next day was amazing. We got up way early (do to a faulty, evil, fast running alarm clock), went back to bed and then got up again before hitting up breakfast. We then leisurely walked over to the ruins – about 15 minutes away. From there we met up with a group of military men down doing medical campaigns. We decided to all go in on a guide – thus spreading the cost around.
The ruins were amazing! It made dragging PJ through all the traveling worth it. We spend the morning walking around the ruins with the guide. He explained what the different areas were used for and described things that we couldn’t quite make out. Now, I gotta hand it to Joe and Nat here – if it were left up to me we would probably have only 20 maybe 25 pictures of the entire trip, but with them snapping away we have over 300. I’ll get them up on Snapfish as soon as possible.
I would describe the ruins more, but I think it is best seen in the pics. Once the guided tours were down, we hit up lunch and relaxed in the shade. First thing in the afternoon was to go back to the ruins and go into the archeological tunnels. Mayan use to just build over the temple of the previous rulers, except for the very first temple. It was built over, but its façade was not damaged and that’s what we got to look at. After that, we just ambled though the park to get one last good look. Right inside the park, is the sculpture museum. Some of the pieces outside in the main area were replicas – they’re pulling them into the museum to protect them from erosion. It was a beautiful museum.
We then hopped into a moto taxi (a three wheeled motorized thing – see pic) and made our way over to a second sight of ruins. The main sight was where the royal family lived, the second sight was for nobles and some royalty. When we entered the park, a Honduran man offered to show us around…he was great. He only spoke Spanish, but that was fine since 3 out of the 4 of us spoke it as well – PJ had three translators on hand at all times. This guy explained the ruins and what each room looked like and what it was for. He was amazingly helpful and we arraigned another tour with him for the following day. Like before, I think it is best to explain the ruins when pics are up.
From there we started our walk back to town. Thankfully, I waved down a moto taxi and we got back in no time. I think PJ thought they were questionable – this is because they really are a little sketchy – but fun.
It was another relaxed evening – a dinner at a small local place and a good night sleep in AC.
The next morning we were up again – not so early – and headed off with our guide to see some far off ruins. They’re called ‘Los Sapos’ and it is the site where Mayan women would come to give birth. To get there, we went on horseback. That’s right – I got PJ on a horse. It was a beautiful ride up over looking the valley below. The site itself was smaller then I thought it was and eroded – it’s not being protected like the other sites. What made this part great was our guide. He explained everything and the process that went on with the women. I’ll explain more with the pics, but sufficient to say a lot of mushrooms were taken.
We then returned to the horses (the site is about a 10 minute walk from where we left them) and before mounting, checked out the local town. It was nice to see the small area, but hard as well. It’s a small, poor community and all the little kids were trying to sell some dolls made of corn husk. We did buy two of them. We then rode on back. Joe and Nat cantered a bit, but I hung back with PJ – I’m sure it wouldn’t of gone over well if I had A – ditched him or B- accidentally made his horse canter.
We got back to town right in time for lunch. I have to say, the restaurants were nice in the fact that they were prepared for foreigners but all the food came with fries. I was so tired of fries. We also took this opportunity to call home for Mother’s Day – do you honestly think I would forget?
Anyway, after lunch we made our way over to a bird reserve. This place (Macaw Mountain?) was fantastic. They had all the tropical birds – Macaws, toucans and some hawks. The ticket came with a guide. At first the guide was bad- playing with her cell phone and being rude – but we slowly got her to open up and from there on it was fun. I believe the most memorable moment came when she asked me in Spanish (even though she spoke English) where PJ was my father or not. PJ understands enough Spanish to get the question. We all just blamed it on the hat he was wearing.
Another cool park of the bird park was a ‘petting section’. Here they placed all sorts of birds on your arm, head and shoulders. It was great fun and we’ve got some good pics of it.
Since we finished up that quick enough, we decided to hit up the last museum in town. It was small, but had some interesting pieces in it. It had demos of fashion styles – like jade inserts in teeth – and different objects – self sacrifice weapons and things of that sort. It really didn’t take to long to get through.
That evening, we had planned on going to hot springs to relax. But then a storm passed through and we were just two tired. Instead, we went out to have hot chocolate (great with storms) and did our souvenir shopping.
That night for dinner we hit up the Red Frog – a bar type thing set up by an ex pat. It appears there is a tradition of writing on the 1 Lyra? and posting it on the wall – we did one for Peace Corps El Salvador. Look for it if your ever there.
This brings us to Monday morning. We packed up our things and started our journey back through the 3 border crossings, through the scary route in Guatemala and down to San Salvador. It was a quicker drive on the way down.
Though, we did stop in La Palma on the way back. It is a small community by the Honduran border that makes painted wood crafts. It’s what it’s know for.
Anyway, it was in San Salvador that we dropped off Joe and Nat and thus where the photos mostly stop. I showed PJ the PC office and then I took advantage of the rented car. Rotary Club had donated books to my school, but not all of them had arrived on time for the original pick up date. So, instead of waiting for PC or my community to figure out transport – I just loaded them into the rental car.
It was just a sort stop in the capitol before we headed out to my site. We picked up dinner along the way and got in around6:30 or 7ish. I quickly introduced him to the importants – Iris, Mayra and Sonia. I made it sort since we were both exhausted.
The following day we fit a lot in. The morning was an easy morning – we just went to the town hall to say high and then went and dropped off the books to the school. In the afternoon we went and met some artisans and checked out the waterfalls. To fill in the time between – we played a lot of rummikube.
Tuesday evening we went and got pizza hut (high class dinning down here) and then did some food shopping. It’s great going shopping with your older bro – not only is it paid for but you get free transport back to your community. On our way back, we picked up some pizzas for both Iris and Sonia.
After dropping off the pizza, we went back to my place to quickly unpack and then headed back to Iris’s for another few games of rummikube. It was nice to have four of us (Mayra, Iris, PJ and I) around a table. We had some local hot chocolate (which made PJ sweat profusely) and just had a good time.
Both nights we went to bed early – with the fan on full blast. I believe it was Tuesday when PJ got to see the giant possum that likes to visit…hehehe.
Soon enough it was Wednesday morning. We said good-bye to everyone and went on our way to the airport. We got there pretty much hitch free and early – what do expect from the two of us? I hung around for an hour before I had to go.
So, that was my bro’s visit – it was great to have him down. I did wind up sending two bags home with him. Aunt Liz – PJ had the red duffle bag, any further inquiries as to its whereabouts will be directed toward him. :o)
