All of the guidebooks for Guatemala include a small city that's just over the border with Honduras. I'm not sure how Honduras ended up with the site, but it's clearly a national treasure -- it's on the back of the one limpiras bill. Copan Ruinas, the city, and Copan, the ruins are just 6 km over the border from Guatemala. We took minibusses all the way to the border where we paid the standard bribe of $3 each and met a couple from England who were at the start of a year-long around the world trip.
At Copan we stayed in Casa de Cafe (the house of coffee) a little outside the main square. The town existed primarily for growing coffee, but now it serves as the base for getting to the ruins. As you can see, the place had great views.
We left the Hospitalito in the early afternoon and we got to Copan in the early evening. We had a nice dinner at Twisted Tanyas with some 2 for 1 mango daquiris that I quite enjoyed. George finally got a decent pina colada, also.
We got to the ruins early the next day via a very brief Tuk-Tuk ride and hired a guide. The carved stellae and heiroglyphics impressed me. You could even see bits of the original brilliant reds and yellows and greens that they used. The Mayans used the oval-shaped stone to sacrifice people. Our guide assured us this happened infrequently, only to prisoners of war, and that they gave them a big swig of belladonna so they wouldn't mind quite as much having their jugulars opened up.
Several huge trees overlook the site -- none from Mayan times, but a good 400 years old, anyway. On the top of the acropolis you can see the two dancing jaguars, which I found precious and terrifying at the same time. They have two archeological tunnels open. Here, like elsewhere, the Mayans built on top of prior structures. With the tunnels, you can see the original Rosalinda temple, and a few other pyramids under the largest one. Unfortunately, the windows were small and the lighting was poor.
Outside of the ruins they have a spectacular open-air museum dominated by a full scale (and full color) replica of the Rosalinda temple. All around they have an array of original or reproduced sculpture. They've moved some of the more delicate stellae inside to the museum and placed replicas in the park. One of the reasons is obvious on the replica -- carved grafitti that definately wasn't contemporary with the Mayans. By the time we left the museum the weather had moved from hot to hotter.
That afternoon I walked around the town and had an ice cream. George went on an adventerous trip to the hot springs and got a massage.
At the center of Copan they have a large public stage surrounded by replicas of Mayan architecture. That evening a group of Evangelicals came into town, and in the shadow of the main Catholic church began converting people and saving souls. We avoided the main plaza and ate at a steakhouse a few blocks away. Here, like everywhere in Copan, we listened to American pop music (admittedly with CCR and Bob Dylan, decidedly better pop music than you usually find ambient).
We shopped in town the next morning and headed back to the hospitalito in a variety of minibusses. We arrived in Chiquimula, the third largest city in Guatemala, a little after lunch. We had seen Pollo Camperos all around the country and people had told us we should eat there, but previously we'd had other more appealing options. We stalked the chicken through the city streets fruitlessly, and when we were about to begin backtracking and start again, a little moto carrying a man with a bright yellow shirt and a box that said "Pollo Campero" on the back drove up. He directed us to the building, two blocks up, and we found it without further incident.
Inside we found a blissfully air conditioned environment and some pretty standard fried chicken fare. I'm told that they have them at several locations in the US, including in Houston, so if you'd like to try the best fast-food Guatemala has to offer, go for it (and, I think the salads will be safe to eat in the US, too).
More minibuses and we got ourselves back to the Hospitalito without any trouble.
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