Copán

Saturday 23rd January 1988

My alarm clock failed again but luckily Frank came to our rescue, banging on our window at 05:35 hrs. We leapt up and packed, scrobbling through the dark market to the Bus Stop with Frank reeling off another anecdote.

We got on the half empty bus at 06:00 hrs. but it didn’t leave until 06:20 hrs. The route was winding, uphill and on a dirt road which is “often impassable in the wet season” according to our guidebook. We left Frank still rabbiting by the window. “I expected you to beat me up this morning”, had a different meaning to what he intended, meaning “I expected you to be up before me this morning”.

The terrain was very reminiscent of Nepal with palm thatched mud huts, cultivated mountain slopes and winding rivers. On the bus we were packed in with workers with their tall wicker cowboy hats and their little sons all clutching machetes.

We passed through a checkpoint where a few of the local passengers had their bags checked at random. Most of them carried woven nylon sacks. At the border we were stamped out of Guatemala at one wooden hut and then we walked 100 yards to the next wooden hut to be stamped into Honduras. It cost Q3 Guatemalan Quetzals to leave Guatemala and 5 Lempira to enter Honduras.

There was no shortage of money changers loitering about offering to exchange 2.40 Lempiras for $US cash or 2 Lempiras per dollar for traveller’s cheques. Currently in 2021, 1 Honduran Lempira = 0.030 Pound Sterling.

While our tourist cards were filled in, we watched a car being fumigated to ensure that no pests crossed the border. I was relieved that there was no trouble over my passport stamps. There were stories that there could be issues if you had Israeli or Egyptian stamps, but mine were not even examined. It had been worrying me for some time that I may be refused entry to Honduras.

We changed up some traveller’s cheques and boarded a minibus for the 12 kilometres to Copán. This cost us 2 Lempiras each. The “road” was a rollercoaster dirt track. The bus conductor swaggered about in his Sylvester Stallone “Cobra” T-shirt handing out leaflets about a miracle health doctor.

Chickens and cattle scrobbled about in the fields and living compounds. At Copán village we crossed the smart central park and booked into the Hotel Brisas de Copán for 5 Lempiras each. Our first priority then, at 11:00 hrs. was food and we had comida corriente in the Paty Restaurant for 3.50 Lempiras.

The afternoon was spent at the fantastic Copán ruins which was almost deserted and pleasantly quiet. Discovered in 1570 by Diego García de Palacio, the Maya site of Copan is one of the most important sites of the Mayan civilization. The site is functioned as the political, civil and religious centre of the Copán Valley. It was also the political centre and cultural focus of a larger territory that covered the southeast portion of the Maya area and its periphery.

It was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD. Copán was occupied for more than two thousand years, from the Early Preclassic period to the Postclassic. The city developed a distinctive sculptural style within the tradition of the lowland Maya, perhaps to emphasize the Maya ethnicity of the city's rulers.

We paid 3 Lempiras to get in and passed through the gate where four brightly coloured parrots sat on the fence. The site was like a film set for an Indiana Jones film and we took a lot of photographs of the stone carved faces and clambered up and down the stepped edifices.

We sat at the top of one pyramidal structure overlooking the ball court and ate oranges in the tranquil peace. The ruins are in the woods and there are lush grassy courtyards amongst the stones. We went on to follow a nature trail through the very English-looking woods but saw nothing more exciting than a black butterfly with vivid red spots on it’s wings.

The main stairway of the Copán ruins was badly eroded, but you could still make out the carved hieroglyphics. The whole thing was shadowed but protected by a huge tarpaulin. The stone columns with Mayan Indian figures carved on them were impressive and clearly detailed despite their age.

We walked back into the town and took a few minutes to peruse the small market before returning to our room. Declan began a battle with the local insects as strange animal calls came from the surroundings.

We slept for an hour and then went out to survey the restaurants in Copán town. We met two Americans sitting at a stall on the corner of the plaza and ascertained that it was a cheap source of Salva Vida beer at 1.50 Lempiras a bottle. Salva Vida (lifesaver) is a Lager-style beer brewed by Cerveceria Hondurena, S.A. / BevCo Ltd. in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. We got chatting to the hippy-looking bloke and his friend with the thick glasses and straw hat. They were both living in Belize at the moment.

We went for a meal with them in a restaurant just passed the mercado, eating steak washed down with beer. We were served by a cheeky looking waitress and the music was western pop and rock. We went on to the Americans hotel room to continue drinking beer and to listen to some music on their Walkman stereo system.

These boys were not politically correct, saying “that jewellery is so ugly, why I wouldn’t give it to a nigger”! The hotel boy cringed and grovelled as he delivered and opened bottles of beer, until it got embarrassing and we sent him away.

At 23:30 hrs. we went back to bed but Jim and his mate, who had long hair that squaddies in Belize wanted to cut off, went to investigate the local disco. They offered to give us a lift to San Pedro Sula in their pickup truck tomorrow.