Copan Ruinas, Honduras

Even though the guidebook said most western nationalities did not have to pay the $3 fee at the border, we didn't quibble with the uniforms. The Aussie law student had massive holes in his pants just below his rear pockets. He was rather tall. Maybe he couldn't find a pair locally?

From the border, it was only 20 min to the town of Copan Ruinas. We immediately went to the cheapest hostel listed in the book. The 4 ft tall little old lady in charge ran a tight ship - as evidenced by the rules listed on the board. There's a lovely little garden in the courtyard. The room was clean and the whole establishment was quiet in general. Not bad for $10.


We were horrified when the first ATM spit our card back out at us – one of a short list of travelers’ worst nightmares. We had no local money and it was Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, we were more successful when we tried a different bank. We took out 2000 in local currency with no idea what the exchange rate was. I looked it up on the Blackberry. We’d withdrawn $106.

While the room is a great buy, the food is pricey. Simple meals for 2 run around $15. Today we stopped at a grocery and loaded up on some semi-stale hotdog buns, peanut butter, tostadas, salsa, apple juice, muesli and soy milk for less than one meal.


The town of Copan is different from Guatemala. People here seem very serious - I will not be hola-ing people willy nilly here. Lots of cowboy hats abound. Five seriously armed guards surrounded the Western Union this morning.

We had a lay in this morning, breakfast, and headed for the Mayan ruins. They are not as majestic as the temples at Tikal, but the stela carvings are more impressive. These date from 600-800 AD, which is amazing. The principle figure in the is someone named 18 Rabbits - very popular dude.

They have feeders for them near the entrance for macaws. We saw five flying in a group over the old plaza.

Darren blocked the footpath while photographing some birds, totally oblivious to the five people waiting to get past him.

This afternoon we were going to visit a butterfly park, but there were no directions in the guidebook and the tuk tuk driver said it no longer existed. While Darren tracked town the tourist office, which wasn't where the map said it was, I wrestled with the my keyboard that suddenly started typing in Japanese.

Will see the butterflies tomorrow and then visit Macaw Mountain. We’re spending a quiet evening tonight in the hostel’s courtyard. Just saw a large tour group out with a security guard at 7 pm. Lots of rifles around town with body armor. We are tucked snugly in our hotel for the night.

Our neighbors are chaves Darren says. I hunted all over England for a chav last winter. The little old lady will be out soon to pipe them down. I think they’re high.

Speaking of pot, I've been looking for a suitably dodgy character to photograph for my coworker. The closest I've come was this non-descript young man that walked quickly past us as we waited for the shuttle for the night bus earlier in the week. He zoomed by, muttering, "Want to buy some weed?" We sort of watched him walking quickly away, puzzled. Not that we wanted any, but wondered at his sales technique. Were we supposed to race after him if we wanted some? So many social situations that growing up in WV doesn't prepare you for - didn't even get his photo.

The muesli made an excellent breakfast before we headed out to the burbs of this tiny town. It was an interesting walk that included scenic views, a cemetery, and a few dirt roads. Before we set out we divested ourselves of anything of value other than the cameras. As I said previously, the little lady that runs the hostel runs a tight ship and thankfully no one had been in our room to clean as we'd trashed it again -- we left everything in the room.

Our first stop was a butterfly house. There were four different varieties. It's been cool here and overcast, which I believe affected what types there were to see. Got a photo of one sitting on Darren's head.