Copan Ruinas to San Salvador, El Salvador, el seis de Febrero, 2017

I spent the beautiful sunny morning wandering around the pueblo.  Because this is cattle country, the typical male costume is a cowboy hat, pointy boots, jeans and some kind of belt-

In the market, there are cheap food booths and more cowboys-

I was picked up about 12:30 and the driver and 3 of us headed for El Salvador.  I was in 3 countries in 2 hours!  We left Honduras for Guatemala about 15 minutes away, then in 1.5 hours we were in El Salvador!  El Salvador is modern - good highways, new buildings; it's more of what I know.  The maybe unfortunate thing is they use the US dollar which may mean "expensive" but I'll know more in a few days.

Along the way-

This semi crashed a week ago going down a curvy road too fast.  The driver was killed-

Today I met a young couple from Australia who have been working for Contiki Tours in Europe for 3 years!  The guiding season runs from March to October.  They can say where they would like to go but usually they are just given jobs.  The questions people ask are typical and it isn't often someone asks something new but when that happens it's exciting!  They plan to keep working for Contiki for the next while.  

My very first trip to Europe was on a Contiki Tour in 1984!  I was teaching in Richmound until June 30.  The tour started July 2nd and finished the last Thursday in August before I started school on Monday!  I didn't like my tour leader - Ann, who also was an Aussie.  I'm not sure if it was her or if it was the huge culture shock I was experiencing.  She did some stupid things.  We played a game going through tunnels in Italy.  Each time we entered a tunnel, and there were about 40 of them, we were supposed to change shirts with the other passengers.  Our bus was 'air cooled' which is NOT air conditionned so we were sweating like pigs.  There was little sanitation - plates were washed with cold water and 'flapped' dry.  If one person got sick, the whole bus was sick.  Not fun.  However, it certainly lit the fire for more travel and it wasn't all bad.  I saw so much in seven weeks!

Today has been a sad day.  Two of my former students died:  Max Hesselson, who was in Grade 12 when Nico was sick, spearheaded the class to buy Nico a PS2.  Max was quite the character!  Meagan Friedrich, who was in Grade 12 was a lovely and conscience young woman.  Both were excellent students.  I'm not sure what happened but it is devastating news.

Tonight I'm staying in a hostel in a room with 7 beds.  Right now there are only 3 of us so I hope it stays like that!  Tomorrow I'm off to see 3 museums and the Harley store!

Copan Ruinas, Honduras, el cinco de Febrero, 2017

Copan Ruinas is where Maya people lived between A.D. 400-800 in what is now Honduras.  The most extensive hieroglyphic writings and elaborate sculptures in the Maya world are found here.  

It's also where macaws from Macaw Mountain are released into the wild to hopefully reproduce successfully-

The site isn't very large and can easily be explored in an hour.

The Grand Plaza was a meeting place for up to 6000 people.  It was paved in white limestone-

Stela A from the Grand Plaza was dedicated in 731 A.D. and portrays the 13th ruler (of 16), Waxaklajun Ubaah K'awiil.  He's carrying a two headed snake bar that is symbolically giving birth to sun deities-

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In the headdress is a woven mat design with four snakes in the corners.  It represents his central position in relation to the sun and the four directions-

There are very few original pieces on the grounds.  Most of the originals are in the museum on the same site.  I loved the museum!

A stela is a large stone shaft usually carved on all four sides.  They show portraits of different rulers and the hieroglyphics explain the historical events during the life of the ruler.  Usually the inscription of the stela starts with the date the monument was dedicated.

Stela P shows the 11th ruler K'ahk ' Uti ' Chan who reigned from 578-628 A.D.  He is wearing royal clothes-

Altar Q depicts all 16 rulers-

The Hieroglyphic Stairway has 8th century inscriptions and is the longest writing in ancient America, explaining 4 centuries of Copan dynasty.  It was rediscovered and excavated at the end of the 19th century but only the bottom 15 steps were found in their original position.  The rest were reconstructed in 1937-1940.  In the 1970s, people were no longer allowed to walk on the stairs where there are more than 2000 hieroglyphics on 63 steps-

The cornerstone for Copan has the earliest hieroglyphic inscription known at the site.  It was found under the Hieroglyphic Stairway in 1993.  There are 2 seated rulers on opposite halves.  The ruler on the left is the first ruler in the dynasty - K'inich Yax K' uk ' Mo.  The ruler on the right is his son, who became the second ruler-

The view from the top of Temple 11 as imagined-

And today-

The Toothless Old Man of Copan is the head of one of two giant Pawahtuuns from either end of Temple 11.  They once held a mosaic crocodile that stretched across the temple facade.  The headdress is a knotted water lily, a symbol of fertility-

A collection of heads found in various places at the site-

One of the earliest full round sculptures was discovered in 1990 in a tunnel.  Red pigment covered the body and this meant he was a creation from the watery "other world".  The head was purposefully removed to destroy the figure's supernatural powers-

More hieroglyphics-

And faces-

The view from the top-

The Maya only lived here 400 years.  Perhaps they ran out of resources, depleted the fertility of the land, became diseased or fought amongst themselves.  It's not clear why the site was abandonned.

I enjoyed my visit here more than Tikal and Caracol but I think I've seen enough ruins for awhile, maybe for the rest of my life!

Good news for tomorrow!  I don't have to take 4 chicken buses to San Salvador leaving at 6:45 am! Rather than spend 11+ hours riding collectivos, I'm going in a modern van - direct and not leaving until noon.  It costs $40 US, rather than $25, but is going to be sooo worth it!

Copan Ruinas, Honduras, el cuatro de Febrero, 2017

I was awake at 4 and at the bus station by 5:30.  One bus left for Copan Ruinas at 6 and a directo left at 8.  I thought rather than sit at the station for 2 hours, I may as well get on the 6 o'clock bus.  It just about drove me crazy!  I only had to change buses once but the stopping and starting and hollering was non stop.  There are 2 workers: the driver and the hustler.  The hustler hollers out the side door trying to drum up customers.  He gets up on the roof to strap down luggage, moves people around inside, collects money and helps people in and out.  No wonder they are so skinny!

Finally in Copan Ruinas, I found my hotel, or at least what I thought was my hotel.  I'm staying in a brand new place, certainly not what I booked!  There are two hotels with the same name and the manager said it's no problem where I am so I'm not going to complain!  I have my own bathroom again!  

Lunch was at a steak place.  My hors d'oeuvre was interesting!  One slice of toasted baguette-

I paid $19.54 for a huge filet that was unfortunately too tough for me but probably would have been perfect for most meat lovers.  They didn't ask me how I wanted it cooked -medium rare must be standard in Honduras-

Copan Ruinas and this area of Honduras is cowboy country.  Most men wear cowboy hats and pointy boots and there are lots of cattle and horses around.  I wouldn't want to use this saddle though-

I'm saving the Ruinas for tomorrow so visited Macaw Mountain this afternoon.  It's a rehabilitation sanctuary for birds native to this area.  Presently they have about 260 birds, 80% are injured or recuperating from idiots who didn't know how to look after them and decided to give them up rather than kill them and 20% have been born here.  The goal is to someday release them back into the wild but it's a long process.  They have 26-30 species.  All birds pull their feathers out when they are stressed so a lot that they get are naked, at least from the neck down!  

The White Fronted Amazon can say 8-20 words but they are only repeated.  They really don't know what they're saying-

Scarlet Macaws are monogamous so when one dies, they no longer reproduce.  They too imitate 5-30 words and are highly endangered.  Males and females look identical and their sex can only be determined by DNA but of course they know what they are!  They live to be 70-90 years old!  It takes 3 months to incubate their eggs and a baby grows 10% of an adult's size/day!  They usually only incubate one or two eggs, even though they might lay 4-6. Babies #1 and #2 are released after a year but it takes 6 years to get a Baby #3 healthy enough to release.  Eggs are usually laid 2 days apart so they also hatch 2 days apart.  By the time Baby #2 is born, Baby #1 is 20% the size of an adult.  By the time Baby #3 is born, Baby #1 is half the size of an adult and requires a lot of food and room in the nest-

The Green Macaw, like all macaws, should only eat fruit.  Bird seed gives them cholesterol problems and causes other health issues-

The King Vulture has a wingspan of 1.94 m and weighs up to 14 kg.  They are solitary carnivores-

The flap of skin above its beak is used to make a sound for mating-

The Orange Fronted Parakeet is 9 inches long and weighs 2.8 ounces-

My favorite, the Keel Billed Toucan is found throughout Central America and into South America.  They eat mainly fruit but will also eat eggs and smaller reptiles.  They are endangered because people like to collect their beaks-

My favorite part-

She or he, who knows!! wouldn't let me hold her/him-

After Macaw Mountain, I visited the local market.  The fruits and vegetables are so bountiful after Belize-

The radishes are bigger than golf balls-

The streets of Copan Ruinas remind me of Antigua Guatemala-

I am looking forward to visiting the ruins tomorrow!