When I arrived, I started to do a few errands such as booking a hotel, getting cash out, and buying my next ticket outta town. Well, I at least tried to do that last one. It turns out that they wouldn't sell me a ticket to leave Honduras since I didn't have an entrance stamp in my passport. I was told I'd have to go to the border to explain/figure out my situation. This wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I had known that leaving Honduras might be an issue for me. I ended up having to spend 2 nights here which was more than I wanted, but c'est la vie.
It could have been a lot worse, too. Luckily Copán is not too far from the border, and it was a good thing that I'd tried to buy my bus ticket from a more expensive bus company at their terminal since they actually check your passport. If I had reserved a space on a cheaper shuttle, they would have just taken my cash, and I would have lost the fare and been stuck at the border trying to sort out my situation with all my bags.
So I hopped onto a micro to the border.
They really manage to squish a lot of people into these vans...
After explaining my story to a border official, she told me to come back the next day to talk with her boss.
I saw this starving young dog, bugged eyes and with skin hanging off its ribs. Unlike most other stray dogs, it looked either like it didn't know how to beg for food, or as if it had just given up trying. It was just laying, curled up on the sidewalk most of the time.
Not the healthiest of choices, but I fed the dog some canned wieners. It started to walk away in fear of me, then it wagged its tail and gulped the wieners.
I had the rest of the day to wander around Copán and think of other solutions for my predicament.
The owner of my hotel told me he knew somebody who might be able to 'help' me.
In Copán, as in other places, I've noticed that people are often unable to locate where you are on a map. They can give you directions with landmarks and some streets, but they have no idea how to use a map.
Please avoid making scandals at the hotel, thanks!
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, refried beans, fried plantains, cheese, avocado, & coffee.
After breakfast I took a micro to the border again.
A line of trucks were waiting to cross the border. Some drivers had a hammock strung up beneath their truck and were taking a nap.
Luckily, I found a way to resolve my stamp situation, and, jumping with joy, I returned to Copán.
In the afternoon I made my way to the ruins. A pleasant stroll along this path just outside the city took me to one section of the large ruins.
a stela along the way
Copán stands out amongst other Mayan ruins for its sculpture. That is, both in terms of quality and quantity.
This is the main part of the city, but there is a large residential sprawl which you can walk to as well.
Sometimes you're walking around and you realize you're not alone. Things are getting agouti around here.
The excavations are ongoing at Copán. Who knows just what else they will discover...
The distance between steps here is pretty big, even for my legs.
The hieroglyphic stairway makes quite the impression, even with this covering. "In over two thousand hieroglyphs on 63 steps, the text recounts much dynastic history, beginning with references to the dynasty's 'founder' K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo."
the building of additions to pyramids over time
Nature takes over, as it often does.
You can't visit pyramids without climbing them and getting some view points in.
I opted out of a tour of the tunnels here. I'm sure they're interesting, but it's just one of the countless add-ons that are available at places tourists frequent.
It was nice to visit the ruins with so few people around. It's just you, the ruins, and the jungle.
These macaws live happily live at the entrance of the ruins.
teeny tiny lizard
the Museum of Sculpture
The Motmot tombstone …
… which used to look more like this:
The Maya believed the earth to be "the body of a crocodile floating on the surface of a large body of water." Old deities called Pawahtuuns supported the earth and youthful Bacabs "supported the four corners of the sky."
Lots of swallows were chirping and flying around the air-y museum.
Copán Ruinas is a pretty good place to be stuck. It's a relaxing convenient little town and everybody I met here was friendly.
Honduras has been a lot of back and forth. I've never heard it promoted much as a destination for tourists, but there's plenty to see and do in these parts.
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