Ruined on Ruins

Getting from Guatemala to Copan, Hondourus was an arduous journey that began at 3am. Packed into a tourist shuttle with 18 other tourists and 15 seats. I bumped and bounced my way to the border, asking myself why I paid extra money for the direct shuttle only to be crammed in like a sardine for eight hours. Three hours into the journey the sun began to blaze through the windows of the van, increasing the temperature of the van, myself and its fellow occupants to a sticky 36C/96F degrees. The border crossing was shady and some but not all of the people crossing the border were forced to pay a "tax" (bribe) to pass through. I was lucky my new found Spanish skills seemed to save me the extra $3.

Back in the van with the outdoor and indoor temperature increasing our driver began playing a CD with only four songs (Total Eclipse of the Heart, Time After Time, Eclipse Total del Amor (spanish version), and What a Feeling - theme from Flashdance) on repeat. I thought my head was going to explode on the third time through, but it played for another nine full cycles before the driver decided he was bored with it. Around cycle eight I just started laughing uncontrollably.

When I finally arrived in Copan I was thrilled to peel my sweaty, exhausted and totally eclipsed self from the van. I was immediately accosted by locals trying to sell me cheap hotel rooms. None of which were actually cheap. The first room I looked at had no sheets or windows and was $24 a night. The second room was nicer but had a $35 price tag. I declined both rooms but the hotel owner would not take no for an answer and he proceeded to chase me down the street as I searched for a place to stay. I ducked into the first hostel I saw, to avoid the crazy man, and when I read the hostel rules, I decided this would be a cool place to stay. Rules include: "there's no sex in the dorms, unless we can film it", "nudity policy: maybe you think you have a great body, but unless the staff agrees please keep clothes on", and "Copan already had ruins, please don't turn our hostel into one". Also, all of the beds were named after random famous things, I was given the "Ugly Betty Bed", with 85% of the hostel beds available it was a total ego boost...


I went out to explore the city of Copan and to find some lunch. After finding the only air conditioned cafe in the whole city (it was now well over 40C/100F) I figured out I could probably see the Copan ruins that afternoon, maybe even go for a horse ride, and leave by the hot sweaty windless town by morning. Once at the Copan ruins and after I paid the $15 park entry fee. I realized I was ruined on Mayan ruins. I've just seen too many of them. Some of the structures and art were unique to Copan but I was just over the ruins and the hot weather, so after only an hour at the park I decided to look for a horse ride to the hills surrounding Copan.


I eventually found a nice, elderly local man as a guide and began to explore the hillside's local villages and farms. In one of the villages little girls began to follow us around begging me to buy little corn-husk doll handy crafts, at first it was cute but after over an hour its was annoying and eventually they wore me down and I bought a doll, thinking it would make them go away. Instead they continued to follow me and beg as if I never bought the first doll.


The views from the hills were spectacular. I could see the Copan ruins in the valley below as well as the town of Copan and the river winding its way through the valley.


The ride overall was fun and a great chance to practice my Spanish with my guide. I finished my day in Copan with dinner and drinks with some of the people I met at my hostel. Two of them, a couple Brandy and Ryan decided to travel with me the next day to Utila. At 6am, way too early in the morning, the 3 of us were in another sweaty bus and on our way.