Days 21, 22 & 23 - Copan, Honduras

Day 21 (January 31) – Copan

Everyone pulled out of the Rio Dulce campground between 7 – 8. There were no more warm showers either last night or this morning – but a cold shower helps to wake you up!

We all stopped at the Restaurant y Jugeria La Vina for a rest stop – and more importantly a cold smoothy. Flavors of the day were pineapple, papaya, strawberry and melon. Pat and I tried the pineapple and the strawberry and we both voted the strawberry the winner.

The drive through Guatemala is beautiful – green everywhere, often trees in bloom lining the road, and surrounded by mountains and hills on every side.

The last few miles to the Honduras border had roads that were very steep and winding.

The wait at the border turned out to be quite short – less than 2 ½ hours – and all of the paperwork was done by the Wagonmaster. Tailgunner and spouses. There was confusion at Guatemala immigration where an official tried to get us to all go through immigration again until he was told by another official everything was already done.

Bob got us parked in a nearby field. Folks selling fruit and water stopped by for business. Honduran police came by to watch over us during our stay for our protection. All activity was intently watched by a crowd that gathered of old and young.



Rig #4 – Mike and Pat

Day 22 Monday, Feb 1 Copan Ruins

The rooster who lives behind us here in Osuman crows early (3:30) and again and again. He also has several friends to respond to his call. We had a leisurely start to our morning (time for an extra cup of coffee) as we readied for our trip to the Copan Ruins.

Yobani, our guide, arrived promptly at 8:30, We scrambled into back of his pickup like a bunch of school kids as this was an opportunity to do as the locals do and we weren’t going to miss it! A truck box full of people is not an uncommon sight in the area.

Just when you think that you have been ‘ruined out’ and that this ruin will surely be like the others, you find just the opposite. We were welcomed at the beginning of the tour by a number of magnificent macaws that posed patiently while we took photo after photo. Yobani provided us with a wealth of information on the Copan Ruins that date from 300 to 900 A.D. They are unique in that they offer an abundance of well defined, three- dimensional hieroglyphics. For me, the most spectacular part of the site was the hieroglyphic stairway with 2000 hieroglyphics on the risers of the sixty-three steps. This stairway was built by the fifteenth ruler in honour of the ruler, Eighteen Rabbit and relates the events of the past rulers. Yobani referred to the stairway as the first encyclopedia - a good analogy. The macaw was depicted in a number of the stelas as it was sacred to the Mayan people of this area.

Following the tour most of us returned to the village square where we exchanged money, We found a restaurant that was owned by a Belgian fellow (just happens to be my ancestry) offering an eclectic menu and cloth napkins! Bob says that cloth napkins are an indicator of a restaurant where it is safe to eat the fresh fruit and veggies. The group enjoyed a variety of menu items – no one was disappointed. Reports from other groups at other restaurants were the same. Conclusion – Copan is a great place to eat!

In keeping with our desire to behave like the locals, our return trip was in a mini taxi for a one dollar fare. We certainly got a different perspective from the taxi than we do riding in our big rigs.
The Adventure staff treated all to a Honduran Hot Dog dinner complete with chips, salsa, chili and margaritas. Thank you – we love not having to cook!


Day 23 2010 (Feb. 2nd in Copan)
The first cock-a-doodle-doo was about 1:44am and adds to the charm of Honduras. The chickens
and roosters, by 7:00am were very busy getting food and the people were passing by on their way to
school, work etc. They are very curious about all our rigs in this field. Several tours were offered today
ie:hiking,hotsprings and a coffee plantation. The weather was quite cooperative as we had a bit of a
cloudy day and a little cooler. We opted to enjoy our free day getting haircuts, doing laundry and
general cleanup, including washing and fixing trucks etc. Most of all we enjoyed a nice walk to the
town of Copan to see this lovely little place of about 7,000 people. With many shops and artisan places
to see we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and had a great lunch at the Carnitas Nia Lola Reastaurant with
a few other Caravaners. The waitress brought our food and carried some of it on her head. Was
something to see!
We checked out a few prices of things and for instance: a 32” LCD Tv is about $536.00usd, a fridge is
about $500.00usd and a cell phone is about $26.00 usd. I wonder how these people afford some of
these things. The walk home seemed more of a challenge so chose a 3 wheel taxi instead. Lazy or
what?
We had a brief travel meeting and were taxied to the Tun Club Resaurant in Copan compliments of
AVC. Our delicious meal consisted of delirio Jaguar Tamales, and the main course was garlic chicken
breast, served with beans, salad, cheese, sour cream, avocado, rice and of course chismole(salsa) to go
with it. We had a choice of beverage and a variety of coffee to finish. It was a most enjoyable evening.
Rig # 6
John and Kathy