Totally ruined

Copan Ruinas, Honduras

We had an exciting trip from Antigua to Copan.

We left at 4:30AM from our hotel, joining about a dozen other travellers in a Toyota van.  It was dark and pouring rain for the first couple of hours - I had the front seat and was able to see enough of the twisty rain-soaked highway to be glad that I wasn't driving.  Once daylight came and the rain slacked off, the ride was quite pleasant.  We hit the Honduran border around 10AM, where we had to check out of Guatemala and into Honduras, paying $2 and $3 each respectively for the honor, in spite of the fact that our visas, issued in El Salvador, are good for both countries.

The town of Copan Ruinas is only about 12km from the border and we were nicely accommodated in a very cozy B&B (Casa del Café) before noon.  This left the rest of day for us to do some exploring around the town (not that large so easy to do in a couple of hours) and catch up on some sleep with an afternoon nap.  We had a terrific, typical Honduran, lunch at the Llama del Bosque restaurant and an incredible supper later at Twisted Tanya's, a very upscale and relatively expensive place.  It was a bit rainy in the afternoon but fortunately we slept through most of that.

Breakfast is served outside on the lawn at the Casa del Café B&B

Yesterday, we spent a large amount of the day at the Mayan ruins at the Copan Archaeological Site, spread out over a huge amount of real estate.  Very impressive in both size and amount of surviving detail.  The rain held off and we had a great day, walking many miles through the main structures, the tunnels excavated beneath some of the temples (revealing older temples below), the sculpture museum, and a visit to the more distant site of some of the homes of the aristocracy of the time.  All in all, a very impressive site; much more that we were expecting.  One of the best things about the site is that it is only a 1km walk from the town where we are staying.

I'm pretty sure this bridge was not on the official tour

Following the advice of a local man, who may or may not have had any official status, we ended up exploring some of the countryside around the archaeological site as well.  It was interesting to see how the farming methods used by the ancient Mayans is still in use today - not a lot of automation here.

Note: Shortly after returning to our hotel, at 4PM, the skies opened up and we had a real heavy downpour for about a half hour.  It then continued with light rain all evening and night - really quite pleasant when you are safely indoors at the time.  There are several small restaurants close by so we really didn't have to get very wet when going out for supper.

Today, we perused a couple of the smaller museums around town and paid a visit to  a nearby bird sanctuary know as Macaw Mountain, where birds formerly held in captivity are being cared for.  The main project here is a breeding program for re-introducing more Scarlet Macaws (the national bird of Honduras) into the wild.  There is a very lively community of these birds that now thrive around the Copan Archaeological site itself - a real treat to see them in the semi-wild.

Tomorrow, we plan to try an make our way to the town of Rio Dulce, back in Guatemala.  Unfortunately there is no direct way to get there from here, so it will take a combination of a shuttle van to a town called Rio Hondo and hopefully a local bus to take us the rest of the way - should be an adventure.

{GMST}14|50.178|N|89|9.5418|W|Copan Ruinas, Honduras|Copan Ruinas, Honduras{GEND}

On the move

Antigua, Guatemala

It was really hard to leave Lake Atitlan.  We originally booked only two days at the wonderful La Casa del Mundo resort, but we just had to stay on for another two days.  This place has been a real treat for us - great views, great food, great company, etc. etc. etc.

We did a little hiking, just to the nearest village of Jaibalito. For visiting a couple of the larger villages, further around the lake, we used the local public water-bus service.  These are small boats that cruise around the lake, stopping wherever anyone looks like they want to hop a ride.  Typically 20 to 30 Quatzales (about $3 Cdn) from one village to the next - 100 Quatzales will get you a loop around the entire lake.

We visited the larger villages of San Pedro and Santiago, spending only an hour or two in each.  The rest of our time was mostly spent relaxing and enjoying the comforts of our hotel.  Unfortunately we never did get to experience a cloud-free day and only occasionally were able to see the surrounding volcanoes.  We had some rain, mostly late in the afternoon or at night; otherwise the temperatures were ideal.

On Friday we caught a shuttle van to the city of Antigua, probably the most touristy place in Guatemala.  We found a very nice hotel just a block off of the main plaza and have spent the last two days exploring the town.  Designated a Unesco World Heritage Site and with an almost year-round idyllic climate, it is a very popular spot.  Of course, as usual for us, we are here a little off-season.  Each day we are experiencing some showers as rainy season has arrived. - walking around town has been fine but we are reluctant to take on any of the hikes up the surrounding volcanoes.

Antigua is a town with a lot of history, a former capital of Guatemala, boasting some great architecture, mostly destroyed by earthquakes and abandoned for hundreds of years, then recently partially restored.  We have taken a tour of some of the highlights, such as the main cathedral.  With the incredible number of restaurants around town, we certainly haven't been starving either.

Tomorrow morning (would you believe 4AM) we are going to take a 6-hour trip in a shuttle van to the town of Copan in Honduras.  There are reportedly some very interesting Mayan ruins nearby.

 

{GMST}14|33.3|N|90|44.0|W|Antigua, Guatemala|Antigua, Guatemala{GEND}

 

 

A cabin at the lake

Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala

The poster child for Guatemala's natural beauty is the volcano-ringed Lago del Atitlan (Lake Atitlan).  After a short, less than 2-hour, drive from Xela, we find ourselves in a completely different world.

Our first stop was in the village of Panajachel (know as "Pana" by most everyone).  This is reportedly the busiest and most built-up of the lakeside settlements that surround the lake and is definitely what we would call touristy.  The main street is one long stretch of hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.  We stayed here for two nights and just sort of vegged-out.  It was kind of nice, after two weeks of school, to be able to just sleep in as long as we wanted again, and the food was pretty good, but otherwise, Pana did not have a lot to offer us - just a little too frantic for our tastes.

Today, we took a boat (the public taxi) to a hotel part way around the lake.  This is a place that Susanne discovered on a fellow cruiser's blog and thought would be a nice change of pace.  It is called "La Casa del Mundo", and is an incredibly beautiful spot, all built on a steep volcanic slope.  It is the kind of place you imagine exists on the coast of France or Italy, not something that we would ever have thought to find in Guatemala.

The climb to reception from the dock

We have our own little private cabin with its own balcony overlooking the lake.  The view is hard to beat and the food that we have sampled so far has been excellent.  I think I could live here, at least for a while.  Of course, climbing up and down the steps to get from anyplace to anyplace else can be a chore.  The only real downside is that we seem to be in a perpetual fog or low-lying cloud.  The visibility is has not been great - most of the time we cannot see the volcanoes on the other side of the lake at all.  Oh well, there is always  tomorrow...

{GMST}14|44.1834|N|91|12.975|W|Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala|Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala{GEND}