A Week trip to Copán Ruins

May 2002

Tuesday May 7, 2002

By 7:30AM we were already on the bus heading to San Salvador.  This trip we were traveling in company with Jutta and Ferdy from Pipe Dream.  The trip to San Salvador took 3 hours on an old school bus that had been redecorated in bright colors both inside and out.  Once in San Salvador we hopped on a city bus and rode to the city center.  There we enjoyed a low-priced breakfast, and stopped by the bank to change large bills into smaller, useable denominations.  El Salvador is converting to the US dollar and most stores, buses and restaurants now use US dollars, but no one has change for much over a $10 bill. 

Another city bus got us to the east bus station, simply a large parking lot for buses, where we found another highly decorated old school bus that took us the rest of the way to the Honduras border, another 3 hour ride.  At each stop (and there were lots of stops) we had a parade of vendors coming board selling everything from food for immediate consumption to clothing and nail clippers. 

At the border it was an easy check-out then a walk across no man’s land to the small Honduras Migration building.  Check-in to Honduras was easy and cost only $4.  We then found a colectivo to the nearby town of Nuevo Ocotepec.  There we boarded our last bus for the day.  It was our best bus of the day, a real tour-type bus.  We got off in Santa Rosa de Copán for the night, and although we have had no chickens on the buses, we did have chickens at the hotel and the rooster got us all up bright and early in the morning.  We did have an interesting conversation with the proprietor of the restaurant where we had a yummy beef dinner. 

Wednesday May 8, 2002

Since the rooster got us up so early we were out hunting for breakfast food before the restaurants were open.  We found a little hole-in-the-wall kind of place where the local cops were enjoying their breakfast and we joined in with them.  Not only did we get a decent breakfast, but we had an informative conversation with one of the policeman.  We checked out of the hotel and were informed that the bus station was only a 15 minute walk down the street.  I would say it was quite a bit further, but by 8:00 AM we were off and going again on another old school bus.  In Honduras the buses are not decorated like those in El Salvador and were still the school bus green color inside.  Next stop was the crossroads of La Entrada where we boarded another bus for Copán Ruines, another 2 hour trip. 

Arriving at Copán Ruines we had a group of older boys wanting to help us find hotel rooms.  They showed us several but there were so many of them (the boys) that we felt claustrophobic and finally convinced them to leave.  We then found ourselves a nice hotel about 2 blocks from the main plaza for only $20 a night. 

We enjoyed a peaceful lunch  and then visited the in-town archeological museum which contained some of the stelea and statues from the Copán ruins.

Thursday May 9, 2002

Up early today so that we could see the ruins before it got to hot.  We had a pretty poor breakfast at what looked to be a nice coffee place.  We did have great coffee!  On our way to the Ruins we stopped at the ATM for more local currency and the machine ate Bill’s card!  Bill and I then returned to the hotel to pick up books to read in the Plaza while we waited for the bank to open.  After the bank opened Bill got his card back “No problema” and with the bank now open, the card worked fine in the ATM.  Then we discovered that the glue holding the soles on our boots had dried up and was failing.  It was then off to find a cobbler to make the repairs.  By the time we were again ready to head off to the ruins it was 11:00 AM and a little late to explore the ruin site with the noonday sun.  We opted instead to explore the on-site museum with its many stelae, statues and fascia decoration that had been removed from the site for preservation out of the weather. 

After spending over two hours reading signs and trying to find the glyph or figure that they were describing we were tired.  We walked the short distance to the cafeteria and sat down with a great hamburger lunch.  Who should walk in but Jutta and Ferdy who had continued on to the ruins while we waited for the bank to open.  They also picked up a lunch and we told tales of our mornings activities while we ate.  Then a walk along what they called a nature trail to the river where Jutta and I took our boots off to wade.  Lots of locals, mostly young boys, were also enjoying the swimming hole that we had found.  It was then the long walk back to town, a nap and dinner at a fun place where we could sit in an upstairs balcony overlooking the valley.

Friday May 10, 2002

We were again up early, but this time we made it to the ruins just as they were opening for the day.  They are similar to the many that we visited in the Yucatan two years ago but were still quite spectacular and interesting.  The more interesting artifacts uncovered are the many stelae with ruler's carvings on the face and many glyphs carved around the sides and a set of stairs on one of the pyramid bases that were covered with glyphs along their faces.  Bill and I toured the entire excavated site then returned to the entrance to the archeologist's tunnels that we could visit for another fee.  The guard let us in and since we had not purchased tickets he collected our fee, probably to his own pocket.  He then gave us a wonderful guided tour of the passages which allowed one to see parts of the second pyramid down from the top.  There are 4 more layers under that one as well due to the Mayan tradition of rebuilding on top of the old structures new ones every 52 years.

The guard also told us of another site about a mile down the road that had been the site of residences and was also partially excavated.  We walked the distance to this next site and were followed in by a guide.  He showed us around, describing the various structures that we visited and their prior use as well as telling us some of what has been discovered about the life of the Mayans. 

When we saw all that we wanted, we walked out to the road hoping to catch a bus; but a bus did not come by so we walked the mile back to the main ruins site stopping for refreshment at the cafeteria again.  I downed a whole 1.5-liter bottle of water. 

We walked back into town and settled in the hotel room for a late afternoon's nap.  After checking out connections for a first class bus for the trip back to San Salvador, we ate again on the upstairs balcony of the same great restaurant, Carnitas, as last night.

Saturday May 11,2002

Today was a big day of travel, as we returned to San Salvador.  We were up by 5:00 AM to catch the direct bus to La Entrada.  There we found the San Carlos Hotel, the reported stop for the First Class direct bus to San Salvador.  Tickets were purchased and we had about half an hour wait for the arrival of the bus so we chose to enjoy a cup of coffee at the hotel restaurant.  They packed us a sack breakfast to take with us and once we boarded the bus, the stewardess brought us fruit juice and water to complete out the meal.  The bus was an A-number-1 class bus and we had a very comfortable relaxing trip back to the big city. 

Once in San Salvador it took a bit of hunting and a taxi driver to find us a hotel near the new shopping center.  We settled in to the hotel and then walked the few blocks to the mall for an afternoon of shopping.  First chore was to find new sandals for me as my last pair had given up after only 2 months of use.  We then wandered through the mall checking out the types of shops, looked in two computer stores where we finally found the film chip reader for Pipe Dream’s digital camera, and enjoyed a sub sandwich for lunch.

Back to the hotel we enjoyed a cool swim in the tiny pool then watched TV until the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday May 12, 2002

Today it was back to Bahía del Sol and the anchored boats.  We all slept in some at the hotel and enjoyed a late breakfast at an international restaurant some distance away.  Then it was check-out time and a bus to the city center where we took some photos of the church off the main square.  It was decorated with bright tiles around its main door.  One more city bus got us back to the terminal where the bus to the Costa del Sol left.  We arrived back at Bahía del Sol in time to open up the boat and change into swimming suits for the evening sundown cruiser's-in-the-pool time.