Copan, Honduras

Someone rang an early call at 5.15. I had been awake from 3. I had been trying to complete the form which wouldn’t accept the pdf Covid pass as an attachment so I had to take photos of it and passport and that worked. Occupation had to be a choice from the list. I chose beekeeper though water “coletor” and splicer appealed. I failed on the signature but Manuel finished it off at 5.45 breakfast. He had quite a queue waiting.

We were slow to depart as Georgina from Australia was not ready Traffic was heavy getting out of Guatemala City. After zigzagging up and down mountains we came to an obsidian quarry where we stopped for a look. Then it was back on the bus for a while, making good progress on a dual carriageway financed by the Chinese - I must ask what they get in return - There is copper here. However we suddenly came to the road closure - apparently it was being worked on. There had been no warning or any diversion signs. We had to turn round and find our way on back roads - sometimes a bridge was down so we had to try another way but eventually we got back on the right road. We stopped at a service station to use the facilities and when we got back on the bus, Miquel cracked open a bottle of rum which cheered us all up. By now we’d been on the bus for 5 hours.

It was after 1 when we got to the Honduran border but the crossing was straightforward and there was only our group going over. As soon as we arrived at the Mayan site of Copan we got some lunch. It was very hot - we’d descended from 2000m to 600m.

We walked 2.5 miles around the site. The local guide was really good - amusing, and informative without overwhelming with lots of detail. A German had excavated the site and the deal was he’d get 10% of the antiquities uncovered. Some stelae are still there, covered to protect from the elements. It was fascinating to hear the history of the site, but we were all weary after 2.5 hours in the heat. On the walk back we saw some macaws in the trees.

It was only 15 minutes to the hotel - the museum was closed by the time we’d finished and there was no time for the bird sanctuary.

Our room looks over the central courtyard which has lots of exotic plants and a tiny pool. We are off now to find some food.