Copan
We crossed the border from Antigua into Honduras and arrived at the town of Copan Ruinas. Not a nice border crossing as we had to get off the bus and weren't told what was happening. The driver and staff had disappeared with our passports and it was still raining.
On the brightside though there was plenty of entertainment as someone decided to see how many doughnuts they could get for one dollar at the snack shack (answer = 10) there was also a local asking for money because he was entertaining us with his selection of animal noises (I must admit his dog impression was about the best I've heard!)
We were left in the rain and eventually worked out that the driver had just gone for a spot of lunch and we were soon back on the bus, passports stamped and en route to Copan.
We had some time to look around the town and meet the new group. I was glad to meet the American lads as it had been pretty much all female company for best part of the trip (no offence ladies!) The lads turned out to be the complete opposite to your stereotypical American tourists - they liked a few beers and watching the footie although they still called it soccer (Alright lads if you are reading this!).
On our first night in this small town we all ended up at an 80's disco night as well as getting caught in (another) thunderstorm.
The next day we headed for the museum and the final set of ruins. (Now I know some of you are sad (Mr Purkiss!) that I have finished with the Mayan and Inca ruins but after this fix you will have to wait till I get to Easter Island for more ruin action).
Now for the history...
The kingdom, anciently named Xukpi (Corner-Bundle), flourished from the 5th century AD to the early 9th century. Its name is an apparent reference to the fact that it was situated at the far southern and eastern end of Maya territory. The site in Copan is perhaps best known for producing a remarkable series of portrait stelae (Statues) , most of which were placed along processional ways in the central plaza of the city and the adjoining large complex of overlapping step-pyramids, plazas, and palaces.
The site itself was pretty cool to visit. At the entrance were Macaws which were tame and flew around everywhere. The guide was quite entertaining and got the history of the place over in an interesting way. We were free to look around in certain sections - I got chased out of some tunnels by an angry guard though as I had not apparently paid the extra charge to get in!
On the brightside though there was plenty of entertainment as someone decided to see how many doughnuts they could get for one dollar at the snack shack (answer = 10) there was also a local asking for money because he was entertaining us with his selection of animal noises (I must admit his dog impression was about the best I've heard!)
We were left in the rain and eventually worked out that the driver had just gone for a spot of lunch and we were soon back on the bus, passports stamped and en route to Copan.
We had some time to look around the town and meet the new group. I was glad to meet the American lads as it had been pretty much all female company for best part of the trip (no offence ladies!) The lads turned out to be the complete opposite to your stereotypical American tourists - they liked a few beers and watching the footie although they still called it soccer (Alright lads if you are reading this!).
On our first night in this small town we all ended up at an 80's disco night as well as getting caught in (another) thunderstorm.
The next day we headed for the museum and the final set of ruins. (Now I know some of you are sad (Mr Purkiss!) that I have finished with the Mayan and Inca ruins but after this fix you will have to wait till I get to Easter Island for more ruin action).
Now for the history...
The kingdom, anciently named Xukpi (Corner-Bundle), flourished from the 5th century AD to the early 9th century. Its name is an apparent reference to the fact that it was situated at the far southern and eastern end of Maya territory. The site in Copan is perhaps best known for producing a remarkable series of portrait stelae (Statues) , most of which were placed along processional ways in the central plaza of the city and the adjoining large complex of overlapping step-pyramids, plazas, and palaces.
The site itself was pretty cool to visit. At the entrance were Macaws which were tame and flew around everywhere. The guide was quite entertaining and got the history of the place over in an interesting way. We were free to look around in certain sections - I got chased out of some tunnels by an angry guard though as I had not apparently paid the extra charge to get in!
(Check out those Battle Sandals!!)
They had taken some of the original statues from the site and started replacing them with copies - so I supose it was good to see most of it in original form as it won't be like that for long.
We did a nature walk by the entrance - although didn't see much nature then headed over to the museum. You had to walk through a tunnel to get in which was a nice touch - the museum itself was in a massive building with a brightly painted replica of how one of the temples would have looked as well as some great restored sculptures.
We had a powercut that evening and more rain greated us as we set off to Tela.
posted by Phil at 6:05 AM
1 Comments:
Battle sandals are well cool.
Jen
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