HONDURAS – The Trip

COPAN
We took a bus from Antigua, Guatemala across the border into Honduras to visit the most southerly Mayan ruins at Copan. Without the huge pyramids of Tikal, Copan, once home to 27,000, has some wonderful features. Most pyramids had large trees and roots sticking out. Some pyramids has been excavated via long tunnels showing how successive rulers simply built their pyramids on top of their predecessors.
One covered pyramid, the Rosalia temple, was completely intact and an exact replica has been reconstructed inside the impressive museum. You enter a serpents mouth and then walk down its gullet to enter the huge space. Copan is best known for its many stelae, many in excellent shape with clear hieroglyphics and red paint still visible. The hieroglyphic stairway tells the story of the 16 rulers of Copan. Since crossing into Honduras, there is no evidence of Mayans in traditional dress – the men all wear cowboy boots and hats.

It was then a long bus ride but this was a nice luxury bus with completely reclining seats and service. We went east almost to San Pedro Sula and the SE and south to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. We stayed in a big hotel but weren’t allowed outside the parking lot as it was too dangerous.
It was a short drive to the Nicaragua border.