Itīs only been 5 days since we last wrote our journal but thereīs already quite a lot to tell you all about! The afternoon of the last journal entry (which was on the 5th...todayīs Wednesday (three weeks exactly until our flight home!), which means that we wrote that on Friday...is that right?), (Chris Im lost!) we went to the Enchanted Wings butterfly house to see the butterflies and they also have an orchid section so I was quite excited to see that too, especially as I recently realised that the muggers got our photos of the beautiful orchids in Quito :0( The butterfly place turned out to be a bit disappointing though as there didnīt seem to be an awful lot of butterflies around and the orchids had gone over. It was a pleasant half an hour wander around though.
On Saturday morning, we got up reasonably early to make our way to the Maya ruins. Theyīre just outside of the town so it only took about 10 minutes to walk there. When we got there, we hired a guide because although it was reasonably expensive, we generally find that we get more out of it. I canīt believe this was only five days ago itīs really hard to remember all about it!
Our guide started off by telling us a bit about the Maya period. Copan was built during the classic period, from about 400 800AD and was eventually abandoned due to overpopulation and the exhaustion of resources. The upper class also lost their hold on the lower class because of the problems. Apparently, Copan is one of the most interesting ruins in terms of the carvings because it has lasted longer than some of the other places (weīll confirm this or otherwise when weīve visited them!). There were 14 rulers at Copan and normally, when a new ruler came to power, he would destroy part of the old city and rebuild it to reconfirm his power so most of what we saw came from the later periods.
Before the official tour started, he showed us a map of the site and the various buildings. We didnīt really listen to most of this though as we were mildly distracted by a couple of scarlet macaws trying to attack our toes. Our guide seemed to find this rather amusing but I reckon they could have given a good bite!
We then moved on to the tour proper and our guide explained that archaeologists have been working on the site since the 1970s and there is still only 20% of it that has been investigated. When they discovered the site, it was completely covered in jungle and there are still large, unrestored areas that you can see with trees growing out of them, with the roots pushing the stones in all directions. Itīs amazing the way that archaeologists are able to take a huge mound of stones and reassemble it into a temple!
There are three main areas to the ruins the main plaza, where all the lower classes came together to witness sacrifices and other religious events; the acropolis, which has another, smaller plaza, which was only open to the upper classes; and a residential area. There is also another residential site a couple of kilometres away but we didnīt get around to visiting that bit.
The first temple we looked around was originally used for astronomy purposes. Like all of the pre-Colombian civilisations, they seem to have had a pretty good handle on the stars and yearly cycles etc. From the top of this temple, the leader would look out over the main plaza and be able to command the lower classes because he was presumed to be close to the gods because of his high position.
Next stop was that jaguar plaza the plaza in the acropolis part. Itīs so called because of the jaguar statues found around the area. The most abundant animals in terms of statues and carvings seemed to be jaguars, quetzals (a bird with a very long tail), macaws and the two-headed snake (eurgh!). They believed that the snakeīs jaw was the opening to the underworld and that at sunset, the sun would be swallowed by the snake, and then rise again from the other end in the morning. Therefore, the doorways of the temples are in the shape of a snakeīs jaw, although most of them were destroyed, but you can just about make out the bottom teeth.
We then went down into the main plaza and to the hieroglyphic stairway. This was built to tell the history of Copan from the 7th to the final ruler on a huge staircase. Some of the carving is still quite clear, although unfortunately, the first archaeologists to reconstruct it put some of the blocks in the wrong place and upside down so goodness knows how the history of Copan reads!
There was also a ball court in the main plaza and although Iīm not entirely sure how the game was played, it consisted of players (only the upper class) standing on a patch of ground between two sloped walls and hitting the ball from one side to the other with their shoulders, elbows and knees! The winners were then sacrificed not such a great prize if you ask me but apparently it was an honour!
Further on was another temple and lots of statues, which were all of the final ruler of Copan. Some of the carving on these statues, and one at the foot of the astronomical temple in the main plaza were amazing. Theyīre so intricate and itīs amazing how theyīve lasted. Apparently, they took around a year and a half to carve.
After the tour, we decided to wander around a bit more on our own and went to explore the residential bit etc. We were walking around scoffing at how the guide book said to go early to avoid the crowds as there werenīt very many people around but found out what it was talking about when we left as about 20 coaches full of OAPs were pouring into the car park! After a quick lunch, we returned to the town and had a relaxing afternoon.
On Sunday, we decided to visit Macaw Mountain, which is a bird park a couple of kilometres from Copan. Feeling slightly lazy and quite hot, we decided to take a little motorbike taxi (a motorbike towing seats basically) and were very glad we did as it would have been a long, hot, dusty walk!
Macaw Mountain was really nice, with lots of macaws (as you may have guessed) and other parrots etc. in large aviaries. It was a really nice setting and very well maintained as well as being very peaceful. Although the guide book said that you could swim in the river there, I forgot my swimming costume, which was a shame as it would have been nice to have a dip. After spending a couple of hours walking around looking at the birds and also doing a little nature trail, we sat and had a cup of coffee whilst waiting for our motorbike taxi to come and pick us up. Nolan joined us for dinner that night as we were going our separate ways after that so it was goodbye to my dive buddy!
Chris We also had an infestation of flying ants that evening. The weather finally broke and the rainy season arrived in the afternoon which was great for those of us whove grown up in Britain and are more used to a bit of the wet stuff than stifling 30 degree temperatures. Unfortunately this also sent the ants scurrying for cover, into our bathroom! Luckily the hotel had some ant killer handy which managed to kill them off. Sarah was then very worried about our gecko eating poisoned ants and dying but we heard him shouting the next morning so he was fine.
On Monday, we did a couple of bits and pieces and then got our minibus to Antigua, Guatemala our penultimate country! The border is only about 12km from Copan and it was one of the smoothest border crossings weīve done! Exit stamp at one window, entry stamp at the next and youīre away. Nothing like the disorganisation in Panama/Costa Rica! Once weīd all got our stamps, we were ready to continue, with a couple of extra passengers two policemen sat in the luggage compartment at the back of the minibus. Apparently, there have been several instances of tourist minibuses being hijacked so they now have police escorts. Itīs good to know they now have escorts but a bit unsettling to hear of the hijacks in the first place!
Anyhow, we arrived safely in Antigua after about a 6 hour journey through fairly uninspiring landscape. Although it is a bit green, itīs just so dry. Itīs just coming into the rainy season now so it will probably look a lot different in a month or so but for the meantime, itīs not particularly striking.
We were dropped off at a hotel that sounded quite nice in the guidebook, and it was, apart from a guy hassling us to book a tour to Pacaya volcano for the next day. Weīd only just arrived and were tired and didnīt really want to have to think about it just then but it took him ages to get the hint, which wasnīt a great introduction to Guatemala. It gave us the impression that we were going to get hassled at every opportunity.
It hasnīt turned out to be quite that bad though. Antigua is a very attractive town as itīs all old colonial buildings. (Chris A lot of it falling or fallen down from past earthquakes.) Even McDonalds and Burger King have small signs outside and thatīs it. The atmosphere seems quite friendly too and the people seem very helpful in general. We did visit the artesan market yesterday and get a bit hassled but we sort of expected that.
This morning, we were up at the ridiculous hour of 5:30 to go to see Pacaya volcano (we didnīt book with the hotel guy as he had annoyed us and furthermore was trying to charge us double the price of agencies in town cheeky bugger!). We managed to struggle out of bed and make our way to the tour agency office and set off for the hour and a half journey to the volcano (complete with policemen again). We got there at about 7:30 and after buying our entrance tickets, we set off.
I soon realised why I didnīt like doing climbing tours with big groups! The guide set quite a pace and, not having done much exercise for a while and therefore being completely unfit again, coupled with altitude, I was struggling! There was a boy behind us with a horse who kept offering it as a lift and after about 20 minutes, I finally gave in and decided to ride instead of walk. However, I only rode it for about 10 minutes because it was far too small for me really and on closer inspection, wasnīt very well-fed so I felt too guilty to ride it much further. It did get me up a particularly steep and nasty bit though bless it!
We (me, the pony and Juan, the boy) reached a mirador a bit before the rest of the group so I had a few minutes to sit down and catch my breath completely before we set off again. Having misconstrued my īIīm OK to walk for a bitī as īI donīt want to ride any more at allī, Juan didnīt follow us any more so I was stuck with my own two legs!
Somehow, I managed to struggle to what I thought was going to be the top. Our guide had explained that we couldnīt go all the way to the crater as was normal for the tour because the volcano has been very active recently and it was too dangerous. We therefore reached a point where we could see the volcano quite closely (when the cloud cleared) and I thought that was it...and then he sprung it on me that we had another 40 minute climb on the lava scree and that it was going to be the steepest part!!! I nearly sat down and refused to go any farther but thought I should probably carry on for a bit at least. It was a tough climb steep and slippery and I gave up trying to keep up with the group and just went at my own pace. Again, somehow, after about 40 minutes, I made it to the top. It was worth it. We were quite close to quite an active bit and could clearly see it spewing out rocks (luckily not in our direction) as well as getting the sound effects. One eruption was quite big and really loud, which gave us all a bit of a fright I think. We didnīt hang around there too much longer and started the descent, which was almost as tricky as the ascent but without the breathing problems. I found the best method was to do sliding steps...although again, I was the last one in the group! Ho hum. It took about an hour and a half to reach the bottom, where we had a drink, got back into our minibus and returned to Antigua.
Which brings us up to now! The next few days planned are going to be very hectic and our next journal entry may very well be from Mexico! Until then...
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