Copán Ruinas

I saw my mom off at the airport Friday morning before returning to site and the reality of packing up my life here…but more about that later.

Mom and I had had a wonderful time in Copán Ruinas this past week. Christmas Day was spent traveling to San Pedro Sula, a four-hour long drive with two of those hours on horrible roads, and then relaxing with my host sister, Erika, her husband, Robert, and their beyond adorable 2-year-old daughter, María Louisa. We stayed overnight at their house before continuing on to Copán Ruinas Monday morning. We arrived in Copán around lunchtime and first went to our hotel to check-in and drop off our stuff. The hotel – Casa de Café B&B Inn – was beautiful with gorgeous gardens, simple rooms and, most importantly, hot water. After lunch, we spent the afternoon wandering around the town, doing a little shopping and relaxing in the hotel garden before heading out again to find dinner.

Tuesday we went to visit the Mayan ruins. We decided to hire a guide, which was a good decision since he was able to tell us a lot about the ruins, Mayan history, and the site in general. Apparently only 25% of the site is excavated! During our three-hour tour, we visited the Monument Plaza, which is full of various sculptures (many of the 13^th king) still in excellent condition; the Ballcourt, the Acropolis; the Hieroglyphic Stairway, which forms the longest known Mayan hieroglyphic text; and the Sepulturas, an area of mostly elite residences with carved stone benches and a number of tombs.  We also visited the sculpture museum, which has some amazingly well-preserved artifacts, including the famous Altar Q – depicts each of the first 16 kings of the Copán dynasty – and a replica of Rosalila, one of the best preserved phases of one of the temples. There are multiple layers to this site because each ruler would build on top of the structures and temples of the former ruler; Rosalila was discovered intact under later phases of the tomb. Actually, thanks to erosion by the Copán River before it was diverted, you can actually see the different layers of the site (the river was diverted to preserve the site though a number of buildings and part of the Acropolis had already been destroyed). The history was interesting, the sculptures fascinating and the views beautiful. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and even had massages (though we should have saved those for Thursday morning)!

The next day, Wednesday, we decided to do a day trip to the Finca El Cisne, a highly recommended tour that we thoroughly enjoyed. Finca El Cisne is a fully operational family run farm that has been in existence since somewhere around 1870, though they’ve only been doing tours for about ten years now. The main crop is coffee, though they also grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, have cattle for beef and milk, and are currently starting to grow cacao (chocolate!). Carlos, our guide and part of the family, explained to us that each family member is responsible for part of the coffee crop and then are also in charge of one other aspect of the farm (though not all his siblings and cousins live on the farm year round). For Carlos, it’s the tours and the new chocolate venture. Upon arrival at the farm, we took a brief walking tour and visited the coffee processing area before saddling up for the horseback portion of the trip. It was a beautiful ride, though we got rained on during the return trip and most of us were already feeling the muscle soreness before we even got off the horses. Once we got back to the house, we had an amazingly delicious late lunch of typical Honduran foods – including empanadas de quesillo con chismol, beef stew, yucca and salad – all made with ingredients grown on the farm. We then drove a short way down the rode to soak our sore muscles in the hot springs before driving back to Copán. A long, but wonderful day.

Thursday morning we spent more time wandering around the area, visiting Hacienda San Lucas to check out the views of the valley, and doing some more shopping. In the afternoon, we headed back to San Pedro Sula and Erika’s house to spend the night. I loved showing my mom around my site and spending time with her in Copán Ruinas, and I’m glad I got to see at least bit more of Honduras before Peace Corps sends me home.