Tuesday 13 October 2009

Getting to Honduras and the Copan Ruins


Does it get any better?


I have managed to make my way to Honduras.

For all the problems that the 24 hour news services and Foreign Office tell us, this country is at peace and preparing itself for an election.

Pick ups drive around with loud speakers blaring messages from the different candidates.

But this is not the country that the Foreign Office portrays.

There are no problems, outside Tegucigalpa, and the FO is playing into the hands of the travel insurance companies. My insurance is invalid while I stay here, as the FO has recommended only essential travel take place.

Then again, they did the same while I was in Bangkok fighting with water guns.

But as this is the journey of a lifetime, and I kept reading everywhere that the country was safe, I decided to be brave and I am now in Copan.

Is this what the FO office is scared of?


Copan Ruinas is the home of the Maya ruins of the same name. If you were hoping for the grand pyramids of Tikal you are in for a dissapointment.

Maybe not quite Tikal, but still outstanding


Here temples are smaller and the jungle has been cut down. There is no Indiana Jones feeling, sadly no temples towering over an ever expanding jungle.

Stela A, beautiful just standing there, staring at you


However, one thing Copan offers that you will not find elsewhere is its sculptures, its hieroglyphics, its Stelas.

View from the top of one of the temples


It also has a story to tell that may bring home some of the things we constantly hear about in the news.

Altar G....what can I say, so many bad memories, so many things left behind, hope I am not having to leave people behind for it


As the Copan kindgom grew richer, larger and more populated, it seems that so did deforestation, erosion and water usage...with it came agricultural decimation and floodings...I can't help but think about how many times I have heard those things link together as I have travelled the world.

Do we ever learn?

Macaw at the end of the day, they are so amazing, with their bright red colours

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