Canopies and Ruins in Copan

Another chicken bus and coach trip later and we arrived in Copan Ruinas, the town next to the famous Mayan ruins of the same name and probably Honduras`s most tourist visited place.

We were fortunate enough to be staying in a flat owned by Bill and Marta, an American / Honduran couple who are old mates of Bob from the brewery.

It was so nice to have the whole 2 bed apartment to ourselves, with a kitchen, lounge and pool. However the pool was out of the question because of the temperature, which was a bit on the chilly side due to the altitude of Copan, so much so that we had to dig our cold weather gear out of the bottom of our rucksacks! We also used the peace and quiet and space to sort out Mr B´s CV.

The ruins themselves are a short walk out of town. They are nicely compact and remarkably tourist free. We hired a great guide by the name of Juan who gave an interesting and enthusiastic talk as we wandered around. This Mayan site is famous for its sculpture rather than its pyramids.

We felt a bit adventurous so partook in the pre requisite Central America traveller activity - the canopy tour! This involves being strapped into a harness and sliding down cables strung between trees over valleys, rivers, Mayan ruins and local villages using only your gloved hand as a brake! The longest run was 1km long over the Copan river.

Local transport was provided by tuc tucs (auto rickshaws) which hurtled about the madly steep cobble stoned streets and delivered us home each night.

There was a good selection of bars and restaurants in the town including our favourite - the Red Frog! We were kept highly amused and entertained throughout the weekend however by the 80 or so Peace Corps volunteers who were in town for Halloween. Statements like "What, you lived in the Middle East - Cool Man" were very common! To say these guys and girls were naive was an understatement but the amusement factor was high. Everyone was talking about the US election, but personally we can´t wait for it to be over, then it´ll be adios to Jorge as he´s known in these parts!!