Macaw
Today was our longest day of the trip. A one day, out and back road trip into Honduras to visit the famed Mayan ruins at Copan. Not many visitors come from the eastern side where the capital is, as its a very long and arduous trip over the mountains, so most of the visitors arrive from Guatemala, which is what we did.
A little bit about the Mayans. The Maya civilisation was noted for its hieroglyphic script – the only known fully developed writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas – as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical systems. The Maya civilisation developed in an area that encompasses south eastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador, so it was a big concern.
Whilst many dominant civilisations last only a few hundred years, the Mayans lasted almost 3000 years, so they are an important and significant group. The first Mayan people emerged as farmers around 2000 BC. They are responsible for the cultivation of many of the staple crops we use today – maize, beans, squashes, and chilli peppers. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC.
The first Maya cities developed around 750 BC. Around 250 AD Maya civilisation developed a large number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. They lasted until the 9th century when there was a widespread political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in the abandonment of cities. The last Maya city fell to the Spanish in 1697.
So, way before breakfast, we were picked up in the dark and driven to Guatemala City where we were offloaded at a large hotel to await the bus with all of the rest of the tour. Well, the rest of the tour turned out to be us, so a driver and guide duly turned up in a comfy mini-bus and off we went.
It was going to be a long day. After 2 1/2 hours we stopped and took a breakfast break at the town of El Rancho for around half an hour, then set off again towards the border. After another three hours, we finally reached the border and joined the long line of tourists going across to visit the ruins. The Guatemala side of the border was nice and quick, but the Honduras side was excruciating. It was a full immigration clearance with fingerprints, photos and the payment of a fee – as opposed to a charge for the visa that we had already paid. I’m sure we weren’t the first people to try to explain that we were only going to be in the country for four hours and didn’t have any accommodation, but they duly wrote it all down and eventually they let us all in. Mind you, the bus driver who was sitting in the bus the whole time just went through without being checked either way. Whilst there were police around who were intercepting trucks looking for stowaways, there was actually no gate and no check to verify that we had actually gone through the correct process, so we could have just sailed through. Anyway, it was a good way to fill up your passport with lots of stamps in one day.
At 1 o’clock, after 7 1/2 hours, we reached the ruins and went straight into our tour. Another guide emerged from the office who was obviously attached to the ruins, and he walked us around, trying to crack lots of jokes as he went. Actually, his English wasn’t bad, but he kept panning the US all through his patter without realising that Brendan was traveling on a US passport.
Like most other archaeological sites, the Mayan ruins at Copan were abandoned in 802 when they ran out of wood to support the city, and were eventually lost to memory before being overgrown. Found again by the Spanish as they hunted high and low for gold in the 1500s, they are now gradually being excavated and restored as much as money will allow. The whole site is some 20 km², but the part of the site that they have excavated and restored so far is reasonably small. However, it does include the large temple and palace structure. It took us about an hour and a half to walk our way around the ruins, see the public areas, the royal palace complex, the great temple, and the fabled staircase that is one of the highlights of the Mayans civilisation found anywhere.
Eventually when our guide ran out of jokes, we headed back to the bus and down to a restaurant in the nearby town for a local lunch, which was far too large for us to manage but certainly lovely to eat.
Then it was back on the bus, steeling ourselves for the seven hour return trip. The border was fairly close, and this time there wasn’t the same queue so, although we had to provide yet another set of fingerprints for Honduras to get out of the country, we breezed through the Guatemala side and climbed back on the bus. 3 1/2 hours later, we pulled into the same restaurant that we had used on the morning leg for a driver break and pit stop. By now it was well after dark and we sat behind an endless stream of laden trucks as we crawled our way back to Guatemala City and then on to Antigua, arriving around about 9:30, which means it was more than a 16 hour day.
A really interesting time, with lots of worthwhile things to see, but we were all a bit numb as we piled out of the bus.
Copan Ruinas
Copan Ruinas
Copan Ruinas
Local lunch