Day 50

     Another day trip from Santa Ana.  This time to Cerro Verde, a national park featuring two volcanoes.  We hiked Volcan Santa Ana first and had lunch on the summit.  The volcano has a huge crater, maybe 1,000 feet deep, with a lake, and emits periodic sulfur clouds as an added bonus.  We didn�t prepare for the cold so Lady borrowed the legs from my zip-off pants.  She looked like a flamenco dancer when she frequently lost her balance on the way down.
     We missed our bus back to town so I took the opportunity to speed climb Volcan Izalco.  It has an almost perfect cone and looks like a volcano should (i.e., gray with ash and rock whereas Santa Ana was mostly grass and cactus coverered).  Unfortunately, I caused us to miss the next bus too.  We caught the last one that day, although not gtoing directly to Santa Ana, along with all of the rangers and vendors from the park.  It was a loud ride because everyone knew each other and there was lots of laughter. They made us feel like old friends. 

Hotel - $13, Food - $24, Trans - $3, Tours - $1     TOTAL - $41

Day 51

     We said our final goodbyes to the Hotel La Libertad and set off for Copan, Honduras.  First, we bused to Metapan, the town closest to the border.  Here we had two options: 
1. Cross through Guatemala  to Honduras, good roads, 3 hours, smart
2. go over the mountains to Honduras, then several buses, dirt roads, 9 hours, dumb
Easy decision, right?  The only hitch was the $20 we would have to pay to enter Guatemala again.  We left it to chance and flipped a coin...heads for Option 2.
     With that decision behind us, we waited for our bus by going to church.  As luck would have it, we met Carlos, the caretaker, who gave us an all access tour of the 250 year old church.  First, the catacombs below and then the roof.  The view of the town and the surrounding hills from the belltower was especially rewarding.  P.S.  We also had one last milkshake (well 2x1 to be exact).
     Boarding the bus, we were greeted with lots of stares and promptly tripped over the sacks of sugar and coffee beans in the aisles.  This bus was definitely not on the gringo tour.  Fortunately the stares turned to smiles and later to pleasant conversation.  The drive over the mountians was great too.  Unfortunately, the bus took longer than expected and we arrived too late to connect to Copan.  Anight in a border town was not what we were hoping for.

Hotel - $9, Food - $13, Trans - $5, Random (Entry Fee - $20)     TOTAL - $47

Day 52

     After fortyifying ourselves with a typical Honduran breakfast of tortillas, beans, eggs and stewed chicken (sound familiar?), we travelled for six hours on local buses to Copan.  We celebrated finally arriving (exactly 24 hours after Option 1) by making tomato sandwhiches in the park.  Overall, we found the small town of Copan to be touristy and charming.

Hotel - $8, Food - $21, Trans - $9, Random (Internet $10)     TOTAL - $48

Day 53 

Note: Lady had such a great day in Copan she decided to write the journal.

     Despite the number of ruins we have already visited, we were awed by the sights of Copan.  What
makes Copan so impressive is its intricately carved stone work, including altars, temples, stelae, and a massive stair case.  Statues and stelae, many over 10 feet, dotted the grounds and depicted the Mayan rulers in detail that was complete down to the straps on their shoes.  The hieroglyphic staircase has 63 steps (each 25 feet wide) that outlined Mayan history.  My favorite sculpture was the water bird - in stone, it depicted a terrifying bird surrounded by  waterfalls.  Matt liked the skyband best - a bench with individual panels representing the moon, sun, stars, and milky way.  All of which were supported on the backs and shoulders of the gods of the underworld.  This has been our favorite ruin and a great day as well.

Hotel - $7, Food - $11, Tours - $32, Random (Laundry $4, Internet $1)     TOTAL - $55
  

Day 54

     We caught an early bus to the coastal town of La Ceiba.  La Ceiba is the gateway port to the Bay Islands, but kore about that in a few days.  Anyway, we spent the afternoon wandering around and later had a few drinks with Claire, a friend from Xela.
      Lady and I desperately wanted to see a movie and found a brand new theatre just outside of town.  Getting there was half the fun.  Most of the directional advice we received was partially correct but more often wrong.  No kidding, it is a culture thing where people would prefer to make up an answer rather than say they don�t know.  Within five minutes we were told to go right, go left, and go straight.  We kept asking and �right� won out.  It also turned out to be mostly correct.   

Hotel - $10, Food - $21, Trans - $14     TOTAL - $45

Day 55

     Tropical storm Alberto dominated our day.  We had lots of rain and didn�t do much of anything besides reading and getting wet when we went out for food.  We loitered at a fast food place for over three hours waiting for the rain to stop.  It didn�t. 

Hotel - $10, Food - $20,  Random (Internet $5)     TOTAL - $35
    

Day 56

     Today�s highlight was definitely experiencing a new mode of transportation as we visited Cuero y Selado National Park.  To get there, Claire, Karen (Claire�s American friend), Lady and I hired a railroad cart called a burra.  Our driver would run barefoot behind the tracks pushing the cart, hop on for a while, and then push some more.  We rode like this through an old banana plantation for over an hour.
     At the park, we hired a guide and a small boat to tour the marsh area.  We saw white-faced monkeys (Lady�s favorite), baby crocodiles, and toucans.  It appeared that all of the other animals were taking siestas.  Given the heat, siestas sounded like a good idea.
     On the way home, our burra driver stopped short and tried to double the price.  With Claire as our expert negotiator, we ignored his claims of injustice, hard work, illness, miscommunication, and lastly the police and walked the rest of the way. 

Hotel - $10, Food - $11, Trans - $8,  Tours - $36     TOTAL - $65