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Honduras |
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Sunday 08/15
Copan |
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A group of us arrange to take a horse ride out into the country, eventually depositing us at the magnificent Mayan ruins of Copan.
This is the second time in my life on a horse. As we head out of town, down a steep cobblestone street, I hear screaming behind me, which I'm later told was "No brakes! No brakes!" in Spanish. |
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I turn around just in time to for a woman on a bicycle to crash into my horse! My horse, of course, bolts off down the hill, with me screaming and hanging on for dear life. Luckily, it is an old, lazy horse, and doesn't go far.
We go to a ruin that was one of the peasant villages outside the Mayan city of Copan. This particular bit was discovered a few years ago as rain washed away the dirt and vegetation, revealing a "birthing centre" of sorts. There is a rock carved in the shape of a large toad (symbol of fertility) - it used to have hunks of jade in its ears, but they've recently been stolen. It also has two footprints on its back, where a woman was supposed to put her feet as she gave birth - none of us can figure out the exact ergonomics of this! |
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The main ruins of Copan are wonderful. Not as big as Tikal, but much more of the carving and statuary has survived - it is quite breathtaking. About 5 months ago, they found several tunnels leading into the tombs within the monuments. Two are open to the public, but are closed for lunch when we get there. |
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The famous Altar Q of King Rabbit 18 |
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Several of us decide to go to the hotsprings high up in the mountains above the town. We are promised that the ride, in a mini-van, is a quick 45 minutes. It turns out to be a horrendous hour-and-a-half ride, quite perilous as we time and again slip and slide in places where the rivers have washed away bits of the track down the mountainside. |
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Just as we arrive, it begins to rain, but we figure, we're here to get wet anyways. The pools are large and deep and steamy, and we have a wonderfully relaxing time splashing around and enjoying the scenery: lush greenery, a roaring river, and steamy clouds all around us.
The rain gets heavier and heavier, the sky darkens, and this is turning into a real storm. We decide to head out before the road gets too bad (it was treacherous enough when it was dry!) but we're too late. About 2 minutes into the drive, we get stuck in the mud. The stupid driver spins the tires until the whole van fills with acrid black smoke and the engine finally cuts out. He refuses to let us push, and declares we'll just have to sleep here.
Shortly, a man comes by in a pickup truck. Cynthia flags him down and convinces him to take us back to town (for a price). He is very kind, as it is a long, hard drive, and he lives just over the next hill from where we are now. We pile into the open back, sitting in two inches of muddy water. The rain beats down in torrents, the wind whips around us, the lightening flashes in the blackness. We're cold and drenched, and we sing at the top of our lungs for the entire ride back (Emma knows an inordinate number of really obscene songs!) Candle-lit faces peek out of doorways as we pass by tiny villages, and we greet everyone with a cheerful "Hola!" |
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Tuesday 08/17
Roatan |
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My first night dive.The water is very calm while we wait for the sun to go down. Our divemaster (Doug, a 50-ish Texan with a rock-hard body) tells us what to do with the lights, what to look for and what to avoid. There's a crescent moon as we slip into the water. I'm amazed at how much I can see, even before we turn the lights on. It's an amazing dive: so calm it's almost surreal. Our bubbles catch the moonlight. We see 3 octopus - at first they try to avoid our lights, then try to look big and manacing. We see some huge lobsters, and little shrimp with beady red eyes. |
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Sueno del Mar Dive Shop |
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Huge spiny sea urchins are everywhere - where were they during the day? We find a nice sandy spot surrounded by coral, and kneel in a circle, then turn off our lights. There is bioluminescent plankton that lights up as you touch it, so when you wave your arms around, a shower of green "sparks" flies off of you. We look for strings-of-pearl, but there is too much moonlight. We swim again, without the lights, in a shower of sparks - I feel like Tinkerbell!
We turn on the lights and continue. This is one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had. Corals that look grey and green in the daylight are transformed by our lights into vivd hues of scarlet, vermillion, violet, irridescent blue - it's stunning! |
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As our lanterns begin to lose power, they turn from white to yellow, attracting hundreds of tiny red worms. I hold the light up to my palm and they try to burrow between my fingers; I hold it close to a brain coral, and the worms are sucked in and eated with a little poof!
We are on a total high when we've finished the dive. Andrea and I (both new divers) can't stop saying "Wow! That was SO awesome!" Andrea comments that she doesn't know why anyone bothers diving during the day after an experience like that. |
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Scruffy, one of the residents of our hotel, who liked to steal anything that wasn't nailed down, and lick off my sunscreen as I applied it. |
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Onward to Nicaragua... |
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Home |
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