The Copan Ruins

A couple of weeks ago our summer interns and I decided to give ourselves a midsummer break. We stuffed our pack backs with clothes and snacks and headed out on a 8 hour bus ride to Copan for a weekend trip... Copan is in the northern left had corner of Honduras, about 5 minutes away from the Guatemalan border, and home to ancient Mayan ruins. We arrived late Friday night in the quite little town of Copan. We were all anxious to get off the bus, as we had been subjected to not one, not two, but three Spanish dubbed Bruce Lee movies (there were not earphone jacks for those who wanted to watch... so everyone got to enjoy all three movies!!!) After a short walk we located our cute little hotel called Hotel Patty. The rooms wrapped around a beautiful courtyard, and though it the rooms were modest, they suited our needs, and budget, well. On Saturday morning we woke up, ate a fabulous breakfast, drank some spectacular coffee and headed to the ruins. The ruins are located 2 K from the town of Copan and it was quite a pleasant stroll in the morning sunlight. We arrived, hired a tour guide and were in the park by 9 am. Our tour guide had a straw cowboy hat, a giant fake diamond ring in his left ear, and reeked of whiskey from the night before, but proved to be quite informative despite his apparent hangover. Our tour lasted over 2 hours and when it was completed I felt that I had significantly improved my knowledge about Honduran History, Mayan history, and archeology. I did take lots of pictures... lots of pretty pictures... and of course some silly ones too. I have included all of my favorites below!



After the ruins we just wandered around the cute little town of Copan, ate some wonderful typical Honduran food, and did a little souvenir shopping. We caught the bus early Sunday AM and were back in San Marcos by 7 pm that night. The trip may have been short and sweet, but it really turned our to be quite relaxing and I also got to know our summer interns and form friendships with them that I know will outlast our time here in Honduras!