our time in la ceiba was finally over on sunday and so we got on that bus that belongs to the most expensive bus company in honduras, called hedman alas, to start our journey towards copan. getting on that bus was btw almost as difficult as getting on a plane, with all the bags being checked, id being checked and even a picture being taken!a bit exaggerated in my opinion. after all if this is all the security measures, why wouldn´t they take the prints of your teeth or maybe a dna sample as well?and another negative point for hedman alas: they wouldn´t stop to let those ladies with mangos with chile and salt hop on the bus and sell them to the hungry passengers. the bus company is too fancy for that apperently. buu.
but anyway some time in the afternoon we were finally in copan. everyone has been telling us how great that town is and so our expectations were high, and to be honest they were completely met by copan. it is a lovely little town that could be situated somewhere in rural spain for example with its paved streets, pretty houses and lots of shops with traditional craft. after san pedro and la ceiba, this is such a releif. copan is small, safe and has a very nice atmosphere. all of us are completely in love with it!it´s a pity we didn´t stay here 2 weeks instead of hanging about in la ceiba. there are cows, chickens and horses everywhere and everyone seems to know each other. their central square is cozy and it´s not dangerous to sit about there in the evening. there are all sort of lots that sell lovely things like grilled corn with salt and lime. delicious!
our first day which was monday was a bit unlucky in terms of the weather, because it rained every hour or so and walking down the street was challenging with all those slippery pavements. we spent that day getting to know our family, where marianne and i are staying, the school, teachers and the wonderful little shops with all sort of souvenirs that are very tempting. too bad my backpack has a limit when it comes to filling it. our family is adorable. they have a new big house where everything works (well almost everything) and there is hot water!the members of the family socialize with us and we always have company during the luch or dinner. during the first day we were just plainly astonished by such a change from what we had in la ceiba. marianne was positively surprised when it came to the size of the portions of food (a considerable increase in comparison with la ceiba) whereas i like the fact that people at this house show some interest in us and where we come from. they compare a lot of what we say to US but that is understandable since for honduras it seems that the main point of reference is US and unlike some other countries in this region they mainly have a positive attitude towards americans. not that we care that much, since we´re just glad when people have at least somewhat of an idea where finland and that part of the world in general is situated.
when it comes to the spanish school here, one can´t do anything else but admit that it is much better than the one in la ceiba!their building is new and spacy, has a lovely garden and every student has his/her own room for studying. all in all, copan is fab!
the weather decided to have mercy on us, or well depends on the point of view of course and tuesday was graced with perfect sunshine. that sunshine was of course causing "slow brain activity mode" in us to a certain extent, especially in those not adapted to the sun too well :) hint hint but still the morning was dedicated to copan ruinas- the great mayan ruins situated just outside the town. our guide ramon gave us an extensive lecture about mayan culture and traditions, about the history of maya and what not. marianne was suffering from some kind of total distraction and attention deficit state and so all the details about the 16 copan´s rulers were summarized by her in the name of one of them, the most influential one, "the 18th rabbit". the rabbit was a talented politician, however he was decapitated later, so maybe after all he was not that talented. copan is only one of the main spots of mayan culture, others being tikal in guatemala for example, and after visiting copan we agreed that tikal should definately be on the list of must-see-places. not this time, but at some point in the future then.
evenings in copan are nice and cool and so sitting outside is a pleasure. it was definately the smartest move so far to come to copan. i highly recommend it to anyone travelling to honduras!
No comments:
Post a Comment