We spent two nights there, just strolling by the lake and taking the opportunity to eat in restaurants again, the prices far more reasonable than in Antigua. We found an unusual restaurant which served a curious blend of Mayan and Chinese recipes, whilst seated on bamboo benches under a plethora of hanging baskets. The bed (complete with it's very own old Chinese lady) in the corner resembled the scene with the grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And the food was delicious, healthy and cheap, not an easy combination to find on the road.
The main road is littered with craft stalls, all selling the same brightly woven fabrics, hammocks and jewellery. But there isn't a great deal to do in Panajachel apart from trying to avoid the ticket touts. At every step you are asked where you want to go to. Despite the proliferation of large hotels, it would appear as though the only reason to come to Panajachel is to leave it by boat.
Just to be contrary we left it by bus, returning to Antigua for the night. We stayed in a different hostel, on the opposite side of town, in the hope that we might find hot water showers. And this time we struck gold. It's very rare to discover a hostel that I struggle to write anything bad about, but Casa Jacaranda was just that. We had two beds in the room, one hard (for me) and one soft (for Gemma), warm showers, good internet, cable tv, a garden with hammocks and the best free hostal breakfast I think we've found so far (spinach and mozzarella omelette with rosemary potatoes and frijoles, coffee, fruit juice and a bowl of melon - and that was just one of the 3 options).
Unfortunately we had planned to leave the following day, so we finished a few last minute chores and walked around Antigua checking out the travel agents for prices to Honduras. As so often happens, we eventually booked through one agency, walked around the corner and found the same journey advertised cheaper. We've both noticed how our perspective on finance has changed, and finding something for a few dollars cheaper has assumed a greater importance.
Nevertheless the following day we set off on the long drive to Copan Ruinas. The planned 7 hours looked a distant prospect when we hit an almighty traffic jam in Guatemala City, but once we were through the worst of it the driver clawed back some time by overtaking on corners and unsighted hills, and driving on the wrong side of the road to skip roadworks. When we finally arrived at the border, alive but with hairs on end, it was dark. The Guatemalan border guard extracted a $2 fee from everyone ahead of us (refusing their requests for a receipt) but had run out of change by the time we flashed our passports at him.
We walked across to the Honduran side. This time there was no escaping the border fee, but at least it was legitimate and we were given receipts without having to ask. We climbed back aboard the bus and continued on for about 10 minutes more until we reached Copan Ruinas. The driver refused to take everyone to their hostels, preferring to park up outside his commission based hotel, but our hostel owner turned up in his 4x4 to take us to our beds.
The following day we went for a wander around the new town in the new country. We found the central square easily enough, a fairly ugly modern concrete area. The towns museum was closed for remodelling, and the photograph gallery (a gift from a top US University) was also shut, for undetectable reasons. We took a walk up to the castle, but not only was this shut, it wasn't even a castle. Anyone familiar with the clubhouse of the golf course in Newquay can easily picture what this looked like.
We dug out the town map and discovered a butterfly farm on the outskirts, so we walked across town, past the colourful cemetery, and across the main road. In keeping with our day's success it was also shut, so we had a drink in a small roadside cafe next door. Fortunately we spotted the owner of the butterfly farm returning, so we hopped over and followed her through the gate,
We handed over a small fee, 100 Lempira (about £3) and went inside the office. Here the owner showed us butterflies of different breeds in several stages of life (and death, in the case of the macabre collection of beautiful but deceased butterflies). There were some pupae which looked like delicate little silver earrings. Even with our small amount of Spanish we managed to pick up several verbs which made a huge difference to understanding what was happening with the caterpillars and pupae.
After the brief explanation we were led out to the butterfly house, a netted area encompassing a large garden. Apparently this was once full of rare orchids, but even without green fingers I could tell they weren't there. Fortunately however we did discover some stunning varieties of butterfly. Some had vivid fluorescent yellow streaks across their black wings, others had terracotta coloured patterns, but by far the most impressive were the creatures with bright turquoise wings on oneside and interpretations of owls eyes on the other, the Blue Morpho.
In fact there were different varieties of this type, some with the single eye, and others with several eyes. It took quite a lot of effort to get some photographs, partially because they move around in such a carefree fashion, and partly because they kept landing on me when I was lining up a shot! We even saw one of these beautiful insects feeding off a rotten banana.
The following day we decided to visit our third Maya site. The map suggested it was a 1km walk from town, but it didn't say what a pleasant walk that would be. Crossing a small stream you follow the contour of the road on a well constructed pathway - evidently many other tourists opt to walk it too. Past meadows full of grazing cattle and the occasional roadside stellae (original) and gift-shop, you could quite easily walk past the site were it not for the calls of the local tuk-tuk drivers waiting for a fare in the car park.
We bought our tickets (£10 each) and followed the path down towards the Grand Plaza. The roadside was lined with Macaws and their cages, and a large number of tourists were queuing up for photos with these beautiful birds. I guess after working for just a few days at Arcas I couldn't really get excited about seeing this, so I walked past in a huff.
When the path opened up into the grand plaza, my initial impression was vastly underwhelming. There was a tiny little pyramid in the centre and a few stellae off to one side. But I'm pleased to say that on closer inspection the stellae were the most beautiful, detailed ones we had seen so far. Some still had a crust of the red paint which would have adorned them originally, and as the plaza floor would have been painted white you can imagine how impressive these must have looked more than a thousand years ago.
We followed the suggested route which took us around the back of a hill, covered in foliage but with a distinctly man-made shape, hinting at another pyramid to be excavated, and returned back out at the other side of the grand plaza near the ball court. We climbed up some rocks for a good view of this impressive structure, which is considered one of the best preserved ball courts in Mayan sites. Although the sides weren't as steep as we had seen before, they were adorned with huge Macaw heads.
While we were stood admiring the Macaws we noticed a large temple which was partially covered by an enormous canvas. We clambered over to see what was being hidden and were amazed to discover a huge staircase full of statues. Gradually, as our eyes began to focus in the darkness, we noticed that into each step had been carved a heiroglpyh. A small sign indicated that these hieroglyphs told the history of the imaginatively named rulers of Copan from Great-Sun First Quetzal Macaw, past Waterlilly-Jaguar and 18 Rabbit to Smoke Squirrel.
The staircase was truly stunning, every time you moved your eyes something new and wonderful seemed to appear before them, the level of effort that must have gone into it was admirable. Even noticing that the occasional step was missing didn't take away from it's beauty, you can't expect every heiroglpyh to have survived for so long.
Unfortunately the rest of the site was hard pressed to impress as this much again. We strolled around climbing over temples and palaces finding more and more carvings (the one which looked like a mouse on steroids was apparently a mythical jaguar god), but we soon reached the end of our tether for Mayan sites. The sun burning us to a crisp and the humidity making the most casual stroll feel like a run up a sand dune, we decided to call it a day and made our way back to the entrance for a reviving drink.
Sat in the restaurant Gemma recalled being told about a recreation of one of the burial tombs in the museum, so we walked over to the museum and found we needed a separate ticket for that. In frustration I sat on the stone seat while Gemma went back to the site entrance for our tickets. The security guard found it hilarious that I had dumped myself down while Gemma went back, his laughter didn't stop until she returned.
Inside the museum, following a twisting tunnel (a recreation of one of many that the archaeologists made inside the real temples) the museum suddenly opens up before your eyes, to reveal a mock up of one of the tombs found inside the main temple. This recreation has been painted in the original colours, mostly bright red but with greens, yellows and whites decorating the exterior carvings. Whilst it was interesting to see how the buildings would have been painted in their original state, if felt a little like a Disney version of a Mayan temple.
Far more impressive for me were the more delicate stone carvings which had been removed from the site for safekeeping and now resided inside the museum. These ranged from a huge bat with wings spread open, to a man wearing a bird hat (the bird eating a fish, surrounded by cascading waters). Animals, and indeed nature in general, were massively important to the Maya people, as can be seen by some of the rulers names which I mentioned earlier.
After visiting the museum we walked back into town, packed up our bags and moved into a hotel for a night, after a somewhat aggressive confrontation with a hostel guest who refused to turn his music down. This ageing old hippie, who preached love for his "brothers" and ranted at the commercialisation of the world failed to appreciate that his "brothers" might not enjoy Whitney Houston at full volume at 8am, or see the contradiction in completely taking over the common space with his eclectic assortment of electric appliances (waffle iron, sandwich toaster, smoothie maker) to the point that no-one else could sit down.
We felt immediately more comfortable with our new surroundings, and returned to our favourite cafe for dinner. Via Via was a lovely place to eat and waste some time, and the food was excellent and cheap (my favourite combination). Unfortunately we had to put ourselves to bed, due to a very early start. Just before bedtime Gemma gave me a birthday present, a lovely little chessboard featuring two teams of Conquistadors and Mayans, which I had been admiring in a local shop earlier in the evening.
By 5.30am (not a great time to start your birthday) we were waiting outside the bus station, and half an hour later we set off towards San Pedro Sula. The drive was boring, a little bumpy, and punctuated by awful pop music played over the loudspeaker system, so we were relieved to reach San Pedro at 10am. We were immediately swamped by taxi drivers, somewhat overwhelmingly, and decided to book our onwards ticket straight away. Unfortunately the bus to Nicaragua was full for a few days, so we had to settle for a ticket on Christmas Eve, a 12 hour drive to look forward to!
After a quick coffee we found the driver who had held a door open for us earlier and got into a taxi he recommended. It was a short drive to our hostel, located in one of the safer neighbourhoods, although still not advisable to go out out after dark without a taxi. In the evening we went to Denny's for a birthday dinner, and since then we have just hung around the hostel, taking the occasional daytime walk to see not much in particular. There isn't a great deal to do in San Pedro, and we are trying not to withdraw more money as we will be in Nicaragua soon enough.
So, on Christmas eve while everyone in settling down with a drink and some tv, we'll be trying to sleep on the Tica Bus and crossing another border before checking into a nice hotel in Managua (with a swimming pool) and hoping to find something resembling a turkey! Right now I'd settle for a Bernard Mathews Turkey Drummer. Until then we'd like to wish everyone at home a very merry Christmas indeed. We'll think of you as we dive into the pool!
And we shall be thinking of both of you. Have a lovely christmas and swim. Mum xx
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