Two Beers and a Pretzel

Wow, what a day…  I relaxed all day yesterday, as the horseback riding tour didn‘t work out.  I ended up booking a hiking tour for today.  My guide, Jesse, was from West Virginia.  We hiked in the hills of copan for about 6 hours total.

I ate termites!!!  They taste like citrus and pepper.

We then found a Mayan site associated with fertility where women from important families went to give birth.  We both sat in the “chair” and it was very comfortable.  I just couldn’t imagine taking a 9 month pregnant wife up there…  “Hey honey, come on, it’s just a 2 mile uphill hike to give birth on a rock shaped like a giant frog!  The Joneses did it!”   Jesse did a birthing demo:

From there, we hiked up to a waterfall with three different falls, a pool to jump into, and a part that goes thru a cave.

Finally, we ate lunch at an indigenous village.  The little kids from 3-12 years old sold me some “corn dolls”, and we ate freshly made corn tortillas, (yum) fried bananas, and chicken with rice, as well as the non-native Coca Cola.  What we didn’t finish was devoured by the kids.

I asked Jessie how the little girls could be so cute up until their late teens but seriously downhill from there quickly.  He said most girls start having babies at 14-15, and usually have 8 kids in their life.  They don’t have traditional families (even though they are mostly Catholic), and the boys/men have no obligation to support a specific woman.  In fact, even though a boy may father many children by many different girls, he will still live with his mother until he decides to get married - because men do not clean, cook, or do laundry.  What the men do is tend the crops and grow food for the whole village.

Well, I’m off to Twisted Tanya’s Thanksgiving Celebration…  Yes, there’s turkey and stuffing in Honduras!!!

Tomorrow I’m catching a bus to San Pedro, then an early bus on Saturday to Tegucigalpa and on to Managua, Nicaragua.  Then another Early bus toSan Jose, Costa Rica.  The flight was about $500-750 for a one way ticket.  The bus trip is about $100 one way on luxury coaches and continues on to Panama City whenever I want to go there.  I can chill for a few days reading on a bus to save $400.  Plus, I’ll spend the night in Nicaragua, so that will count as another country visited.

The only bummer is that the “windy” season is coming up, so I may not get to take a sailboat to Cartegena…  I may re-route from Panama City to Rio, and see Uncle Jimmy for Christmas in Brazil.  Then make my way thru Argentina, Chile, Peru, and bac

Last night I ended up at Twisted Tanya’s, having the backpacker special dinner - which was waaaaay too much food for one person.  Tanya is a UK citizen who spent many years backpacking and eventually opened a bar, coffee shop, and tour company  in Copan.  She’s a blast to hang out with.

When I got home, I realized a few things…  America’s Top Model is even worse in Espanol, and Jean Claude VanDam movies are slightly better.  This was the first clear night, and I can really tell that the stars are not where I’m used to seeing them.  Constellations at 45 degrees in Ohio appear very high in the sky here.  Tarus is nearly straight up, and I cannot see the big dipper.  The town was kinda loud last night.  Some really freaky animal screams and firecrackers.  I tried to go to the top floor and photograph the stars, but it got cloudy.

Tuesday, Nov 25

I woke up a little late today - sore from trekking 10 miles.

The Central Park in Copan

Went back to Tonya’s and booked a zip line tour thru the jungle for $35.  Took a 3 wheel cab about 2.5 Kilometers for $1

The zip line was a blast - especially the single 1K run over the valley.  You could see the town and the Mayan ruins while flying thru the trees.

One of the runs was 1 kilometer…

Then I went to the Macaw Mountain (www.macawmountain.com) refuge for rescued birds.  Very cool.  It was like going to a conservatory and aviary back in Ohio, except everything was out in nature.  Lots of Macaws (green, blue/yellow, and of course, scarlet), as well as toucans and parakeets.  A few hawks and owls thrown in for good measure.

This place also grows and roasts their own fresh coffee.  I’d never had a hot brew that was just  picked half an hour ago.   This beats Starbucks, McD’s, and Ducan Donuts hands down.

I left Roatan on Saturday - just after copleting the written PADI exam.  I didn’t get to say adios to my buds Lee and Dermot (who sounds just like Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) since they were diving and I had to catch the 2:00 ferry.  It was freaking seeing a shipwreck at the ferry port.

I split a cab with a nice British girl, Vicky.  We chatted on the ferry, both ended up staying at the Grand Hotel Cieba, and found a honduran-italian cafe for dinner.  On Sunday we caught a bus to San Pedro (3 hrs) and I jumped (almost literally) another bus to Copan (4 hrs).  The regular buses are a riot.  They pack people on.  At every stop new vendors crowd on to sell trinkets and food, then quickly get off before the bus leaves again.

Anyway…  I found a nice place with hot water and clean rooms in Copan - Posada se Bellise.  Copan is a very pretty town.  Probably the main area is 1km square at best  and very hilly.  Rickshaws with aggressive cabbies are everywhere.

Monday…  Happy Birthday to ME!

I explored the Mayan Ruins today.  It was $15 to see the ruins and $7 for the attached museum.  Many of the significant sculptures at the ruins are replicas with the real ones safely in the museum.  There were about 10 tourists there - I barely saw anyone.  It was like stumbling on the riuns by yourself.  Very cool.  They even had 10 scarlet Macaws flying around the entrance (enticed with free food).  I imagine Tikal and Chichen Itza are much more crowded.  The thing that makes Copan different from those others is the artistry.  Everything has petroglyphs and hieroglyphs.  Many were plastered, and some still have the original paint.  This site is also famous for the hieroglyph stairs.  64 steps on a pyramid covered with carvings and stories detailing the history of the ancient city.  It’s supposedly the longest of it’s kind at any Mayan site.

At my going away happy hour I talked with a guy from work who has had many past lives. Big 5 accounting consultant, SCUBA instructor in the Caribbean for a year on a live-aboard, and finally, managing the help desk for the GAP. We were talking about SCUBA, and I got a ton of advice from him….

Apparently I want to go to Honduras because you can just walk off the beach to do your certification dive, as it gets deep quick, and there are patch reefs everywhere.

Upon doing a little research, I found a guy on Roatan who built his own DSV submarine (totally unlicensed and uninspected) that he uses to take tourists down to 2000 ft deep!!! Holy Cow… I wouldn’t build my own car - much less something that could instantly crush me to death if anything goes wrong.

So I’ve decided… I don’t want to ride in it that deep, but I absolutely have to talk to this guy…


From his recent website update, he’s in a skirmish with the local Mayor, and I guess he’s being physically blocked from taking the sub out to sea. That removes temptation!!

So it’s a week in Honduras (starting Nov 17th) to get my Scuba certification and see a few Mayan Pyramids. Then a bus thru Nicaragua spend 2 weeks in Costa Rica.