by Gale Randall

e’ve arrived in San Pedro Sula, gateway to the legendary Mayan ruins of Copán in Honduras, but too late for the afternoon bus out to Copán. So we’re met at the airport by Hector Cueva, owner of Trifinio Tours, who has set up our entire stay in Copán. The 2½ hour drive to Copán takes us through intensely green mountainous country dotted by cornfields, banana plantations, cattle ranches and small hamlets. En route we pass by a colorful village funeral procession and just miss barreling into a herd of slow-moving cattle.

The colonial town of Copán Ruinas, nestled in coffee growing country and close to the Guatemalan border, turns out to be adorable, with a plaza, cobblestone streets, and whitewashed tiled buildings. It’s just half mile up the hill from the actual ruins and reminds me a bit of Oaxaca. Hector points out an Internet café up the street as he deposits us at our hotel, Don Udo’s, for the night.

… known as the Athens of the Mayan World, Copán is noted for its striking sculptures …

A beautiful small colonial hotel centered around a grassy courtyard, Don Udo’s is just one year old and is owned by a Dutchman!

For our one evening in Copán we had planned to attend an authentic Mayan dinner at Hacienda San Lucas, an eco-lodge just outside town, but because it’s a primary election day the inn has been closed, so no Mayan meal for us. But the food at Don Udo’s turns out to be quite good.

The next morning Hector takes us down to the ruins where he hands us over to our guide, Fredy. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and also known as the Athens of the Mayan World, Copán is noted for its striking sculptures and stelae. Inhabited some 2,000 years B.C., and ruled by a dynasty of warrior/builders, Copán’s classic period lasted just a few hundred years, from 465–800 A.D.

At the park entrance we spot a very tame flock of brilliant macaws, which we of course have to photograph. We follow Fredy down a long shady path and climb to a group of buildings known as the Acropolis, then move on to the Eastern Court, a three-sided building with courtyard and an intriguing jaguar sculpture set into some steps. Fredy points out the entrance to an excavation area housing the famous Rosalila pyramid, which was discovered intact under another pyramid in 1989, with yet another temple found beneath Rosalila. (A true-scale model of Rosalila, a brilliant red temple, can be found in the park’s museum, which unfortunately is closed during our visit.) After the Eastern Court, we head down to the Grand Ceremonial Plaza to view a partially covered hieroglyphic staircase, ball court and some impressive stelae—my favorite being a turtle stela—and leave Copán, contemplating life here some 1,000 years ago.

We meet up with Hector who takes us into town to visit a small archaeological museum on the plaza and then to lunch at the lovely Hotel Marina Copán. Then it’s back to San Pedro Sula and the short flights to the Honduran Bay Island of Roatan where we plan to kick back and do some diving.

But that, my dears, is another story.

Trifinio Tours: www.copanhonduras.org.
Hotel Don Udo’s: www.donudos.com.
Hacienda San Lucas: www.haciendasanlucas.com.
Hotel Marina Copán: www.hotelmarinacopan.com.

Gale Randall is a freelance travel writer based in Palo Alto, California.

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