Welcome to my 122nd Visit and 117th Run UN Country and Antonia’s 28th Visit UN Country out of a total of 193. This is the 4th country of our trip out of a total of 9.
We only stayed one day and one night in Honduras to visit the famous Maya Ruins in a village called Copan and I also managed to get a run in. We will come back to Honduras in a few days after El Salvador on our way to Nicaragua. Today was also the first day of the third Intrepid Tour called CENTRAL AMERICAN JOURNEY. The night before we met our third tour leader/guide Benjamin and 7 new people on the rooftop of our Antigua Hotel: 3from UK, 2 from Oz and 2 from NZ. 9 of us remained from the previous two tours. Today we also drove through 3 countries. This will happen again in a week. Now back to Honduras.
Honduras (Pop 10,593,798) is another Spanish speaking country sandwiched between Guatemala and El Salvador. Sadly we only spent one day here to see the Maya Ruins on our way to El Salvador. Things are also a bit unstable here hence the brevity of the visit. Honduras is 1.64 Tasmanias and very rugged. It is made up of high ranges of mountains, high plains, deep valleys in which there are extensive and fertile plains crossed by more or less large rivers and some navigable, all of which contributes to its rich biodiversity. It is estimated that there are about 8,000 species of plants, around 250 species of reptiles and amphibians, more than 700 species of birds and 110 species of mammals. Like Guatemala, Honduras was home to the Maya and Aztecs and is now dominated by the Mestizo as in all Central America. The Spanish arrived in 1524 and colonised the country until independence in 1821. So-called democratic elections were held from 1824 but the same party ruled until 2022 when another party took over including a female President. The top three exports: coffee, bananas and palm oil but sadly over 50% of the population lives in poverty.
Here are some interesting facts unique to Honduras:
1. Home to the incredibly colourful Scarlet Macaw, the largest “parrot” in the world.
2. The first “Banana Republic” since it relied on only banana exports to fuel its initial economy.
3. The Cathedral in the capital Comayagua is one of the oldest in the world.
4. Christopher Columbus discovered Honduras.
5. Has 100+ species of bat including the only white fur bat in the world called the Honduran White Bat.
6. Honduras actually had a 100-day war with El Salvador because they were beaten in qualifiers for the 1970 World Cup (Soccer).
7. Honduras officially has two capital cities: Comayagua and Tegucigalpa.
8. Honduras is home to several venomous snakes, including the Green Palm Pit Viper, the Coral Snake, and the Middle American Rattlesnake.
9. Honduras was the first country to ban smoking in enclosed spaces, which includes people’s own homes.
10. Honduras supplied the White House with cigars for the sitting Presidents during the Cuban embargo.
Our journey to Honduras began at 4am from Antigua the day after we summited on the Acatenango Volcano, which made it two nights in a row that we woke at 320am !!! We managed to get more sleep in our private van as we drove 4hrs through Guatemala City to the border. Traffic going the other way in Guatemala City was bumper to bumper at 5am !!! Incredible. The border crossing was smooth and fast as both countries share the same processing building. Our first impression of Honduras was that it is poor and rugged. Copan is just 10km from the Guatemalan border so we got there at noon. This village only exists because of the famous Copan Ruinas Maya Archaeological Site, which we will visit tomorrow morning so my only chance to run my 116th country was after our arrival. Copan sits at 700m so it was sunny and cool – perfect running conditions. The only problem (and my fear) was my sore legs and feet after the volcano climb only yesterday. I endured but it was a painful run. The scenery was terrific – ran alongside a big river and through several cacao (coco) plantations. The rest of the group went on a town walk. After I got back I relaxed by the pool with Antonia. My legs were completely demolished. At 5pm I covered my legs in Physiocrem and we went on our own walk of the town and met some of the others at 7pm for dinner. The place we ate at dressed to the hilt in USA paraphernalia including pictures of popular TV series, movies and US music playing in the background. Thank goodness it had local food and plenty of wine. We started with the local pilsener beer and then I detoured to Chilean Sav Blanc. For dinner I had the classic Honduran Baleada, which is a medium pizza, sized soft corn tortilla folded over sausage, beans and cheese. The evening was terrific. Lots of drinking and discussion. What made it best was Ben – our guide. Full of stories and insights and a wicked sense of humour. It turned out to be the best “group” dinner at least for me.
Our sleep was terrific. The volcano (and my run) helped heaps. At 8am we left our bags at the hotel and headed to the Mayan Ruins in Tuk-Tuks. Copan is extremely hilly with cobblestone streets and few cars hence overwhelmed by Tuk-Tuks. The ruins are only a 5min drive the edge of town and very well kept. These were my 6th Mayan Ruins and Antonia’s 5th since she missed one due to her heat stroke recovery. I was amazed at how each Mayan Ruin could be so different. This one was very well preserved with very few visitors making for excellent gringo-free shots as you will see below.
Here is a little history of the site…
The Copan Ruinas was in fact a city with residences, a Royal Palace and temples. It dates back to early 400AD but was abandoned in 900AD due to overpopulation, which peaked at 20,000. 17 kings and queens ruled this city and all of their tombs were found on site when excavation began in the early 1900s. The Copán site is known for a series of portrait stelae (stone statues of the rulers), most of which were placed along processional ways in the central plaza of the city and the adjoining acropolis, a large complex of overlapping step-pyramids, plazas, and palaces. The site had
1449 structures over almost one square kilometre, most of which are still underground because there is not enough money to dig them up and keep them maintained. Mother Nature has done an excellent job preserving them by covering them in lush green forest and dirt. What makes this site different from the others are the pictorial and symbolic hieroglyphs, which include a numbering system.
We spent 2hrs visiting the site and one hour relaxing at the café. Well worth the visit. Then it was back to the hotel in Tuk-Tuks to transfer to another mini-van to take us to Suchitoto town, 193km away, in El Salvador via Guatemala. Three countries in one day !!! Not bad !!!
The Honduras to Guatemala crossing was even quicker than the day before and it was another 2.5hrs to the Guatemala to El Salvador border. We had seen this part of Guatemala coming to Honduras, hilly with valleys covered in scrub – much more dryer than Honduras. The second border took longer but very bareable. It was another 2.5hrs to get to our overnight city of Suchitoto. A long day. A long drive. We finally arrived at 730pm so for me it was straight to the blog and for Antonia is was straight to food and bars. No worries. She enjoyed the classic El Salvadorian PAPUSA which is like a Honduran Balenada – a big corn tortilla with cheese and one of the following: squash (pumpkin), puree black eye beans or minced pork rind or all three !!!
Even though we only spent one day and one night in Honduras – it made an impression and we will be back here for two more nights when we journey from El Salvador to Nicaragua.
Enjoy the sights of Honduras…
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