Friday and Saturday, October 25 and 26, 2013

           Thursday night we left Tegucigalpa on a plane!  My famous last words were to never leave from this world-renowned airport until we were headed to the US. in 2015.  However, it actually was more appealing than a bus ride to San Pedro Sula.  Elder and Sister John met us at the airport and took us to their apartment where we enjoyed a wonderful meal they had prepared, visited for hours like we were young again, and then spent the night.  This couple is from Fruit Heights, Utah, which is near Lagoon; and we found that we had so much in common and became friends very quickly.  They treated us so well and provided us with a wonderful respite from our daily routine, and we were so grateful!  We already want to do it again.

          Friday morning we left in their leased car and drove to Copan to see the ruins there.  It was a three-four hour drive on a windy, paved road, which was full of huge pot-holes that had to be dodged continually.   The lush green countryside was absolutely beautiful and was filled with trees, bushes, grasses, and plants whose names we didn’t know.  Occasionally, there were lots of skinny cattle grazing on either side of the road, and we saw several of those huge “vultures” I have sent pictures of before. 

We traveled through little towns that appeared here and there and finally arrived in the charming little touristy town of Copan.  The streets were cobblestone and were lined with quaint little shops filled with enticing wares. The town looked peaceful and inviting, clean and safe.  We checked into our hotel and then drove a short distance to the ruins.  We started with a picnic the Johns had packed for us and then headed out for the sight-seeing adventure.  The following information about Copan was on the Internet:       

Copan is considered by many to be one of the most spectacular cities of the ancient Mayan civilization which flourished during the 7^th century of our era.  When exploring the ruins you see a huge complex consisting of several plazas and many temples built on various levels.  It is full of rich stone sculptures and intricate hieroglyphs.  Forested mountains surround the valley and the setting is pristine in its beauty and serene in its peacefulness.  The jungle that surrounds Copan is lush, tall, and filled with the sounds of a variety of animals including monkeys and large colorful parrots. 

See:  www.copanruins.com for more information.

          We ate dinner in a restaurant called “Twisted Tanya’s” and spent the night in the Casa Gabriela Hotel.  After dinner we played “Five Crowns” with our new-found friends while we ate M & M’s and caramels.  It was much-needed recreation and we are deeply in debt to our hosts.  We had a wonderful time

We returned to San Pedro, did a little fun shopping in a beautiful mall, and then headed back to the airport for our return to Tegucigalpa. 

          There are lots of pictures included with this post, but you should be able to scroll through them fairly quickly.  It would be nice if you had a big screen on your laptop or computer so you could see just how beautiful this area was.  If I can’t get them all on tonight, I’ll just do some tomorrow!  Good night! 

Waiting at the scary airport!

At Wayne and LaRae John's apartment complex

These are those great big giant birds--we saw lots of them.

A beautiful flower at the entrance to the ruins

The John's and Glade heading to the ruins

At the ruins

This is what a mound of earth looks like before the buried structure is exposed.
Notice the rocks in the very front that indicate a wall is present.

It was undescribably beautiful and serene

Elder and Sistser John

The light brown shape on the underside of the tree branch (upper left quadrant) is an intricate wasps' nest.
It was a work of art, but I was rather glad we couldn't get any closer for a picture.  Wish is showed up better.

In several places there were orchids growing out of the tree trunk at random places.  

We were up really high!

Bricks/stones before and after placement

The pods at the base of this tree hold cocoa beans from which comes our favorite "fruit"--chocolate :)

Here are the pods in the tree still attached

This is our hotel entrance.

This must be the "green" room.  It had AC and was very nice except that there was no hot water so we showered in cold!

Learning to play a new card game!

Resident bug-catcher

The restaurant where we had dinner.  You can see the teal-framed signed above the door that says "Twisted Tonja's"

The street outside the restaurant and hotel

These cute kids were selling their corn-husk dolls and flowers.