Copan Ruinas

After our arrival here we havent been in too much of a rush to do things. We arrived early as we said, but later in the day had one of those hotel problems we come across every now and then. There was no water. For about five hours. We went off checking other places which did indeed have water, so it was just our hotel. One of the problems was that we couldn't find any body around our hotel to talk too. We have to go off to the corner restaurant where we were told that there was a problem with the cistern and it would be fixed "ahorita" - really soon. Well, we went off, came back a half hour later and there was still no sign of water, so we found someone else and told her that if the water wasn't fixed by 6:30 pm we were moving. Got back at 6:30 and there had been action - we had water so we were happy again. The cistern was ful and we could flush our toilet, and there,s even hot water.

Yesterday was our visit to the museum and we certainly enjoyed it. There is a full replica of the temple which was found beneath the present temple in the ruins themselves. It has many stucco carvings which represent macaws, and gods or deities as well as some human figures. The buidling is painted in brilliant reds, greens and whites. all colours that were found on the original when it was discovered. Apparently the temple was considered so holy that it was decided to bury it instead of destroying it to make a new temple.

There are many other sculptures in the musuem which have been moved from the site to protect them for the elements and perhaps the unsavory. These have been replaced by replicas so when we go see them tomorrow, they will add to the awe this site inspires. I took lots of pictures of the originals though and so far I havenñt managed to delete any more photos by accident.

This morning we went out to Macaw Mountain which is a bird sanctuary about 15 minutes out of town by tuk tuk. It{s a wonderful site, down in a little river valley, surrounded by high cliffs. All the birds here have been rescued or donated. The owners do not capture birds, but protect them. There were many macaws - scarlet, blue and gold brazilian ones, and green winged macaws as well as many many parrots. Also in some of the very large cages that have been constructed there are a number of toucans ' including the ones with the multicolour beaks and the yellow fronts. They are wonderful clown like but also very beautiful birds.

There{s even an old swimming hole at the site and we can go back if we wish to swim there over the next couple of days. We probably won{t but it sounds nice.

We had a very interested place for dinner our first night. We met the two guys from Frankfurt and all four of us went out to dinner at Carnitas Nia Loa. There we began by attempting to order a couple of drinks. It was happy hour so we thought we could make one order and get two drinks. Not quite. The woman arrived with eight drinks ' four run and coke and four cranberry and coke. So we all got two drinks each and enjoyed the different flavours. The food was tasty ¿ it{s a meat place, so I had steak and Geordie had something like fajitas with strips of meat, green peppers and onions. No vegetables though.

We are off to the ruins tomorrow, to see the site in it{s enirety. I{m looking forward to it, even if I do have to get up early so we can have breakfast and get to the site nice and early so we don{t get overheated. We are both still fighting our colds. Hey maybe it really is dengue fever. Lots of coughing, but we hav}en{t had any of those odd taste sensations that our friend Joanna had when she got dengue in India. But I{ve had a headache most of the time which is annoying. But I am coping not to worry.