Ruinas and Guns

We climbed pyramids today, without coughing, so we must be getting better. We got up nice and early, to discover there was no electricity - it was not on again until 3 pm. We had been expecting that since the last time we were here we lived with lack of electricity everywhere we went because of rotating power outages. I think they've fixed some of those problems, but obvioulsy it's not perfect.

It was a nice walk to the site though, about 15 minutes along a stone path, past a couple of stelae and then into the park and to the entrance where we were met with a flock of squawking Scarlet Macaws. They are so beautiful but so noisy. They are always there since they are fed. We think they may even have hutches on the site where they sleep at night. However, they are free to fly around - I guess they know when they've got it good.

The site of these Mayan ruins is very large and is famed for its sculptural works. The stelae are tall stones, which have been carved, many with human figures in ceremonial headdresses, often on one or two sides, while the other sides are covered with Mayan heiroglyphic writing which tells the reader about the ruler therein extolled. These are unlike any other sculptural works in the mayan world so are indeed a precious historical resource. As I mentioned in the last email, many of the originals are in the museum but the copies on site are faithful to the original so do give one the real flavour. One of the most important things on the site though is the Heiroglyphic Stairway which was found intact for the bottom 15 steps, but in a jumble above. The stairs were reconstructed but it is unlikely that the top tiers were restored in the correct order so it is still a task to decipher everythng. Luckily those bottom 15 stairs give lots of etail. It is indeed a magnificent site.

We wandered around the ball courts where the warriors played a rubber ball game, and might be sacrificed if they lost. Tell that to the NHL. I guess it could mean the loss of some good players though so seems very unsensible. How did they learn to improve? Of course it may have been considered glorious to be sacrificed, so who knows.

We only spent about two hours at the site wandering over the pyramids, up to the tops, some still covered with huge trees which have been allowed to grow or have not been cleared. There are often lots of temples which have been cleared so one can see how imposing the place would have been in its full glory.

And now for something completely different. This is a wild west town, and it feels very odd to walk around among all the cowbows in town. All the men seem to wear blue jeans, big white hats and many of them have big rodeo buckle belts. I don't know whether they do rodeo, but the belts can be bought in the market, so one doesn't have to be a bull rider to own one. These guys don't pack guns, but there are also lots of guns around. Outside the coffee shop where we enjoyed coffee today, there is a bank which is watched over by the hawkeyes of four guards. Two of them stand guard across the street, one of them right outside the window, with huge shotguns at the ready. A third stands outside the door with his shotgun and the fourth carries only a wand metal detector and a pistol on his hip.

And not only that, but there's a clothing store near the square, where on the first day I saw a guy standing at the door wearing a pistol tucked into the front of his pants. It would not do to act suspicious, and I don't know what would happen if someone tried to shoplift a hat or something. We are keeping our fingers to ourselves.

We are off tomorrow for a little interior city called Santa Rosa de Copan. We will take a bus first to a town called La Entrada from whence we will transfer to another bus heading there - we expect. It will take about four or five hours depending on the number of times the bus has to stop to pick up passengers. From there we are making our way to the El Salvador border to cross there and start exploring that country.