taco's & toucan's travels ~ 2019

aussiefitzy.com

DAY 53

Week 8

COPÁN RUINAS (Copán, HND)

Monday May 6^th, 2019

TODAYS MILEAGE – 4 miles / 6 kilometres

TRIP MILEAGE – 20,347 miles / 32,745 kilometres

I was up early to take a wander around Copán Ruinas and if the truth be told, if you did more than two laps of the Parque Central in 10 minutes, you’d be considered a local. There are a few side streets containing several hotels, small businesses and homes, but you’ll find the place to be more of a village in stature than a town. Its primary aim appears to be supporting and servicing the tourist trade visiting the adjacent Mayan Ruins.

First order of business when I got back to our accommodations was to check up on our El Hefe Avocado – Sonia, as it looked like she’d stubbed a toe and it decided to play up something fierce late yesterday afternoon/evening. After taking a quick look at the injury, from someone who’s had plenty of issues with digits during my rugby career, it looked to have no dislocations or fractures of the toe and no bruising to speak of. As I’m carrying some pretty good anti-inflammatories, in case I have a flare-up with my left ankle, I offered them to Sonia to see if that settles things down. Being the smart woman that she is, she got a second and third opinion of the medical professional kind and was advised to follow what I basically instructed her – rest, ice, elevate & isolate.

SO ….. at the end of all that, I found Sonia to be in great spirits at breakfast, the toe and foot were feeling a whole lot better and the day was full of sunshine. Not more a whole lot more you could do or ask for.

At 8 o’clock, we were met by a local guide to take us over to the Maya Site of Copán in which we spent most of the morning wandering around the huge site. These ruins are arguably the most intricate of the 22 known Mayan cities that housed over 7 million people throughout Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

Having visited 5 Mayan ruins previously, I would have to say that this site seemingly had more intricately carved artefacts, but ranks well down in the “wow factor” when compared to the others I’ve seen. It’s a small thing, but I was somewhat miffed that the site managers use old photographs and artist impressions to try and express some of the grandeur of the sites that have been fully excavated, rather than allowing the public to see for themselves.

Our guide left us to wander on our own back to town, and with it being a hot morning, we ended up at a local cold stone ice creamery where Cookie Monster ice cream was my lunch of choice. Yeah I know …. but I’m on holidays, so nutritional eating care factor zero!!!

Mid-afternoon saw all the “avocados” trundle off to some hot springs for spa treatments, mud masks and a meal, which to me was about as appealing as ex-foliating oneself with a cheese grater.

I decided to finish off David Baldacci’s new Amos Decker series book – Redemption, then head back over to Carnitas Nía Lola for a Happy Hour(s) or three and another pretty decent nosebag.