After a lovely week in San Pedro La Laguna, it was time to move on. Because I wasn’t going to have time to visit Tikal- the major Mayan ruins in Guatemala- I decided to spend my second week in Copán Ruinas, Honduras, which has some Mayan ruins of its own and was described as a “sweet” town by the LP.
To get to Copán, I had to first go back to Antigua. I took a shuttle there on Saturday morning, and was able to share a hostel room in Antigua with 5 other backpackers who had also been on the bus from San Pedro and who also wanted to go to Copán the next day. Again, fortunate- I was able to pay US$7 for a dorm bed instead of US$15 for a single room. OK, that may not sound like a big deal but in Quetzales it is! We spent the afternoon relaxing in Antigua, and opted for a quiet night since we had to wake up for the 4:00 am bus to Copán. That wasn’t difficult for me since I barely slept… seeing one cockroach in the room upon checking in was enough to keep me from getting more than 30 minutes of sleep at a time. I had my earphones in as I have a paralyzing fear of bugs crawling into my ear (have you seen Brokedown Palace? That’ll do it to ya), but I still wasn’t comfortable enough to sleep. 4:00 am came slowly, but finally it did and we were on our way.
The ride to Honduras went quickly- I slept most of the way- and Copán is just on the border with Guatemala. The border was informal – a nondescript building with four windows marked with computer-printed signs – Enter Guatemala, Exit Guatemala, Exit Honduras, Enter Honduras. Nobody searching luggage or checking cars, an apparent lack of security… I’ve now seen many similar overland borders, and I find it so incongruous with the barrage of security we’re forced to endure in airports… I mean, do they care about who and what comes in and out of their country, or don’t they? Es muy extraño.
It was a quiet Sunday in Copán- heavy rains the day before had left the city without electricity or water… and then more heavy rains prolonged the situation- but I managed to book myself a place at Guacamaya Spanish School to start the next day, and to arrange a homestay for the week. Every Spanish school offers homestay as an option- you are placed with a local family to enhance your opportunities to practice your Spanish, and to give you better feel for the local way of life. I had declined this option in San Pedro, preferring to do my own thing, but higher hostel prices in Copán encouraged me to go with the family option- US$70 for a week of housing and 3 meals a day- not bad.
