Central America 2005

Click the map above to see an album of photos for Honduras. Close the window with the photo album to return to this page

Instead of crossing from province to province or state to state, we have been crossing international borders. We have entered Guatemala three times, made side trips to Honduras and Belize, and we leave shortly to make our way to El Salvador. It has been getting progressively warmer, with a high of 32 C yesterday, in the shade. We have forgotten all about winter and the need to wear warm fleece, sunscreen is what we need now.

But back to our adventures: I fear I gave a very bad impression of Antigua. It is really a nice town, trying very hard to cater to the many tourists who visit. The town plaza, with its gushing maidens fountain is a lovely, leafy haven, devoid of hard sell merchants. Saturday night it is often the place to come and enjoy a free outdoor concert. We were there at the beginning of a week of cultural activities and the entertainment that Saturday was an excellent quartet, a family group of three brothers and a sister, who sang rumba and flamenco numbers to the obvious enjoyment of the audience.

Mayan cities thrived over much of Central America for up to 2000 years before being abandoned about 1000 AD. No visit to Central America would be complete without at least one visit to rediscovered Mayan ruins. Our first choice was Copan, just over the border in Honduras. The easiest way to get there is to take a minibus from Antigua. The only glitch is that the bus leaves Antigua at 4 AM so that five hours later you are at the entrance to the Copan ruins. Ray is a morning person but I prefer a later start to my day. Travelling does not allow that, so I have been forced to adjust my schedule. We were waiting out in the cold, dark street at 3:55 AM for a bus that did not arrive for more than an hour. The bus driver slept in! He is not long for that job. We picked up two other couples, one of whom had headed back to bed, and away we went. At least none of us were on a fixed schedule, but we all could have used the extra sleep, but this is Central America; mañana, mañana.

Internet dating seems to be paying off as we have met two couples who have married after meeting their partners through the Internet. Steve and Annie, from Connecticut, travelled with us to Copan and we later met Luke, from the Netherlands, who met and married Anne, a Taiwanese girl living in New York. Lana, an American girl, a non-stop talker, related hilarious tales of unsuccessful Internet dating. The guys probably gave up trying to get a word in edgewise.

We stayed in Copan Ruinas, the town 1.5 km from the ruins themselves. The first day we visited the local museum, getting a good introduction to the ancient city. Up to 27,500 people lived at Copan at its height in the 7th and 8th centuries. Like most other Mayan cities, it was abandoned by 1000 AD. The theory given is that the agricultural practices caused the decline. Farmers in the area still employ the slash and burn method of clearing land. They plant corn and other crops that thrive for just five years before the land is depleted, after which they must slash and burn more land. With fewer trees, there is less rain, the water supply dries up and crops do not grow. Burials from the 9th C have shown signs of malnutrition for lower and upper class people. There is also a theory that the lower classes may have lost confidence in the the priests when conditions did not improve and led a revolt against the upper classes. This would have eliminated the people with the most knowledge, further deteriorating the situation. Eventually people migrated elsewhere and the cities were abandoned to the jungle.

Macaw at Copan

Copan Carving

Steve, Annie, Ray and I shared a local guide, Fredy, to tour Copan. He was very knowledgeable, leading us around the large complex that included two ceremonial areas surrounded by pyramids with altars on top, one for the Royals and one for the common people, as well as a large residential area. Copan is known for its Stelae, huge carved stones erected by each of the 17 rulers between 250 to 850 AD. Each is carved in the likeness of the ruler and has hieroglyphics giving the date of the ascension to the throne and details of important events during the reign of the King. The 15th ruler, Smoke Shell, built a pyramid with a stairway covered in hieroglyphics, reputed to be the largest in the New World.

 Copan also boasts a ballfield, similar to those found in other Mayan sites. A team of five players, dressed in red, depicting either East, or Good, depending on who you listen two, play an opposing team dressed in black, depicting West or Evil. The relatively small rectangular playing field is between two banks of concrete steps, topped by a large stone eagle head. Points were scored when a rubber ball, hit by any of the 13 joints of the body, managed to strike the eagle head of the opposing team. In Copan the game was played once a year with the player deemed the best in the game, gaining eternal life by being sacrificed to the gods. What a reward!

We also visited a residential site 1.5 km away. Las Sepulturas was the palace compound of an important Royal scribe. It consisted of several plazas surrounded by homes for his wives and children and smaller plaza compounds for his adult sons and their families. Several bodies were discovered buried at this site, hence the name Sepulturas. Only about 25% of Copan has been investigated, leaving much work for future generations of archaeologists.

View from horse ride

We stayed another day in Copan Ruinas for a horse ride across a bridge and up a hill to Hacienda San Lucas, a Spanish style building filled with antiques set in lovely gardens. We left our horses there and followed a jungle path to a sacred Mayan fertility spot called Los Sapos, the Toads. There was one rock in the shape of a toad and another depicting a woman giving birth. I am not sure of the connection. Further in the woods was a small pond fed by underground steams that is used by locals for bathing and washing clothes. We returned to our horses and followed our guide, Charlo and his nine year old son out to another small town and back to Copan Ruinas.

 In this warm climate, most people live their lives outdoors. Each house in town had an outdoor stove fired by wood. Laundry is done by hand in large, three part stone tubs. Hardly anyone has a washing machine. We have been using the tubs to wash our clothes. The largest center tub has a tap dispensing clean water. The shallower tubs on either side are sloped towards a drain at the back. The left hand tub usually has a built in scrub board for the first wash and the right hand tub is used for the rinse cycle. You stuff a plastic bag in the drain and use a plastic bowl to scoop clear water from the center into the side tub. It works, if a little labour intensive.

Copan was our only stop in Honduras. From there we returned to Guatemala, taking four different vehicles to get to Rio Dulce. We took a pickup truck to the border and changed to a collectivo for the ride to Chiquimula where we boarded a rickety old pullman bus to the town of Moreno, where we changed again to a collectivo for a short ride to Rio Dulce. Collectivos are 14 passenger minivans that pick up passengers along their route until they have at least 25 passengers plus several more hanging on the outside. They are cheap and efficient, if a little crowded.

Click the map above to see an album of photos for Rio Dulce. Close the window with the photo album to return to this page

San Felipe Castle on Rio Dulce

Rio Dulce flows from the eastern end of Lago de Izabel, the largest lake in Guatemala, to Livingston on the Caribbean. We stayed at Hacienda Tijax, a small resort across the harbour from the town of Rio Dulce. The town is not much more than stores on either side of the highway to Puerto Barrios, the only Caribbean port for Guatemala. Tijax was much nicer. Small cabins are set in the woods behind a swimming pool and restaurant complex. We elected to stay in a very simple room above the restaurant rather than the more expensive but nicer cabins. Maybe next time we would spring for a cabin. There were no screens on the windows so the mosquito nets came in handy. We had started taking Malaria pills once a week, just as a safety precaution after we left the mountains, but the mosquito situation has not been bad at all. Rio Dulce was the only place we have used mosquito nets so far.

We spent a pleasant two days at Tijax, swimming and walking the trails through a mangrove swamp and rubber tree plantation owned by Tijax. They even cater to cruise boat groups who want to visit a working rubber tree plantation.

Most people come to Rio Dulce to take a river cruise to Livingston. We took a lancha, a motor boat with a canopy cover, with about eight other people for the three hour trip. The driver acts as a guide, pointing out all the sights along the way. Most of the jungle shoreline is protected natural park. Half way down the river widens into El Golfete where crocodiles, manatees and turtles, live although we did not see any. A bit further on the river flows over limestone rocks with thermal springs. We stopped to paddle in the hot waters. We continued through a narrow gorge, called Cueva de la Vaca where our voices echoed on the steep sides. We stopped for a break at a small riverside restaurant where we drank fresh coconut milk out of the shell and scooped out the flesh after the liquid was finished.

We arrived in Livingston in time for lunch. Livingston is a small Garifuna town on the Caribbean that is only accessible by boat. The Garifuna, or Black Caribs, are descendants of slaves who revolted in St Vincent in 1795 and were sent by the British to Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands 50 km off the coast of Honduras. From there they spread along the Caribbean coast, arriving in Livingston about 1805.

The town itself is a sleepy, dusty village on a point of land at the mouth of the Rio Dulce. Cruise ships moored off the coast visit for the day but I think you need more time to appreciate its charms. We stayed in an old wooden hotel on the main street. We listened to an elderly trumpet player serenaded the tourists as we ate lunch. That afternoon almost the whole local population gathered in the community hall for carnival celebrations. Music played while children paraded in costumes. That evening the trumpet player joined other musicians for a live performance in a restaurant. They were fun even if the trumpet player was a little past his prime.

The next day we joined a guided tour of the town. We had two colourful, local Garifunas, Francis and Eddie as our guides. We were also escorted by two tourist police. There have been robbery incidents in the past, so now police guards are provided. There were angry words between the guards and the tour guides before we started. It turns out that the guides who led the tour the day before refused to buy lunch for the guards. Our tour proceeded peaceably when the guards were assured they would get a free lunch.

We walked through the local cemetery, still festooned with crepe paper and flowers from the local All Saints Day celebrations the previous November 1. The whole community turns out for this event, picnicking on the above ground tombs and playing music. We walked up a hill past a voodoo ceremonial spot to a viewpoint where you can look out towards Honduras to the south and Belize to the north. We went through part of the Garifuna village, mostly a collection of wooden huts. This is a very poor area with no industry and no commercial fishing. Tourism is the biggest business so unemployment is high.

We reached the Rio Quehueche where we got a long dugout canoe powered by a motor for a trip up the jungle river. It seemed to me that the dugout was even more prone to tipping than a canoe. I found it better to almost lie down for the trip. When the water got too shallow, we walked through the jungle to a beach on the Caribbean. The beach in town is not good for swimming but it is fine along this section. We stopped at a restaurant on the beach for lunch then walked the beach back to town.

Next: Episode 2: Page 2