Copan: The Adventure! Part III

The food! I've already mentioned that on Friday night at Via Via I enjoyed a hamburger and fries. Saturday morning, at La Casa de Todo, I had a mozzarella omelet with toasted homemade bread (see photo - Copan Part I)

Saturday night I treated myself to Twisted Tanya's, a very unique and good restaurant in Copan. I selected their 3-course dinner and had homemade mushroom soup (fantastic), tilapia with a unique sauce (the name is laropa, I think) and homemade carrot cake with cafe' con leche. The whole meal with a drink was $21. Extravagant, I know!

Sunday morning I was back at La Casa de Todo where I tried their homemade mango yogurt with granola. It was delicious. I actually spent the morning at La Casa working on my Spanish. I wasn't in the mood to tour and it was raining, so I sat in their garden protected by a roof and watched the rain and a hungry hummingbird while conjugating verbs! It was a great morning!

Fortunately, before boarding the bus I got lunch in the bus terminal. Their special was fried chicken with fries for 50 lempiras - around $2.63. Such a bargain! And it was very good.

Now I know with all this talk about food you may be wondering if I've gone loco - crazy! Well, yes, maybe. You see, I eat with the girls at OLR in their dining room. (see photos below) I'm not used to eating beans and rice with every meal. I'm not used to very tough meat and trying to eat it without a knife. Typically my utensils here are a fork and 2 tortillas. I'm also not used to not eating salads or fruits. I rarely have seen fruit here except for broiled bananas.

So if I sound a little too excited about the food in Copan, it's because they cater to tourists, and I could find food that was more like what I'm used to eating. I am fed well at OLR!

Copan: The Adventure! Part II

On Saturday, after spending the morning at Copan Ruinas, I headed back by taxi (see photo in previous post) to Via Via to rest and freshen up a bit. I was debating whether to go on a horseback riding tour to Hacienda San Lucas or to go to Macaw Mountain. Having recently re-read Lauren & Robin's Adventure in Copan (seminary classmates), I opted for Macaw Mountain. It's not that they didn't have a good time, but the soreness that they experienced after horseback riding was more than I wanted to endure! It was an excellent decision for me because Sunday was a very rainy day and walking around was slippery. [And I wasn't feeling 100% due to congestion in my chest that had been coming on for a week or so, not to mention a painful knee, but more on my visit to el Clinica later!]

So, decision made, I headed by taxi to Macaw Mountain. I actually had the same taxi driver who took me to the Copan Ruinas, and he offered to come back to Macaw Mountain in two hours to take me back into town. Nice people in Copan!

Macaw Mountain is a Bird Park and a Nature Reserve. From the Macaw Mountain brochure:

"The park is nestled in a small canyon formed by the Sesemil Creek, that provides water to the town. The park has a collection of Honduran and Central American macaws, toucans and parrots that have been recovered from captivity. All the birds are carefully maintained and can fly freely in large, naturally planted aviaries. The park has a strong eco-educational component with informative tours emphasizing bird habitat, natural history, biology and conservation."

My guide, Kevin, was very knowledgable about the 140 birds in the park. He was very engaging with me and with the birds. It was a thrill to see the birds, hear their stories from Kevin and be able to actually 'pet' the birds! It's a beautiful park and a great place to visit on a very hot day - un muy caliente dia!

Copan: The Adventure! Part I

Copan is about 3 hours by bus from San Pedro Sula, unless you are traveling on a Friday afternoon. My bus, which was a luxury bus (better than Greyhound) with comfy seats, movies, snacks & drinks served by a 'host', left at 2:30 and arrived at 6:30PM. After a brief taxi ride (see taxi below) I arrived at Via Via - a cute and comfortable hostel about two blocks from Parque Central. For $12 American dollars a night I had a clean room with a very comfortable bed, private bathroom and hot water! The hostel is a Belguim chain and served great hamburgers & fries - my dinner Friday night. What a treat!! The only odd taste was the ketchup which was sweet.

Saturday morning I ventured out early. Belkis had recommended La Casa de Todo - The House of All/Everything! It's a perfect name because they have a gift shop, laundry, dining room, book exchange, internet service, and more! After checking email I had a wonderful breakfast there. The tour book mentions their homemade breads and yogurt, and I can attest that both are delicious! Now, I'm not one to take photos of food, but breakfast looked so amazingly delicious to me that I needed a picture!!

I walked up to Parques Central about 2 blocks uphill and took a taxi to the Copan Archaelogical Site, about 10 minutes out of town. From my tour book:

"Honduras has only one major Maya ruin, but it's a true gem. A Unesco World Heritage site since 1980, Copan archaeological site is known for its remarkable sculptures, especially the enormous and intricately carved stelae depicting former leaders. The site is not as lofty or grandiose as say, Tikal or Chichen Itza but the artisanship is impressive."

"The most famous monument is the Hieroglyphic Stairway (see previous post), the work of King Smoke Shell. The flight of 64 steps bears a history - in several thousand glyphs - of the royal house of Copan; the steps are bordered by ramps inscribed with more reliefs and glyphs. Unfortunately, when the archaeologists uncovered the stairway, its upper section had collapsed. The bottom 15 stairs are in their original position, but the rest of the stones were jumbled and replaced with no way of knowing the correct order. As a result only about 45% of what's written on the steps is decipherable, and the overall story is far from clear."

For a map of the site, as well as more information click here: http://www.adventure-guide.org/honduras/copanmap.html

Weekend in Copan

Here are a few photos of Copan. I stayed at a cute and cheap hostel named Via Via, and I toured the Mayan Ruins in Copan and Macaw Mountain.
http://macawmountain.com/

I ate wonderful food and didn't have beans and rice the whole weekend (subject for another blog entry). I just returned and have Spanish homework to do, but I wanted to say "hi" and let you see some of the amazing things I've seen this weekend. I'll write more tomorrow.




p.s. I love reading your comments!

Substitute Teacher

Yesterday I had a substitute teacher, Ada Raquel (pictured here), because Belkis, my teacher, had to make another trip to Tegucigalpa. For class Ada Raquel and I took a field trip starting at the bus station where I purchased my tickets to/from Copan for this weekend. Then we walked to the Museo de Arqueologia e Historia de San Pedro Sula, the Roman Catholic Cathedral and San Pedro Sula's Parque Central. Our conversations were almost completely in Spanish!

The Museum was very interesting, and I especially liked learning about the history of the Mayan people and seeing their amazing pottery. I will learn more about their culture while in Copan this weekend. The Cathedral was beautiful, especially the paintings of the saints in the Dome.

Unfortunately my camera battery died so I did not get photos of the Parque. The Parque has some beautiful sculptures and fountains so I hope to visit it again so I can take pictures.

About the Holy Family Bilingual School

I thought you might like to see a little more of the Our Little Roses compound. Here's a photo of the front gate. As you can see there are two signs - Holy Family Bilingual School (preschool thru 8th Grade) and Our Little Roses Home - Ministerios Nuestras Pequenas Rosas.

The Bilingual School is pictured here. This building houses the School, the OLR Administration offices, the apartment and guest suites (which can accomodate large groups of people), the Spanish Language Program's classroom (where I spend 4 hours a day) and the group dining room & kitchen (for service groups like the Palm Beach, FL group).

In the center of the Bilingual School building is an open area which seems to be used for recess. The bedroom of the apartment where I am staying has a sliding glass door to the balcony above this open area and the noise carries - of course, the noise is screaming and laughing and yelling!! In addition to this indoor area, there is a large outdoor playground area. That is where the Grand Party was held and where the nightly movies were shown.

The students for the Bilingual School begin to arrive around 6:40AM. Usually I'm up and showered by then! It seems that school starts for some at 7AM and for others at 8AM and ends between 1PM and 3PM. Maybe they provide before & after school care.

The School is very well regarded and provides income for Our Little Roses Home. Some of the girls at the Home attend the bilingual school.

3 Days Off

Well, I discovered that 3 days off was not the best thing for retaining Spanish! I enjoyed the 3-day weekend and want to thank the nice people from Bethesda by the Sea for a great time!

Now I am back at work studying and learning more Spanish. I spent most of the afternoon and evening yesterday refreshing my memory of vocabulary and memorizing various irregular verbs. Just when I think I have them they slip my mind! I even did extra homework so that more would stick!

Today we spent most of the class on "to be" and when you use "ser" or "estar". Lots of homework tonight, too! My teacher tells me my pronounciation is good and that I am doing well. So that's good. I also have been having more conversations with the women on campus in Spanish. I am making progress. Still, I wonder if I were 20 years younger would this be so challenging?

Spanish aside, here is a photo (on the left) of one of the two puppies that live at OLR. Next to him is a photo of my dog, Potter, when he was a puppy 6 years ago.

Do you think they look alike?