En Guate '05 - Over the Border to Honduras

The obvious, unmissable highlight in this area of the country are the Copan Ruinas. This was a key city in the Mayan world, an important center for arts, the evidence of which is still visible today. The park is complete with a restaurant, souvenir vendors, walking trails, a guide’s station, and of course, the ruined city itself. It is not to be missed! I was in heaven being there.

Quick Tips:

Coming from Guatemala, the border at El Florido is a piece of cake. The setup is straight forward and lines are relatively short. One side is Guatemalan, with one window for coming and one for going. The Honduran side is set up the same way. Regular buses, taxis, and personal vehicles go both ways, so transport into either country is easy. Furthermore, money-changers walk around looking for business and offer fair rates. In March 2005, I received 2.2 lempuras for every quetzal.

Best Way To Get Around:

Within Honduras, there are many forms of transport available. I liked the red open-air taxis for short distances (my dad called these "putt-putts"). The cheapest and most interesting form of travel is by buying a seat in someone’s personal vehicle: no taxi signs, no meters, just families crammed inside an old sedan or minivan.
For example, from the central plaza in Copan Ruinas, we easily found a bunch of people in a minivan (missing its sliding doors) heading to the border. We got our seats for 25 lempuras each and chatted with the kids all the way to the border.
It's also easy to see the town of Copan Ruinas on foot. The town is small, and the weather can be warm, but there is always shade. A nicely paved path follows the roadside from town directly to the ruins, and it passes two more carved stone stelae and many unexcavated mounds that were once houses of the Maya who lived at Copan.

A stay at La Casa de Cafe (website) is definitely a splurge. For Guatemalan standards, and I suppose for Honduran as well, $45 for a double room is expensive, but it really is a pleasant place to stay. It is a cute bed-and-breakfast that offers the quiet and comfort of home to its visitors. It was easy to make reservations via email/website, but there aren't many rooms at La Casa, so in high season, this should be done well in advance.

Getting to La Casa is easy from the bus station. Taxis are waiting outside, and Copan Ruinas is so small, everyone knew where La Casa de Cafe was. Howard, one of the owners, met us upon arrival. He was efficient but seemed generally annoyed every time I interacted with him. His wife, Angela, on the other hand, was extremely friendly with us. She was the perfect hostess! She gave us immediate advice, such as what we should expect to pay for taxi fares to the ruins and so on. She offered us cool water and showed us where to go if we wanted coffee or tea, included with our room.

The room itself (ours was no. 5 on the end) was gorgeous and situated around a grassy courtyard with a clear view of the valley and faraway mountains over the border in Guatemala. The room was simply decorated and bright. The shower (with plenty of hot water) was tiled and gigantic! Hammocks swung under the eaves right outside the room, begging for you to relax and enjoy the courtyard and views.

In the morning, breakfast is served, with plenty of delicious coffee, right outside in the courtyard. We had watermelon juice and fruit salad of banana, melon, pineapple, and more watermelon. Also served is fresh bread and jam and scrambled eggs with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and cheese.

After long travels from one country to the next, it can be extremely rewarding to splurge and allow a day of overspending the budget for serious recuperation and pampering. The absolute quiet and setting alone lend to Casa de Café’s tremendous value.

Twisted Tanya's (website) was a great find on our short stay in Copan Ruinas. We had walked by on our way to the central plaza and had seen tantalizing specials posted outside the door. At night, when the restaurant opened, we crept up the narrow stairs to an unbelievable dinner.

It's on a corner, marked by a funky metal sign that's hard to miss, with most of the tables near the overhang so you can enjoy the restaurant's night air and view of the quiet street below. A bar dominates one side of the restaurant, and the drink menu is the only thing handed to you when seated. Meals available for the day are posted on a board without prices, which is why I guessed at the price range for meals, because I still don't know. The atmosphere is like a trendy place you'd find in the States, designed by and for 20-somethings. Curiously, a tiny lizard had climbed one of the walls and pasted itself there as if it were a greenish wall decoration, basking under a light bulb. A small puppy relaxed on the floor of the restaurant and was completely uninterested in anyone except its owner, who swished her skirt along as she checked on each table; we soon learned that this was Tanya.

Dad ordered several Honduran beers, and I ordered a licuado. Later, we had coffee. I started with a delicious chilled cucumber soup that was hearty and slightly tangy - very good and apparently included in the price of my entrée, but I'll never know. It came with a fresh multigrain roll. I was inspired to order the salmon and herring ravioli, which was incredible in of itself, but the lemon cream sauce with capers surprised me, along with the helping of pataste, a Honduran vegetable that tasted like mild broccoli. Dad ordered seafood linguine bursting with clams, mussels, crab, and octopus in a rich red sauce. He chose a bowl of herby cream of potato soup to start.

After such indulgences, we were horrified that, when the bill arrived, the total was a mere one lempura more than we had in our pockets. We stared at each other in disbelief as embarrassment sank in. How were we going to explain or rectify this? Tanya had just left our table after chatting about Honduras and the ruins and offering advice for further travel there. Furthermore, this was our first day in Honduras, and we had no idea if we were expected to tip here or not. But, with a British owner and such an upscale setting, we guessed so - if we could afford it. Actually, the staff was super-nice, accepted our lagging total and missing tip, and even included worry dolls as parting gifts to thank us for coming. Although we slunk down the stairs with our tails between our legs, it was incredible that such great food came with equal hospitality and understanding. Our next stop was to a nearby ATM to replenish our suddenly stark, empty wallets.

I did a lot of research before my trip about the safety of the roads between Guatemala and Honduras. More so than the other roads in Guatemala, this path seemed to suffer from the majority of road blocks and robberies. Therefore, I asked one of the employees at Antigua Tours, which had set up our transportation from the airport, where we could go for the safest transport into Honduras. He directed us to the Hedman Alas office in Antigua, 502/919-7473. Click here for their website.

This had to be the most expensive bus ticket I would ever buy in Central America. The cost was nearly US$41, or Q323.50, each. I had no idea what made this bus company so special, and I could barely bring myself to hand over the money. But my respect for Antigua Tours' recommendation, along with the fear of possible robberies going another way, enabled me to bear the high price.

We were up early for transport to the capital to catch the Hedman Alas bus. Amazingly, our hotel staff in Antigua knocked on our doors a full 30 minutes before we expected the shuttle to arrive. There was a first: an early bus! We were taken swiftly to the capital, avoiding traffic or running around to pick up other passengers. Our driver helped us with our bags into the Hedman Alas terminal, which was small, clean, and quiet.

Immediately, I noticed the fresh coffee brewing in the waiting room. I confirmed our seats on the bus with the receptionist, who directed a staff member to tag our luggage and stow it underneath the bus. I was immediately weary (as I always am) of my bags leaving my sight, but I knew that there was something much different about this company. Dad and I sipped coffee while we watched the Discovery Channel and waited for the bus to be ready.

It was apparent that we'd be the only gringos aboard the bus that day, and it seemed that only the Guatemalan middle and upper classes were taking Hedman Alas. We were witness to a very touching scene of a family who was obviously parting ways for a long while; the mother and grown son could barely let each other go. The mother cried quietly while her son kissed her forehead and petted her hair. After several "final" goodbyes, the son would always rush back to his mother and hug her once more, until she finally boarded the bus and he had to stand and watch her go.

A security team checked all the bags being carried into the bus, and we had to cross a metal detector. We noticed they searched us far less than they did any of the other passengers, but I'd expected that to be opposite the case. I had heard once that the Guatemalan government trusts foreigners much more than they do their own citizens, and suddenly I wondered if that might actually be true.

The bus was definitely first-class: it was immaculately clean and a Jennifer Aniston movie played for our entertainment on overhead television screens. Our ayudante was dressed in a collared shirt, tie, and a badge holder that said "I Love Jesus." He served us a small loaf of cinnamon bread and juice, gathered our passports, and handed out appropriate forms so he could do all the work at the border for us.

At one point, Dad and I caught a glimpse of our real security team, which was following behind the bus in a personal vehicle. As we stopped to get gas, we saw the truck pull in with four male occupants, each with an automatic weapon. We gasped, and I felt again the pang of nervousness for my decision to travel here, but realized then why the great expense and felt a little more secure. By the time we reached the border, the security men had gone, and we were left alone for the final 30 minutes of travel on Honduran roads. Even in the dusty dry season, the scenery along the way from Guatemala City to Copan Ruinas is interesting and varied.

Pleasant, comfortable, and safe, I'd recommend this company for the traveler who can afford it, or for someone whose sick to death of the slow and cramped conditions of chicken-bus travel.

The beautiful and infinitely interesting archaeological park of Copan Ruinas is located just outside the town with the same name. It's within walking distance (a beautiful flagstone path leads from town to the entrance of the park) or take a speedy taxi ride--but don't any more than 20 lempura.

The cost to enter the park is on par with parks in the United States--it isn't cheap, but it is well worth the expense. There are two types of admission at the park. Entrance to the ruins alone costs US$10 for the full day. A separate entrance fee for the archaeological tunnels underneath the ruins costs US$12. Another expense, but in my opinion a necessary one, is the cost of a guide, which is another full US$20 and is paid at the guide's station across the parking lot from the admissions booth, near the entrance gate. If we wanted a guide to accompany us in the tunnels as well, we'd have to pay an additional price, but we did not. As was our experience, guides are in high demand, so we had to wait for one to be free. Although I was anxious to get started, we used the time to have a bite to eat at the park's restaurant where sandwiches, snacks and cold drinks are available. The food wasn't wonderful and came at a slightly high price, but a cool drink was important before embarking on a journey through the Mayan city.

Our guide, Cesar, was well worth the wait. Cesar had worked at the ruins since he was 16 years old. At that age he learned to sketch and reassemble stones from the temples, and even learned a great deal about reading the Mayan hieroglyphics. Before I left, I'd read some books on the Mayan writing system and enjoyed showing Cesar the extent of my knowledge which began and ended at recognizing numbers. Cesar went to school at the university in Guatemala City, where he learned English, and later studied archaeology in Germany, where he also learned German. Besides those languages and Spanish, he also speaks three dialects of the Mayan language. He had an incredible knowledge of the park and pointed out small details we would have missed on our own and taught us the history of the park. He showed us how each king would built over the last one, and explained the meaning of the intricately carved stelae (or stone statues of the Mayan rulers). Each building had a story and each carving had meaning. One highlight in the park is the hieroglyphic staircase, now covered but still visible. The entire staircase is step-for-step the history of Copan and has been reassembled several times, as mistakes have been uncovered. Interesting were the houses of the upper class, built well above those of the lower class. That way, the rulers could always keep an eye on their subjects, while those subjects were always literally looking up to their superiors.

To be continued... with photos!