After Antigua

After leaving Antigua I went to the ruins of Copán in Honduras. The ruined city was a centre of culture and civilisation in the Mayan world and provides the only known example of Mayan hieroglyphics. The ruins are much smaller than those in Tikal but are well preserved. The visit was a really enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

The ruins include a famous staircase which tells the story of the Mayan kings who lived there. The staircase fell into ruin and the first archeologists to discover the site reconstructed it but put the stones in the wrong order. Now only the first ten or so steps are in the correct order and as yet no one has been able to understand their system of writing from such a small sample. This pyramid is normally covered by a huge tarpaulin but we were lucky enough to visit on a day on which the archologists were changing it and got some great photos.

Copan also has wildlife including a large number of scarlet macaws which are very tame.

After the ruins I visited the Bay Island, Utila, to dive and in the hope of seeing a whale shark. It is late in the season but none have yet been sighted and many divers were there hoping to catch a glimpse of the huge beast. I was not lucky but got some great diving and experienced Garifuna culture. I was also there for the festival of Central American independence for which village entertainment was arranged. There was a road race, boxing matches for willing volunteers and a chance to climb a greasy pole. The pole, perhaps 30m high, was covered in thick engine grease and there was a prize for the first person, or persons, to climb it. Amazingly someone made it after attempts lasting several hours. The winning technique involved covering the pole (and spectators) in flour.