Honduras - Entry and Copan Ruinas

I always get a bit anxious…not really the right word, maybe strong butterflies…before entering another country. Honduras had long held a bit of wonder for me because it has a bad reputation for being dangerous and besides Copan Ruinas and the island of Utila in the Caribbean, other travellers haven’t had have much good to say about it. Then again they haven’t been to other areas. The second largest city, San Pedro de Sula, has a well advertised reputation as the most dangerous city in the world. I’ve only really had two people say anything positive about Honduras and they had travelled to other areas outside the bigger cities. This is the country facing me tomorrow. I’ve done too little research and I’m trying to push out all expectations and take it as I find it.

 I read on Horizons Unlimited about a few experiences people had crossing into Honduras, particularly from El Salvador. 

Most were stories of it being expensive and questions about the genuineness of the fees. My experience was fine. The process to leave El Salvador was simple with my exit being recorded on the immigration computer in a couple of minutes. Next I spoke to the Aduana (customs) who stamped my paperwork to leave and sent me for a copy of all the documents.
I crossed the border and stopped at the immigration office.

  They gave me the balance of the 90 days for the four countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua – 37 days. Stamped, I rode the 200 metres to the Aduana office 

where the helpful and English speaking officer spent the best part of an hour doing all the paperwork, including me obtaining three copies of everything, before stamping Ziggy in for 90 days. Total cost was 540 Lempira ($27). I had the right amount of Lempiras and I think that made it cheaper because his original figure was around $36, which itself was still cheaper than what I had read.

I was in Honduras. Heading north it was already midday and I was enjoying the scenery of a new country. In my mind’s eye I didn’t have a picture of what Honduras would look like and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was green and mountainous. 

Not big mountains but fringing the horizon in all directions. Soon the roads gave an indication of how they would be in Honduras. Potholes are commonplace and it pays to watch the road rather than the scenery. The driving manner here is based on avoiding potholes at the expense of the motorcycle coming straight towards you. A new type of riding lesson.

I followed the only highway north on the western side of the country and stopped at Santa Rosa de Copan. It was a medium sized town and about half way to Copan Ruinas so I had decided to stay there the night. There was a hotel in the centre of town so I pulled in and negotiated the cost to $15 from $20. The owner of Getsemani, Sandra was friendly and helpful. One of her staff did pencil drawings in a notebook that were amazing.

I met another traveller there. Wei is a Chinese woman travelling around the world for three years in her Jeep. 

She was with another Chinese guy who she met on the road and she said she liked to have passengers because the men drive better than her. She had good English but no Spanish and we talked for hours about travel. She is heading the same direction so we will see if we happen to catch up again. 

I packed up and rode off in the morning towards Copan Ruinas. It is near the Guatemalen border and I have come the very long way round, having been within two hundred kilometres of this border crossing over a month ago. The potholes became bigger and the traffic was not heavy but one had to stay alert every second. Driving was unpredictable here with some people driving beyond their capabilities on roads not set up for any type of regular speed.

My environmental scientist eye came in as I looked at the landscape. It was not as lush as El Salvador and I noticed that there had been a huge amount of land clearing and there were a lot more cattle in the paddocks. The countryside looked degraded with a lot of weedy looking species growing along the road verge and up into the hills and through the paddocks. 
There were no volcanoes here either meaning that the soil was probably older and less productive. Although tropical and green, judging by the size of the crops and other indicators the soil was poorer than in the volcanic countries.

The trouble with me is that once I see these types of things it is all I see. There are erosion problems and some obvious overstocking of cattle. The only place I’ve see worse degradation is in Australia’s cattle country, again a country with no active volcanoes.
Along the way there was a practice run for the upcoming independence celebrations by groups of school kids

Fireworks are readily available for the young and old

I looked up a hostel in Copan Ruinas and headed for there.

The cobblestoned, steep one way streets were again a challenge on the big bike but after a couple of loop the loops I found the hostel.

It was cheap but not very inviting once inside. 

I managed to have secure parking with a challenging driveway and set about walking to the ruins about two kilometres from town.

It’s always nice to go for a walk after riding a few hours and it wasn’t long before I was at the entrance building to the ruins. 

It was busy but not too crowded. I followed a group of people ahead of me through the building where there were some offices but no directions about what was required. It was a 300m walk to a fenced off area with a small ticket booth.

‘Do you have your ticket?’ the young girl asked.

‘What ticket is that?’

‘The entry ticket.’

‘How much is it?’

‘I don’t know. You will have to go back to the building and buy one.’

‘Can’t I buy one here?’

‘No.’

 I looked back at the 300m walk and just thought this is ridiculous 

so about 50m back there was a nature trail with a map showing it went to all the area except the fenced off part. Good enough. 

I walked along the trail, stopping to read the interpretive signs. 

Mosquitos. Lots of them. Stop for five seconds and they are everywhere. I walked for another 100m and the trail ended with a flood. Time to return.

I have to settle for the model.

I walked back to the entrance and looked for a moto-taxi that were plentiful when I arrived, but now there were none. 

I walked back to the hostel and reflected on my visit to the ruins. Not meant to be. I decided to take a shower but the hot water wasn’t working. Hmmm I must have had some bad thoughts about being here!!

 The following day was Independence Day for Central America and the parades started early. 

Thousands of people lined the streets watching the school kids in different uniforms passing by, then passing by again, doing loop after loop of the town square and surrounding streets. It went for a couple of hours and I really felt for the little kids. 

Some light rain started falling and within half an hour had turned into a downpour and a large thunderstorm that effectively washed out the rest of the event. The rain continued until the evening. A good day to be off the bike.

 I’ve been incredibly lucky with rain. I have rarely been caught in it and when I have it has only been for short periods of time. This was the same all across the top end of Australia and for the seven months so far of this trip. It starts to rain when I stop, and stops raining as I am ready to leave. A nice hand to be dealt.