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Honduras - Mainland & Roatan, Bay Islands - January 1998

On arriving in Honduras we stayed at a large hotel on the central square of the city of San Pedro Sula. We found the occasional sound of gunfire to be disturbing and so did not walk around the city much (or even sit on the balcony of our hotel suite.) At dinner in the hotel restaurant, an optimistic Dennis remarked, "I'm glad we're experiencing... whatever it is we're experiencing." We hired a private tour from the hotel to the ancient Mayan city of Copan that is located in the jungle about 3 hours away and very close to the border of Guatamala. We were surprised to be the only people on the bus with a driver and a "tour guide" who spoke some English. He explained about the mud huts and cigar tobacco drying racks we saw along the road to Copan. Near the Copan site, a quaint little town has grown where the kids are always selling something and the men look like wild-west cowboys complete with chaps, Colt 44's, and shotguns slung over their shoulders. There is one beautiful hotel here and a small museum focused on the Maya who lived here between 426 and 820 A.D. Our private tour included admission to the museum and a tour of the Copan site complete with a local archeologist who was very interesting. The city is on a man-made mountain covering about 13 acres and features several temples built repeatedly over the ones from the previous generation. The "stadium" provided viewing of the "ball court" and included a large staircase with hieroglyphics carved on each brick. Unfortunately they were "rearranged" by workers when the staircase was reconstructed during a restoration - apparently this is an annoyance to the archeologists. Another newer museum closer to the ruins was very impressive.

The day after the Copan tour we flew to the Bay Islands of Honduras with a brief stop in La Ceiba on the way. We stayed on the largest island, Roatan, at the Bay Islands Beach Resort (you can find some of Dennis' pictures on their website though they are unaccredited). More a diving camp then a "resort", we found it to be friendly and comfortable. The diving here, on the second largest barrier reef in the world, was good and trips to the West End Beach by taxi and water taxi were fun. Trips to the local towns were also an experience. A chance meeting of another couple who live and work back in the states at the same place we call home was amazing and has since yielded a nice friendship (see our Curacao page). Dennis and Dave particularly enjoyed the Banana soda while everyone had fun snorkeling with the dolphins and riding horses up the Roatan mountains and galloping along the sparsely populated, pristine white sand beaches!