Friday, February 8, 2019
Guatemala City to Copan Ruinas, Honduras
After a nice hot shower, we went to breakfast downstairs – coffee, juice, fruit, rolls and marmalade, scrambled eggs, and hash browns – good and filling. The family dog came to see us as we were finishing. She was very sweet and clean and soft and fuzzy. I love dogs.
Alberto arrived with our private shuttle a few minutes early, and we left at 7:50. Today we're traveling by land to Copan Ruinas, Honduras, which will require a shuttle across the city and three buses, so we had to get moving. There's a direct bus to Copan Ruinas, but it leaves at 4:30 in the morning, so that's a hard no. We'll ride with the locals today.
Our hotel is near the airport, which is on the south side of the city, and the bus station we need for our onward travel is all the way on the north side. Guatemala City is the largest city in Central America, with almost 6 million people, and the traffic is horrible, so it takes a while to get from one end of the city to the other.
We arrived at the mall/bus station at 8:35, so we'd made good time. Alberto walked us through the mall to Rutas Orientales, where we learned there was a bus leaving in one minute for Chiquimula (45Q ea.), so all at once, we were on our way. It was a large, old, roomy, decently comfortable bus. Two hours into the journey, we stopped to get gas and had enough time to pee. I was directed to a bring-your-own-TP one-holer normal restroom. Tom was directed, along with the other men, the opposite direction – to a wall. LOL
At 12:10 we arrived in Chiquimula and immediately boarded a Liteagua minibus to El Florido (25Q ea.) They packed us in the bus five people across, when there was only room for three, then they picked up even more people and had them standing in the doorway on the running board. In fact, for a while, the ayudante (driver's helper) had only his feet and one arm inside the bus and was actually riding on the outside. OMG. An hour later, in Jocotan, most of the passengers (including us) changed to a second minibus to continue to El Florido (at the border of Guatemala and Honduras).
At 2:00 we arrived at la frontera (the border), where we changed a few dollars into lempira before walking across the border into a building where we immigrated out of Guatemala (fast and free), then immigrated into Honduras (75 lempira each, or $3). The Honduras immigration would have been fast too except we arrived behind a bus full of tourists from Hong Kong, and they took a minute.
Goodbye, Guatemala
We then walked into Honduras, where a minivan was waiting for passengers for the ride to Copan Ruinas, just 25 minutes down the road (20L ea.) The road between the border and Copan was under construction and will continue to be for a while. The men building the new concrete roadway were doing so one wheelbarrow of concrete at a time. That's some hard, slow work.
Hello, Honduras
We arrived at the Hotel Cuna Maya in Copan Ruinas, located just a block and a half from Parque Central, around 3:00 p.m. ($27 per night, breakfast included.) This is another small hotel, with just six rooms. We stayed in room 6. It had a large bed, air conditioning (the only a/c of the trip – here you need it), and a private bathroom with the only square toilet I have ever seen. Also, for no extra charge, there is a rooster RIGHT OUTSIDE the window. It's a family-run hotel. Enelda (who speaks English, though she encourages you to speak Spanish) checked us in and introduced us to her husband, Ivan, and their son Pablo.
A lot of bed for our little room, Hotel Cuna Maya
It's not as comfortable as it looks...
We purchased a couple of beers at a tienda across the street, then relaxed in our room for a while before walking over to Parque Central, which was nice but not super park-like. I would call it, rather, a plaza or a zocalo. It's a nice place, though, with a very pretty white church.
Parque Central, Copan Ruinas
Parroquia San Jose Obrero
After a stop at an ATM, we made our way to Sol de Copan, a microbrewery run by a German expat, Thomas. He had two beers on tap, a Hefeweissen and a lager, both done right, with the ingredients imported from his home country. At 80L per liter, you were paying for quality. We also had a plate of German sausage from an “old family recipe,” served with potato salad. Very good.
Later for dinner, we got street tacos. An order of three beef and pork tacos was only 45L. They were delicious and filling but quite greasy. We couldn't resist the fresh pico de gallo and other toppings, and we felt just fine afterwards. We picnicked in the park with the free-range dogs, then bought a six-pack and went back to the hotel. The power went out for a minute at 10:30 but came right back on.
Nighttime in Parque Central
Tom
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