Sunday, February 10, 2019
Copan Ruinas - Ziplines and Birds
Woke to the rooster alarm, then got online and made a hotel reservation for Antigua, our next stop. Today, more fun. Tomorrow, more travel.
Omg, got Trump-bashed at breakfast by a busybody Canadian. We were just sitting there minding our own business when he came over to chitchat. Learning we were American, he decided to say shitty things about our president. Then, when we didn't join in on the bashing, he got all pissy. What the hell, dude? You approached us, not the other way around! I thought Tom showed a lot of restraint keeping his mouth shut when Mr. Canada brought up Trudeau. Half an hour later, on our way back to our room, we met him again on the stairs. Awkward!
At 10:00 we were picked up at our hotel by Fernando from Honduras Canopy Tours for our next adventure. For just $45 each, we had a private tour that included round-trip transport from our hotel, the canopy tour, and entrance to Macaw Mountain Bird Park. Bargain! Ramon and Carey were our guides. Ramon took custody of Tom's camera for the duration of the canopy tour and took all the photos and video.
Canopy tour staging area
Jana and Tom's Big Adventure
The canopy tour consisted of 16 ziplines, for a total of 4 km. It was a great mix of long and short lines, some fast, some less fast, and some very bouncy! The morning was overcast, making the scenery even more dramatic, and the occasional mist made the ziplines extra fast! The tour proceeded quickly from line to line, often with 2 people on a line at once. (That would never happen in the U.S.)
Jana flies! (video)
Tom zips!
Tom and Jana up a tree
Valley view
We sped through the zipline course in only an hour, then drove a very short distance to Macaw Mountain Bird Park. Carey walked in and bought our tickets and a small bottle of water for each of us. Fernando arranged to pick us up in an hour and 20 minutes, which was just the right amount of time
Macaw Mountain Bird Park is a bird rescue, rehab, and release center. The birds onsite are either former pets, rescued or donated by people not able to care for them, or they've been confiscated from the illegal exotic pet trade. They also do breeding of some endangered birds. The ones that they can, they release into the wild, though some that were formerly kept as pets are there for good.
Great green macaw
Scarlet macaws
Toucan Sam
Pacific parakeets
The bird park has large cages and walk-through aviaries set along a nature trail through a gorgeous hilly forest next to a stream. The birds were very cool. If you're here at the right time of day, you can get a photo with a bird on your shoulder, one that used to be a pet, so is okay with people.
King vulture
Barn owl
Spectacled owl
Crax rubra
Fernando picked us up at the agreed time, and we were back at the hotel by 2:00. One of the best $45 we've ever spent. I'm glad we stayed an extra day in Copan!
We had a late lunch at Restaurante Los Asados, where finally we had a better choice of beer. Imperial beer is so much better than the local SalvaVida. It's also a pilsner, but so flavorful in comparison. The carne asada and churrasco de cerda were very good. Recommended!
Good restaurant in Copan
View from Restaurante Los Asados
After lunch, we walked uphill north of the park approximately five blocks to the grounds of an old army fort, El Cuartel, for views of the town, followed by a siesta back at the hotel.
El Cuartel
View down the hill
Pirate cable connections
In the evening, we went out for street tacos again, which we ate at Parque Central, then sat around and people-watched. We bought a couple more Imperial beers at a liquor store, now that we know what's good, and a pint of Ron Carcelo Anejo.
It was another early night in our room, and we finally turned on the TV. We found Carlito's Way, an Al Pacino movie, in English, and watched it for an hour and a half before the electricity went out at 10:30, causing us to miss the ending. With the lights out in the whole town, we left our room to look at the sky. So many stars are visible when there's no light pollution. So pretty!
