Copán

We were sad to leave Antigua, but we had heard that Copán Ruinas, Honduras had its own charms. So, we hopped into a mini-bus and headed back across the border into Copán . Here are a few highlights of this final leg of our trip...
Since the streets are cobblestone, and the terrain is hilly, instead of standard taxi cars, they use the tuk-tuk in Copán . Here's Tom after he hijacked one.

On our first night, we rested our volcano-weary muscles in the jungle hotsprings at Luna Jaguar Spa. This place was awesome. In fact, it was possibly the highlight of my Copán trip! We arrived at dusk, and were led through a gorgeous jungle path to these sulpheric hot springs which came bubbling down the mountain. Luna Jaguar Spa has created a small round rock hot tub in the middle of it. So we sat in the jungle by candlelight in this fantastically hot pool. Again- it was awesome. The pictures are a bit dark, but you can see all the steam and jungle...


We spent the next morning visiting the ancient Mayan ruins in Copán . The kingdom was established here around 159 A.D. and the empire was at its peak between 425-822 A.D. Artifacts and buildings from ancient Mayan civilization have been found all over Central America, but here we were able to see several buildings in their still "buried" (under trees and some dirt) state, as well as restored architecture. It was very cool! We even saw the scene that Honduras chose for its 1 Lempira bill...


Later that day, we visited the Parque de Aves (Bird Park). There, we spent some time learning about and interacting with our local feathered friends.


On our last day of vacation, we headed out on a horseback ride up the mountain. It was picturesque and beautiful.