Copan Ruinas to Lago De Yojoa

We didn't see everything in Copan Ruinas but knew we would be back in 4 weeks with Mom and Ed. In 3 hours we would be at our final destination for the next 4 months, Lago De Yojoa.

This stretch of highway is the worst we've ridden with lots of pot holes. We had to ride very defensively.

It was exciting to be in familiar territory and great to see the first view of the lake.

We were met by Kenny at Honduyate and saw our new bachelor pad for the first time. It is really cute and all we need to enjoy our time at the lake. Spent the rest of the day catching up on news with Richard and Kenny. The next few days will be spent contacting our friends to let them know we are back. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

In 31 days we have travelled 5000 km from Laredo, Texas down the west coast of Mexico through Guatemala to Lago De Yojoa, Honduras.

Macaw Mountain Bird Park

Our day in Copan Ruinas

Our first tour was of the ruins in Copan. The ruins are much smaller than Tikal but have many more monuments and much more detail in the temples. Our guide was very good with a sense of humor. He said at its peak the stones were the color of the macaw and 20,000 people lived here. As is the suspicion in Tikal, the people left due to drought, starvation and illness.

Our next stop was the Macaw Mountain Park. The birds here have been rescued or brought in by owners who can no longer care for their pets. The park is very nice with a swimming hole and the owners sell souvenirs and their own coffee to pay for the care of the park and birds.

We found the local HD watering hole. The bar has Harley paraphanalia everywhere and now has a Heritage HD dip dot on its beer cooler.

Jutiapa, Guatemala to Copan Ruinas, Honduras

We are headed for the Guatemalan/Honduran Frontera El Florido (border) today. The highway improved considerably. The scenery was typical until we came over a hill and entered a mountainous area. Beautiful greenery with the road winding through the red rock mountain side. Just before before the border it rained on us for the first time since we left Texas. We pulled over to put on our rainsuits with a local family watching us curiously. While we were doing our paperwork at the border a group of Mexican BMW riders arrived. One cut in too close to our bike and side swiped our saddlebag with his. The alarm went and we went to investigate. The Mexican acted like nothing happened. Really just a few scratches so no issue made of it. He could of least said he was sorry but didn't. The paperwork went smooth with no banditos asking for money to process paper. It rained from the border to Copan Ruinas and we pulled into the first hotel we saw. There was a garage for the bike and the rooms were nice. Only $25 per night. It stopped raining right after we parked the bike so we went to the central square where we met a couple from Alaska. They are in Copan for 2 weeks living with a local family and taking Spanish lessons. Bought a local map and started planning our tours for the next day.

Antigua to Jutiapa, Guatemala

After a weeks rest, the Harley was packed up and rolled out of the garage. We said our goodbyes to Wayne and Don and were off towards the Honduran border. Peter from the Guatemalan HD dealership gave us an alternate route avoiding Guatemala city and the highway construction. Road signage is pretty much non existent in Guatemala and we were helped several times by the locals. One local man on his scooter even led us to the right turn off. More than once we wondered if we were on the right road. The first part of the ride took us to the opposite (south) side of the volcanos that we had been looking at from Antigua for the past week. Of the three volcanos, Fuego is still active. It was a great ride and we made it to Jutiapa by early afternoon.

Photos of the church in Antigua

Last day in Antigua

Today is our last day of Spanish school. We made it! Our vocabulary has improved but we have a long way to go. The afternoon activity was to visit the museum and church that has been declared a world heritage site. The church was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1700's. Some repairs have been done but it will not be completely restored. In the basement of the church we could see people were still coming to light candles and pray in front of the statues of Jesus and others. Tomorrow we leave Antigua and head for Honduras.

Visit to Agua Caliente

Our 4th day of classes is done and we are going to visit a women's co-operative in a small town outside of Antigua called Agua Caliente. There are 6 women in the co-operative doing weaving and selling their own coffee.

They put on a presentation for us showing how they weave their blankets, tableclothes and placemats. They showed us how to make tortillas on the wood burning fire in their kitchen. My tortilla was only smooth on one edge. It was too thick and didn't taste very good but I didn't want to waste it so I ate it anyways.

We had a chance to crush the coffee beans and learned that the seeds are then hand picked, dried, roasted and ground. Quite a process. No wonder good coffee is expensive.

They put on a mock wedding with a couple of our fellow students. They explained that in the Mayan tradition a single girl (14-18 years old) would wear her braids down with colorful woven ribbon through them. Married women wear their hair up. The single girl would also wear a small shawl on her shoulder. Everywhere the girl went she would dress this way. If she didn't want to get married then she would have to stay at home. When a man wanted to marry a specific girl he would steal her shawl. Then he would present the shawl to the girl's father showing his intention to marry her. The girl had absolutely no say in the matter. If a girl was not married by 18 she was considered to old. The girl had one year to weave a shawl for her future mother-in-law. The girl would present it to her mother-in-law the day of the wedding. If the mother-in-law did not like it or her, the girl would have to make another one but the wedding continued. The mother-in-law would show her dislike by not wearing the shawl.

We were encouraged to buy items from these women in the co-operative as it was all hand made where items in town most likely were made by machine. We bought a pound of their coffee and placemats/napkins.

It was fun to learn about Mayan tradition from these women and they sure do work hard. It takes up to 30 days at 6 hours per day to make a blanket. Their weaving is exactly the same on both sides which makes it that much more unique.