Copan Ruinas

Yesterday morning we started our journey to Copan, Honduras at 5 a.m. We walked through the empty streets of El Progreso with bags in hand. The streets were empty and all was calm as we walked from our apartment to the bus station. We took one bus from El Progreso to San Pedro Sula and another from SPS to Copan. About 3 hours later...we arrived in the beautiful, quaint city of Copan Ruinas. The entire city of Copan is made of very steep hills, and instead of taxis, they use these tiny 3-wheel vehicles that are popular in Europe as I was told. After a delicious lunch of baleadas, we decided to go horseback riding into the mountains. We all expected a short ride to see some scenery, but it was so much better than that. We rode way up into the mountains to Hacienda San Lucas de los Sapos. There is a beautiful yoga hut on the mountain side along with a bed and breakfast and lookout over the mountains and river. We could see everything from there, even some of the ruins of Copan. I believe this is the most breathtaking view I've ever seen. We were all so at peace we were giddy just to have the opportunity to see the beauty of nature; and I especially was in awe of God's artistic ability when designing the landscape. Many people think of Honduras as a dirty place, but it is full of captiviting mountains, clear blue skies, and mysterious forests. In the past 24 hours, I'm almost positive I've done more walking and physical activity than the whole time I have been here and it has been refreshing and invigorating. After breakfast this morning, we headed out to the ruins. I have wanted to go to the ruins for two years when I first came to Honduras. We paid to have a tour guide at the ruins and I'm not sure if I can possibly describe what it was like being there, other than breath-taking. We saw many tall pillars with hyeroglyphic etchings, plazas, ball courts, sacrificial alters, the staircase of hyeroglyphics that is the longest of all the Mayan ruins, and so much more. Again, I feel that pictures will do a better job representing what I saw. Overall, it was a wonderful trip and I'm so happy that I had the chance to go to Copan, even if it was only for about 24 hours. I feel we made the most of it, and I'd love to go back someday.