Tales of the Weekend When I Accidentally Went to Guatemala

Being that I am now an official adult with a career that has such things as "paid days off," Jen and I once again decided to be adventurous and took a day off to have a long weekend of traveling...Long being the operative word in use. But then again, it should be a little long when you accidentally go to a country you hadn't necessarily planned on. Saying that, I will now prolong the suspense by going into the whole back-story of how we got to this point. I know you are all waiting eagerly in anticipation...

Since last summer when I first came to Honduras, I have wanted to go to Copan, which is known for having the best preserved Mayan ruins in the world. For some, just a pile of rocks can be boring, but I am completely intrigued by things like this. I loved the Colosseum in Rome, Stonehenge in England, and now these Mayan ruins. The amount of work that these ancient civilizations put into their buildings, chiseling one rock at a time into a block, carrying the blocks, and building these huge, intricate structures that are still here thousands of years later amazes me. Being only a few hours away, I have been waiting for the perfect weekend to go. Not to mention that I found a $4 a night hostel that looked like so much fun just 2 km away from the ruins...it was calling my name.

In addition to being my city tour guide and Spanish tutor, our friend Jorge can add "personal travel agent" to his list of jobs since he found Jen and I these really cheap bus tickets to Copan from Tegucigalpa. ***On a sidetrack*** Ever notice how easily you can say things like "I can sleep on the plane,"(or in this case the bus) when after the last time you said that you swore to yourself that you would never be so stupid again? With that said, we agreed to take the bus leaving at 11:00p.m. from Comayaguela, which is the city that has molded itself with Tegucigalpa in the urban sprawl. Comayaguela is like the Harlem of Tegucigalpa---lots of life, great local restaurants and nightspots and culture, but also notoriously known for being not so great in certain parts. But don't worry folks...we are always taken care of and were made sure that we got on the bus safely.

The bus stop in Comayaguela was "rustic" to say the least. I put this word in quotations because so many times I feel like this word is used more as a euphemism than an actual adjective by people who can't quite say "junky" or "run-down". Anyways, this bus station was "rustic," and over the entrance it had a hand-written sign that said "May God be with you on your journey"-- a nice sentiment, however it evokes different feelings when you're at a bus-stop with random stray dogs, unfinished walls, and piles of rubble everywhere. We board the bus at 11, here a small sermon by the driver, and are off, planning to arrive at our destination early in the morning.

Since we are teachers who wake up with the sun every morning, we also go to bed early, so just to stay up past 11:00 for our bus was late. Needless to say, we slept on the bus. Hard. I know earlier that I wrote that thing about how thinking you can sleep on a plane or a bus is stupid, and even though we did sleep on this bus, this presented problems. I woke up a couple of times through the night to change positions, and then I woke up as we got to our final stop, and everyone got off the bus. Now, keep in mind that I had traveled through the night and had just woken up as I explain these next few sentences. When Jen and I got off the bus, we noticed lots of tacky "Honduras" things, and guys everywhere asking to change our money. I knew that Copan would be touristy, so I thought all this was normal. After being approached by several guys to change our money or ride a taxi, Jen and I just decided to walk with confidence down the street, don't look like clueless tourists, and get to our Hostel, which said it was within walking distance of the bus stop. All of a sudden, a guy's voice asked for our passports, and I was really confused. Why would someone ask for our passports in Copan? I turned around and saw an immigration official, and it was at that point when I started to put the pieces together (remember, I was on little sleep and had just woken up)---the money changer guys, the tacky Honduras stuff--and then I began to see taxis and busitos with Guatemala-Honduras signs on the side. Jen and I had confidently and ignorantly walked past the Honduran border into Guatemala. In my defense, there was no "Welcome to Guatemala" signs or even a gate of any sorts dividing the two countries. There was just 1 immigration official, who was very nice and didn't seem upset that two gringas just tried to rush his country. My favorite part about the whole situation was a little old man in a cowboy hat sweeping the garbage from the Guatemala side of the border to the Honduras side.

Then the question was raised: Where were we exactly and how far was Copan? The answer was Agua Caliente, and 3 hours.

We had slept through our bus stop, which was unannounced on an overnight bus where its dark outside and you can't see landmarks or signs of any sort...not like there are really any of those to begin with. We had a good laugh, got on another bus, slept some more, and told everyone we could on the bus where we were going so that we had about 5 people waking us up to let us know we were getting close to our stop. Good job guys.

The town of Copan Ruinas is totally cute, and bizarrily gringo-fied...almost to the point where you didn't know how to greet anyone---Do I speak in Spanish? English? German? Dutch? I think I can safely say that I saw more foreigners here in Copan than I have collectively in my time in Honduras.

Like the name implies, the town is famous for its Mayan ruins, which are the best preserved in the world. There were wild parrots everywhere, absolutely colossal trees that made it possible for the sun to only penetrate through the foliage in individual rays, and then through the brush there appears this gigantic Mayan palace and altar. We didn't pay for a tour guide, but we would hear bits and pieces as we walked around and we were very impressed by the facility. Carrying around my 30 lb. backpack, I climbed up to the top of the ruins and got an incredible view of the countryside and into Guatemala (I will be back Guatemala....and next time it will be on purpose!) The weather was also pretty nice, but that is also because we entered into the park at about 8 a.m....as we left it started getting hotter and the mosquitoes were out in full force near the end of our tour, so much so that we had to keep moving at all times to help prevent landage. We almost looked like Pigpen on Charlie Brown with this dark cloud around our bodies, except that it was mosquitoes and not dust. We've had those moments too though... (See: Weekend in Cedros, picture where I'm covered in mud).

Overall, I give the trip a thumbs up on the fun scale. In the post above you will find pictures of the town of Copan Ruinas, and the next post below you can see the actual ruins.

These are pictures from the amazing $4 a night hostel I stayed at in Copan Ruinas. If anyone's ever in the area, I'd completely recommend it.

And last but not least, our trusty back-packs. These are what make us truly travelers and not tourists, and Jen and I could probably impress just about anyone with the amount of stuff we are able to cram in here and how long we are able to carry these things for.