Obviously it is forbidden to sell beer in Honduras after 5pm on Sundays until Monday morning. That kinda surprised, but well.. Papaya juice was fine companion for a big bowl of meat for dinner.
Two-three hours of laying in hot thermal water did pretty good to aching muscles.. The spa was actually beautiful, small pools built in jungle and hot water flowing between them. The natural water flowing from the forest was too hot to swim, some 70C, so cold water was also added to the pools.
This was a late morning, as we had nothing important to do in the morning and no specific reason to wake up early. Or well, late, woke up at nine which is relatively late compared to our previous 06-07 mornings. We have been able to maintain this rhythm, as there is not much to do in these countries after the darkness falls around six in the evening. So, we have been happily sleeping around eight in the evening and waking up at sunrise time after six.
Today I just woke up at seven and decided that I'm definitely on strike today and refusing to get up. It was too warm and comfortable under blanket as today was the first morning for a week when nothing hurts when waking up.. Flu and stomach problems seem to be pretty much over for both of us. Timo obviously felt the same, so the snoring continued..
Upon finally getting up we went to check out Las Sepulturas, a smaller Mayan ruin site next to the main area. Not much to say about that, it was just small residential structure ruins in middle of jungle. Back in the hostel now, and the afternoon will be sent in a thermal spa Luna Jaguar, some 20 kilometers from the city in middle of forest. The place looks pretty cool, so have to go try it out: http://lunajaguarspa.com/ .
The downside of small villages like this is that electricity and water supply are not that dependable. Poor Timo noticed it today while washing his teeth.. Well, we had some bottled water in the house. The electricity and running water cut out randomly for a while.
Our indian chief Los Baños Rápidos was today able to leave the close proximity of a toilet for more time than yesterday, so we started doing things around here. In the morning we took horses and rode up the mountain to a hacienda for coffee, and after dinner visited the main attraction of the city: The Mayan ruins of Copan.
The Mayan site was much smaller than the ones we have visited in Mexico earlier, but still a beautiful one, with well preserved ruins hidden in the forest. This particular site is known for the hieroglyphs, having much more of them than other known Mayan ruins in the area. Honduras is not exactly a popular tourist destination, so the ruins were also very peaceful with only a handful of people.
The morning was pretty much wasted, while Timo was trying to fix his rear-end leak.. In a couple of hours the antibiotics started working enough though, so we went to see a local parrot sanctuary, Macaw Mountain. They are breeding and taking care of injured or orphaned local Macaws, Parrots and other birds. We were the only visitors there now, so we got a nice private tour of the place and the birds.
Arrived to Copan Ruinas, a small mountain town close to the Mayan ruins of Copan. I think I like the place already, the city is very beautiful and reminds me a lot of San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico. Probably we will hang around here a couple of days, checking out the ruins, coffee plantations and horseback riding.
Even the hostel looks very comfortable, so I guess it was not a mistake to depart the previous place only after one full day. Lake Yojoa and the brewery were nice too, but there was not that much to do for two lazy bastards with flu. Neither one really wanted to take a mountain hike..
And my Spanish self-learning continues, seems like I can also manage a pharmacy visit just fine. "El antibiotico para la diarrea por mi amigo, por favor".
Once again in San Pedro Sula bus terminal. It's still not my favorite place, but we had a perfect timing here. We departed the brewery around seven in the morning and arrived to SPS at ten, perfectly on time to catch the only better bus of the day to Copan Ruinas at 10:20. Boarding the bus now..
Nearby our accommodation there was a big waterfall, Pulhapanzak, so we took a bus there today. Both of us are a bit in flu, so not much else was done..
Once again we seem to be in place where nothing else than Spanish is spoken. Well, forced Spanish-learning seems to work, I survive pretty fine with it already..
Travel day today. In the early morning we took the ferry to mainland La Ceiba from Utila and continued by bus, another bus and a mototaxi to our destination: D&D Brewery at Lake Yojoa. The entire trip took some eight hours, so it has been a sweaty day again..
I guess we will stay some two-three nights in here, go check out the nearby waterfalls etc.
We had nothing better to do in the afternoon, so we just rented bikes and cycled around the island a bit, not finding anything remarkable. Tomorrow morning it will be an early departure towards Lago de Yojoa and D&D Brewery for some days.
By the way, there is a diving movie Pinnalla in Finnish theaters now, and people are saying it's really good. Have to go check it out when we are back.
