Aaaaaaaaaaaand relax

The last few days have been a little frantic but now I feel relaxed enough to write in actual sentences.  I spent my second morning in New York wandering around the streets in the rain then a very long time hanging around airports and sat on planes. One thing I did notice in this blur was that Newark airport had a special check in desk for Ford dealers.

Honduran immigration was chaotic to say the least, though when I did get to a desk the guard barely looked at my paperwork before stamping me in. I was then met by a helpful man from Maya Temple tours and taken to the Gran Hotel Sula where I showered and slept for ten hours.  The hotel has a very relaxed check out time of 1pm, which was welcome though it also has a check in time of 11am, which means their busines model actully depends on not filling all the rooms. Still, I'm not complaining at the chance to stay in a safe and comfortably cold four star hotel.

 

The next day, I got a taxi to the bus station, which was just as well since it had moved five miles since my guidebook was written.  The taxi driver spent most of the journey trying to persuade me that God hates football and no one should watch the Honduras USA match that night.

I caught the Hedman Alas bus to Copan Ruinas, which I can strongly recommend, the whole thing is run like one of the better airplines with bags properly checked in, comfy seats and comlimentary soft drinks. Despite, or maybe because it was so relaxing I was nearly asleep on arrival at Copan but still managed to drag myself up to Hostal Manzana Verde, described by Lonely Planet as one of the best hostels in Honduras.

After recovering a little, I wandered down to Via Via cafe, which is owned by the same people as the hostal and had a baleada for dinner. Honduras lost, 2 1 so maybe the taxi driver was right.  As I headed back to the hostal for an early night the town seemed to turn into a fairground with tuk tuks full of screaming girls hurtling up and down hills like a rollercoaster and trucks loaded with children driving round and round the Parque Central. 

This morning I went to the Mayan ruins and managed to get an authorised guide despite the best efforts of a man who followed me from town and as the ticket office put it 'your friend he like the moonshine'.  The ruins were very impressive and when I find somewhere I can upload photos they will certainly be added. 

Overall Copan seems a good place to aclimatise, with decent accomodation, plenty of cafes and a generally calmer atmosphere than the city, except for the Tuk Tuk drivers, who are as insane as anywhere else.  I plan to stay here at least three nights just for the novelty of not having to move each day and to get fully used to the weather and the time zone then I 'll start exploring properly.