Adventures in Central America: Copan Ruinas, Honduras

Today was my first day this trip without some sort of travel--unless you call a horseback ride into the hills a sort of travel!

I began my day with breakfast in my hostel's backyard again, then arranged a horseback ride with the hostel owner.  Shortly after 9:00 a man more or less my age arrived at the door and led me around the block to where he had tied up the horses.

He indicated which one I was to mount, and the two of us headed off out of Copan.  My guide's name was Wilson, and he was friendly despite the fact that our language barrier was among the steepest I faced in communicating with tourism workers in Central America.  We forded the Copan River on our way out of town, which was something I had never done on horseback before.  Splashing through the cool water was lovely because it was already a warm morning.

Once on the other side we rode along the river for awhile.  We saw a bird that I believe my guide told me was a relative of the famous quetzal (after which Guatemala has named its currency).  It had an incredible tail, far longer than its body, and did not seem all that perturbed by our presence, it simply watched us ride by.

At some point we began ascending towards a village called Los Sapos.

It was about 10:30 when arrived in the village, and my guide had us dismount to let the horses rest and go for water.

He then led me down a path for a ways and to where there were some Mayan ruins, including toad statues, which is how the village gets its name, because toad in Spanish is sapo.

From there we returned to the village, and while the guide went off to find the horses, I joined a couple local boys playing soccer on their "field."

We descended into Copan the same way we had come up, and we got back just after noon.  My guide dropped me off and I went for lunch.  I spent most of the rest of my afternoon around the central square, reading my novel and relaxing.