Baleadas for breakfast. Andy opted for the simple one (beans and cheese), and I added eggs to mine. They were good. Baleadas is the local dish of Honduras and you can have it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
We walked down to town, as we’d read that Casa Ixchel made excellent coffee. Whether they do or not will remain a mystery. 25 minutes after placing our order, there was still no sign of coffees. Telling the staff that we’re in a hurry made no difference so we left, coffee-less.
We boarded a tuk tuk for the ten minute journey to the ruins. One of the most important of all Maya civilisations lived, prospered, then mysteriously crumbled around the Copán archaeological site. At its peak, the site covered 24 square kilometers. The layout feels like a modern town, with the royal quarters on one side and secondary temples just off the main plaza. There are remarkable sculptures and hieroglyphics, including the 63-step hieroglyphic stairway. We heard more about Yax Kuk Mo, who came from Tikal and whose dynasty lasted sixteen years.
One of the highlights has to be the noisy and colourful macaws.
Back in town, we had just over an hour to see the sights, explore new streets, take photos we’d noticed and have lunch. We had yummy cheese sandwiches at Café San Rafael; mine came with the most tasty avocado. Andy finally had his cup of coffee (they serve their own organically coffee grown). The food was excellent, and the service super friendly.
Our stay in Honduras was short, but very enjoyable. Copán Ruinas has a nice feel to it. The food was good. The locals are friendly. It would have been good to see a bit more of the country. It certainly has its problems and we’re not naive enough to think we’ve seen the ‘real’ Honduras.
At 1pm, we left for El Salvador, via Guatemala. Somehow, it’s easier to cross back into Guatemala than to go directly through to El Salvador, and it saves us a number of hours on the road.
Our bus driver, Arnando, is the best. He has a sense of humour, and you can tell that he really enjoys his work. He provided us with cold bottles of water, anti-bacterial gel and Wifi (funny aside, we had better WiFi in our bus today than we currently have in our hotel).
We snack on Zambos, the most popular crisps in Honduras. And probably the most controversial crisps I have ever eaten. Crisps with an ugly history. The name itself is a racist term used to describe mixed race people. Critics of the company have accused it of engaging in violence, theft and corruption.
Crossing back into Guatemala is as easy as it was to leave the country yesterday.
A couple of hours later, we leave Guatemala. Again, the border crossing was dead easy. We remained in our seats. Some guy got in to change our quetzales into dollars (the official currency of El Salvador). Instantly El Salvador feels different. The road is new and smooth. There is minimal litter about. The toilets at the petrol stations are clean. These are details, but important ones when you spend most of your day on the road.
We arrived in Suchitoto just after 6:30pm. We got into our room, unpacked, took the laundry down to reception, had showers and then realised that our room was like an oven. The wall near the bed was boiling so we packed up and decamped to what turns out to be a much nicer room.
After choosing our activities for the next few days, we went to dinner at a local restaurant near the hotel. The owner trained as a chef in the big city but decided to come home to cook local food. It’s a small restaurant, but busy all night. He cooks two types of pupusas – the traditional one with beans and cheese (to which non-vegetarians can add beef or pork), and the other one is more avant-garde in the world of pupupas – with garlic and spinach. They both come with a tomato sauce and curtido. Delicious. We were talking about food at lunchtime and how they can afford to have simple things on the menu in this part of the world as the ingredients are so good.
You are making me hungry! The food sounds great and the locations very exotic. Wonderful pictures. A holiday of a lifetime? At the Wednesday club we just have warm British beer ….
What’s wrong with warm British beer? In El Salvador it seems they only have cold beer (and red wine and white wine).
According to our research, El Salvador has cold beers, piña coladas and margaritas. Trust us, you wouldn’t want a warm beer here.
It would have been good to see a bit more of the country. — How about a bit of coffee by the sounds of it??
Yes, that’s frustrating. The roads are full of potholes so all images taken during the journey ended up blurred, or there’s always a tree in the way (the roads are always protected by greenery, to keep them cool I guess).