Flores to Copan, Honduras

Flores to Copan, Honduras

Tuesday 2/03/2010

We dragged ourselves out of bed at the totally unreasonable hour of 5.30am and walked down to the tourist office where we had booked our bus ride to Copan, Honduras - at least to the town nearest to the border.  Having been promised a ride in the owner's vehicle to the bus station (a few miles) and a direct 2nd class bus for the 5.5hr journey.  The bus was to include a toilet but not food or air-conditioning - oh well it has the important feature for someone with Montezuma's revenge (yet again!!).  

Now begins the day from hell - firstly the ride to the bus station was passed on to a local and probably homeless as he slept in his car.  The car was not road worthy - bits falling off everywhere.  Now to the bus - hummm - where do I begin.....  Firstly the picture showing the bus was taken when the bus was new - it is now 150 years old and had a very hard life.  Most buses have holes in the windscreen with cracks radiating out - I prefer to think of them as stone holes not bullet holes!!  This one was no exception - one of the holes was filled with some sort of black silicone (haven't they heard of gaffa tape??  We climbed on the bus in the dark of early morning and waited, and waited and waited.  The bus would not start and as seems to be the case worldwide many helpful rubberneckers turned up to offer their valuable advice.  The driver climbed into the engine, under the bus and into the side compartment.  Don was horrified when he saw the engine - you could not recognize any parts - just lots of oil and grease.  After attacking the motor with a 6ft x 2" metal pole the bus still would not start - why is it that men always resort to using a weapon on a motor that won't start ???  Must be something in their genes.  The pole was then used to bash a part under the bus (that is after the bus was jacked up by hand).  Finally after 1hr we all tried to push start the bus - forgetting that it was still jacked up - it came down with a loud thump and we kept pushing - and to our amazement it actually started.  We were off.  Our direct bus (only 4 documented stops) stopped at least 24 times.  

As daylight filtered through the grimy windows it revealed the bus more and more dilapidated, seats were grubby, torn and broken, the side panels were missing and filth everywhere - the local cheap chicken buses would have been better.  The windows did not open and as I was wondering what we do when the day warms up, I looked upward and sure enough there were two skylights without any covers at all - Don and I discussed what happens when it rains and shortly afterwards we found out - the rain comes down through the skylights then with the motion of the bus the rain fans out to cover most passengers - a free shower!!  Twice the driver went to eat and took over 20 mins (being careful to put a brick on the accelerator to keep the engine idling the whole time) - that would have been fine if he had told us so we could get off and use the toilets and get a coffee and sandwich - instead we waited and waited thinking he would be back any moment. They didn't lie about there being a toilet on the bus however they also made no claim as to its servicability - it was padlocked shut ! Our 5.5hr trip took 9hrs with no toilet or food stop (that we had known of).  Not good for a dicey stomach but we survived.  

Help around the bus stations is excellent - all vying for passengers.  When we arrived in Chicquimula we intended to find a bathroom first, then food then check out the next shuttle bus ride to the border - the driver told a bus hawker where we wanted to go and the next thing he had hold of Don's backpack and was off - we chased him through the streets and when we caught up he was placing the backpack in a very full shuttle bus for us.  So much for the break I had been looking forward to.  The driver quoted us a rather inflated price for the ride but what can you do when you bag is on board with no hope of retrieving it.  The bus fees are never collected until a fair way along the road - when ours was collected the fare again rose - we got some sympathetic looks from the passengers who knew we were being ripped off but Don's arguments were ignored and not wanting to be put on the side of the road we shut up and put it down to experience.  We were put on the side of the road when another bus pulled up in front of our bus - this was the bus we should have got in the first place.  The hawker handed over a fraction of the money we had given him and off we went again.  When we reached the border we were targeted by another bus hawker who grabbed our bag and talking very quickly took off towards the immigration office.  He was a pain in the ?#$#?.  He grabbed our passports out of my hand and forced them onto the immigration officer who was still dealing with another customer and then proceeded to answer the questions for us.  Don got mad and overrode him.  The hawker had a bus waiting - they wait to be overfull before leaving and we were needed.  We turned around to see our bag disappearing in the distance again so off we went again - still without any break.  The shuttle bus was overfull - people hanging out the doors and sitting on top of each other.  I had the 2" of seat on the end next to a boy (around 10yrs) who was blind and looked very ill.  He slept fitfully most of the way holding a vomit bowl - every time he moved I inched away hoping not to be covered in whatever he may produce.  The poor little fellow was filthy in clothes that did not fit and a wooden stick to support himself.  He fell asleep on my shoulder and I fell in love with him - his grandfather was next to him and smiled beautifully at me - he was equally filthy with ill fitting clothes.  When they alighted the bus I noticed that the boy was blind in both eyes - knowing that the bowl may have been for begging.  I wish we could have given them some money but we had used all our Guatemalan Quetzals before the border and not obtained any Honduran Lempiras as yet.   

14 50 20 N 89 09 21 W

Arriving in Copan was exciting and such a relief - that is until our bus driver would not allow us to alight at the normal terminal but insist the driver take us a further 2 blocks so he could show us his family hotel which he assured us we would like to stay at.  Off our bag went again....the hotel was excellent and $16 per night for the two of us - not the cheapest around but it is very clean, has tv, a ceiling fan and a fan on a stick, bathroom was the best we have had so far - and hot water!!!!  The owner is lovely - he was quietly waiting outside that evening with a brand new blanket for our bed and in the morning when I opened the door there he was sitting patiently on a chair waiting for us to appear so he could deliver hot coffee - what a wonderful man.  I am sure we are paying more than normal for the accommodation to take in the hawker's tip but it is worth every cent to be able to help such a thoughtful man - oh and they clean the room every day and give us fresh towels - that has not happened before either.  I want to stay here forever !!!

Copan is safe, clean and beautiful little town.  We spent the following day looking around the town, checking out the places to eat, where Don finds his daily does of ice cream and of course the artisan shops for me.  

The next day we were off to the ruins - they were as interesting and spectacular as we had been led to believe.  The Mayans certainly built massive cities with intricate carvings.  It was as recent as 1989 that archeologists discovered the most recent tomb complete with jade, ceramic and  gold offerings.