Copan: I don't wanna go home
Trip Start
Unknown
1
66
67
Trip End
Ongoing
Copán, Copán, Honduras
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
It was dark by the time we arrived in Copan late that night, and all i wanted was to throw my crap in a room and head out for a beer. Some wise-cracking tourist sucker latched onto us as we descended the bus stairs, instantly spinning poundsigns in his eyes like a slot machine and breathing pungent smelling horse-breath in our direction. I'd had better offers from the guy with one arm and one leg who shouted "amigo" at us whilst hopping down the road like a demented kangaroo. Neigh thanks mate!
We tramped around for a while and eventually stumbled across our hostel. As is common in most parts of Central and Southern America, the f******g electric then went out. You get used to after a while. Oops- there it is again, the powers out. "Will it be out all night?" "No, it's just for an hour and a half". How they always know exactly how long its gonna be out for is beyond me. Maybe they have a town cryer who goes around door-knocking earlier in the day. Who the f**k knows?
So, torches it was. As we stumbled around the cobbled streets towards the old town centre, I couldn't help but get the feeling that the Old b****d up above wasn't just sat up there laughing to himself. To top it all off, we had no cash, and the obvious lack of voltage had cut off any chance of eating dinner in the next hour and a half, not to mention paying for our room for the night.
We managed to scrape together about 4 pounds in local currency and set off down the back streets waving our torches in peoples faces and at signs until we found the place we had been looking for. Stern old men were bent over iron barbecues that threw red devilish sparks into the pitch dark, and candles gave glimpses of the elves that were huddled around the tables within. Copan was beginning to give me an insight of what it might like to be like to be living in the dark ages. It was f******g freezing if i'm honest with you. Quite why we chose to eat in an open air restaurant that night was beyond me, but we'd been recommended the Anafres, a kind of refried bean fondu with cheese and chorizo. It sounds like a big ball of gunk and looks alot like regurgitated cat vomit but it tastes amazing, especially if you're wrapped up in a plastic raincoat and huddled around a candle like a die hard lake district camper. I slept like a rock.
The ruins weren't difficult to find luckily as we didn't have long before we were to get the return bus down to Antigua and our final stop on the trip. We were the first ones through the gate; in fact, we were the only ones through the gate when the place opened and had a great stroll around the ruins in its deserted state. Flocks of amazing scarlet parrots circled like vultures up above, warning us of their presence, and the eerie heads of Mayan gargoyles fixed their evil stare on us as we disturbed the morning peace. Copan is quite small in comparison to Tikal and can be easily covered in about 2 to 3 hours. Which is a good thing when you're short on time. Any more and you'd have to stop for a sandwich along with all of the other dick heads who run around in big tour groups waving hiking sticks and tamagochis like they're going out of fashion. And nobody wants that, do they?
By the time we left the ruins, I'd forgotten we were even going home the next day, even if it had begun to rain, I didn't care.I was feeling happy and... screw it, we'll go out with a bang!.....
