Just popping in to this politically unsettled country that is polluted with crime. Mainly from the Cartels. And perhaps hearsay but the Codger is now much less naive to head to the centre to see for himself. Apparently the islands up north and inviting but possibly not too different to other Caribbean islands.

And so he ends up in Copan, a couple stone street tourist town on the borders edge of Honduras and Guatemala. This place is certainly much safer and globalised than the other parts of the country. The purpose for the visit is to check out the UNESCO Mayan ruins.

More ruins… I know. But again, perhaps with maturity comes greater interest and acknowledgment as to the history of the Mayan culture. That being said, it couldn’t be helped to withhold from suggesting a few new Mayan facts to nearby tourists:

• You don’t see this much from the other parts of the Mayan sites, but the Mayans during the hotter months actually used to ‘slip n slide’ to stay cool. This (large tarp covering a site) was one of the largest slip n slides of the time

• This is the Maccaw from the cockatoo family. They never used to be colourful and in fact were white cockatoos back in Mayan times. There wasn’t much to do back then so the Mayan children at primary school used to catch the cockatoos and paint them different colours to pass the time
• This is the site of the original x games where only skateboarding was available to compete in. *click sound* was the first Mayan to win gold here, with Tony Hawke having his last x games win here

One of the more exciting things about these ruins were the Maccaw birds flying around. They are a red bird with blue and yellow colours with a squawk (screech) that is unparalleled to that of a cockatoo.

An afternoon few hours spent at Luna Jaguar Hot Springs was a welcomed addition to the trip. An hour and a half along a windy, bump dirt road – rivalling that of Celito Beach’s – the springs were etched into the heavily vegetated hills. The spring itself was signposted at 90 degrees Celsius with the pools ranging between 20-40 degrees.

A visit to a chocolate & tea factory in town with a ‘cold chocolate’ was a refreshing way to watch the sunset one evening. This drink brought back nostalgia of primary school days drinking / hacking at a frozen chocolate Oak milk.

On to El Salvador.