Sorry it has been so long since my last entry, we have been pretty busy and truth be told I have been a little lazy. I promise you a whopper today. We finished off the last blog having visited the Mayan Ruins in Copan Ruinas in the morning. The afternoon we went to the internet cafe and I uploaded the blog and checked my emails, thank you all so much for your messages, it is great to hear from back home. Afterwards we had a quiet afternoon where not much was done apart from finding out information on a tour to the hot springs (Agua Caliente) which are situated about an hour out of town. Having been told the astronomical price we decided instead to go it alone and use public transport to get there. The following morning we were up and about at a reasonable time and were ready to get going around 9.30am. We went down to the bus stop and waiting for us was a microbus (Minibus to you and I) which was going to Agua Caliente. We hopped on and thanked our luck. We went up and down the undulating dirt roads of Copan which we hadn't yet seen which provided and real insight in to the areas of town where the locals lived and gave us a good impression of their way of life. It will be no surprise to any of you that the prevalence of poverty is much higher in central America than at home and what we would class as bearable living conditions needs some serious readjustment if we are able to justify the way people live out here. Once out of the main town area we started circling around the lush mountains surrounding Copan where we were exposed to further communities. As we progressed a wide range of people got on and off the bus at small little towns which seemed to revolve around farming judging by the amount of cattle we saw being herded up and down. Copan also appeared to be much more of a 'cowboy' type town where high boots and cowboy style hats were sported by most men and machetes by most men, women and children. We were also joined at some points by school children who got on and off the bus at time throughout the morning. We couldn't quite understand the structure of the school day as at this point it was around 11.00am. They were however all turned out smartly in there navy blue skirts or trousers and spotless white shirts. The one hour bus ride eventually turned in to two before we arrived but the journey itself was well worth the time and money. The hot springs were a real treat. In to the natural springs they had built hot tube/Jacuzzi type pools, each one with a different holistic purpose. We wandered the nature trails between different pools including a neck and shoulder massaging shower, a natural steam room and our favourite, the mud bath. In the mud bath we were able to rub mud over ourselves and then wash it off to reveal what should be amazingly well treated smooth skin. Unfortunately I managed to sport an incredible cave man look which I washed to reveal I looked exactly the same as before. It was well worth a try though. We had been told that the last bus back to town was at 2pm so I decided it would be best if we started waiting from 1pm to guarantee we wouldn't miss the last bus and we could even catch and earlier bus. Whilst waiting we were joined by a couple from Barcelona. I will spare you the details off the wait, suffice to say it was a real relief when the Barcelona couple flagged down a car at 4pm who agreed to drive us back in to town. We were driven to within a couple of kilometres of town so we had to walk the final stretch back to the hostel. You will notice that as this point we hadn't had the opportunity for any lunch so we made a beeline for the restaurant and ordered a staggering amount of food. On reflection it was one of our best days so far despite the difficulties getting back to town as it gave us a real opportunity to see underneath the surface of the town.

The following day we had a six hour shuttle to Antigua in Guatemala, fortunately we had met another couple called Suzie and Owen who had been travelling for 6 months or so and had done a similar itinerary to us. They were on our transport to Guatemala so it gave us a chance to pick their brains about some of our future plans as well as enjoy their company. On arrival we booked in to different accommodation (they were at the end of their trip and had grown understandably weary of the small hot room with a largely ineffective fan) but decided to meet for dinner. Our agreed meeting point was Cafe 2000 (I assume they named it around 1997). The greatest thing about Cafe 2000 was that is was not having a happy hour unlike the rest of town. It was having a happy day (which actually lasted all week), £0.50 a beer - woohoo! We only stayed for a couple before heading to the Parque Central to a restaurant where none other than Bill Clinton had once been wined and dined. We enjoyed an inexpensive meal then hit the sack early after having had a fairly long day travelling. The next day we organised a tour for ourselves for a couple of days later. I said previously that our bus journey in Copan had allowed us to see beneath the surface of the town, this time we were really going to see below the surface by heading up a volcano to view the lava flowing from below the earth's surface. This is one of the only places in the world where you can view lava. The day prior to our volcano visit was spent wandering around town, taking a few snaps and generally taking it easy. At this point I should probably give an explanation of our accommodation in Antigua. We stayed in Posada Santa Martha in a 100 quetzal per night room. It was a really good price for a double room with ensuite. We looked around a few options before deciding to stay there and as we went back to pay the door bell wasn't answered. After repeated ringing off the door bell the owner eventually stepped out of our room to be in a towel and still soaking wet. After removing his stuff from our bathroom he allowed us to drop our bags. This wasn't the only strange behaviour from the owner in our 3 ½ nights in Antigua. He regularly decided to sleep during the day. I discovered him one day lying behind the counter on an air mattress. It wasn't much of a discovery; his snoring was simply out of this world. Having slept so much in the day he had not a lot better to do in the evenings other than try and torture me with sleep deprivation. He use to have phone calls with the funniest man on the planet and his laugh was louder than his snore. On one occasion he decided to dismantle a cabinet...outside our door...with a hammer. He was a lovely host though and every day would try and offer us coffee and directions around town entirely in Spanish. We had visions of one morning finding him between us in the bed. I will post details of our day at the volcano and beyond in the following post.

John