Copan Ruins!! Today I am off to visit the famous Mayan Ruins named Copan - named after the settlement and town where I am currently staying. The site opened at 8am so I got up early made a big breakfast - in the hope to give me some much needed energy and then walked out to the ruins. I was literally the first person to arrive, I paid the $15 entry (just to archaeological park), grabbed a map and then started walking around. The first thing I got to see were these beautiful red Macaws (giant parrots) which are depicted in a lot of Mayan sculptures and artworks. The birds were beautiful and I spent the first 20 minutes of my visit mesmerized by there sheer size and beauty. I then walked down a nice jungle path to the start of the ruins and wow I was blown away at the sheer size of the place and how intact all the pyramids and artifacts were. It is quite obvious that a lot of money has been spent re-earthing this ancient civilization and looking around I must have seen 30 odd workers constantly clearing, cutting the lawn and fixing parts of the ruins - so $15 is more then justified. I unfortunately didn't have a guide and as there were only a couple of information boards I had to let my imagination run wild with the majority of the ruins. I spent about 3 hours wondering around the various residential areas, arenas, sacrificial areas and sculptures - almost completely alone as there were no other visitors. One great thing about the ruins is that you can walk on a lot of them and there are 100s of small paths that allow further wanderings. I picked a nice spot at the base of one of the pyramids and sat and enjoyed the peacefulness and even got to see a few macaws fly overhead. So maybe I didn't get the full story of this 1000 year old Mayan culture but I can certainly appreciate their architectural skills and devotion to their land. After about 4 hours I felt as if I had seen enough and headed back to town. The town of Copan is quiet small and I managed to locate the central market where I decided to stop for lunch. Still a little nervous with my belly I visited all the small kitchens and picked the cleanest and busiest looking one; settling for some chicken casserole, salad, beans and corn tortillas. The food was really good but the lady gave me a tiny bit of chicken and when I asked for more or equivalent to others she Ofcourse asked for more money - I laughed it off and enjoyed the rest of my meal. The rest of the market was quiet interesting and I picked up some sweet popcorn ball things I had seen whilst on the bus through Honduras. I then found a lab and tried to ask them about having a blood and stool sample done to see if I have a bug - unfortunately they could not speak a word of English and I struggled to understand anything they said and so left it for the time being. I did however find a chemist who was able to sell me a course of strong antibiotics that is designed for stomach bugs so fingers crossed that it will sort me out. I then wondered around the centre some more before heading back to the hostel. The hostel is quite empty and a little badly run; in that the free breakfast and tea/coffee doesn't exist, the building where I am staying is constantly being locked meaning every time I want to enter I need to go to another building and request keys and the showers are cold. Instead of complaining on my blog I might just start reviewing these places online so other travelers know what to expect.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Copan Ruins visit